Seek, Forsake, Turn

This morning when I opened my Bible it opened to my last point of reading and my eyes landed on the following verses - Isaiah 55:6-7 NIV:

[6] "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 

[7] Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. 

Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."

What a great and simple message for today!

Seek the Lord - the assumptive fact is that He IS near, and is willing to be found!  Oh, that we would set out hearts on seeking Him rather than other things.

Let us forsake our wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts!  This is the first step in repentance, changing the way we think.  I was reflecting on my need to make a couple of changes in my life, and the first thing I need to do is to change the way I think.  

The encouragement to forsake these ways and thoughts, speaks of a  complete leaving behind.  This is not a choosing to put those things on a shelf nearby where we can revisit them, rather, this is a packing them in a box and sending that box to the dump, never to be seen again.  The Lord understands our proclivities and weaknesses and that is why He always commanded Israel to "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places." (Deuteronomy 12:3 NIV).  We would be wise to take the same approach in our lives to our wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts! 

The key thing here is not to focus on what we are forsaking, but instead to embrace God and His plan for us.  Simply leaving an old way of thinking or acting behind is not enough, we must fill that emptiness with something positive, something meaningful, something that brings us real life, and what in this world is better than relationship with God?  

Jesus spoke of this very thing when He was teaching His disciples in Matt 12:43-45, where He is discussing the casting out of impure spirits, and gave them this perspective - [43] “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. [44] Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. [45] Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Note, the reason the spirit was able to return and live there was that the house was unoccupied.  The point being that simply emptying one's life of those things that are not of God is not enough, we must fill those areas back up, allowing the Lord to occupy those very areas we cleanse.  In the same way, the earlier verses from Deuteronomy were actually from a chapter focused on proper worship of God.  The removal of the former things was not sufficient, there was a need to embrace worship of the Lord.

This morning, I am encouraged in three things.  First, that God is near, and willing to be found, willing to be found by any that turn to Him!  This is the first and foremost thing!  Secondly, that I need to take a look at my life and where things are not in alignment with God, make the decision to forsake them completely.  Finally, I am encouraged to replace those things I have forsaken with worship of the Lord, turning towards Him and embracing relationship with Him.

Amen!