The Fulfillment

Deuteronomy 4:21-29         1/24/2018

Moses remembered with a little bitterness how he couldn’t enter the land because he was provoked to anger by the Israelites during the exodus. He went on to prophecy about the Israelites; that this same obstinacy and proclivity to worship false gods will cause them to lose the land and be scattered amongst the nations. Despite this harsh anticipation, Moses offered assurance of God’s love. He reminded them that God would be found when they searched for Him with all their hearts.

We Are the Fulfillment

As it turns out, just as Moses predicted, the faithful were scattered. The ten northern tribes were dispersed amongst the nations and lost the identity. Judah and Jerusalem were sacked and the people sent to Babylon in the first diaspora.

But the promise is manifest when people from every culture and tradition and corner of the world stop what they’re doing and seek God.

How to Seek with All Your Heart

Becoming a seeker.

Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”

I have four sons. They are persistent – if persistence is the same as “determined to pester”. One in particular has the unusual capacity to make the same request more than 20 times an hour and not realize that his behavior is odd. This time it’s a Lego City. I know enough about him that, unless he receives the precise answer he is looking for, he will just keep asking. He is undaunted by the answer “No”. He interprets any ambivalence as the “Yes” he’s hoping for. It’s both remarkable and maddening.

As annoying as this behavior can be, I’m reluctant to refuse him.

It’s on my mind – the woman and the unjust judge. Jesus told of a woman who persistently pestered an unjust judge in order to get justice. Jesus described how the judge didn’t care about justice but couldn’t stand the woman’s persistent nagging. So he gave her what she wanted. Jesus, the Son, told this story to illustrate the determination necessary to successfully seek God.

While that’s not to say that God will give me whatever I want if I pester Him (He loves me enough not to give me a serpent) – it does mean that if I seek Him with all my heart then I won’t be disappointed.

“For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”Matt 7:7