June 30, 2013 … “Finders Keepers!!”

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 181

  Passage of the Day #1: Psalm 53: 2 [God seeks the seekers.] [NLT] …  
2 God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; He looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God.
============

Passage of the Day #2: Deuteronomy 4: 28-29 [True seekers will be truth finders.] [NLT] …  
28 And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

============

Reference Passage #1: Acts 17 … Use this link [NLT] …

 Devotional Song: Go to this link -  … Dear one, hear the Brooklyn Tab, singing “In the Presence of Jehovah” … And in this moment of seeking God in this place, I can honestly declare … “Finders keepers!!!”

 My Journal for Today: When you were a kid; and you discovered some treasure as you sought your way through life, do you ever remember declare “finders keepers” to your friends? Well I did.

We used to live close to a creek which wound its way through our town; and we kids used to go down to the creek to see what we could find, … maybe things floating down the little stream, … maybe stuff which had been deposited along the banks. And most of our findings were junk. But every now and again our seeking would produce a finding of some worth; and we would loudly shout out, … “Finders keepers!!”

Well, today Os Hillman, in his devotional, asks if we are seekers after God; and if so, where do we find Him? Because in today’s highlights passages, quoted above, one of the Psalmists clearly declares that God is a seeker of those who seek Him; and according to Moses in Deuteronomy 4: 29 when anyone seeks God with all his heart/soul, that one will find God and could rightfully claim, … “Finders keepers!!”

The Apostle Paul, after his conversion and discovery of the Messiah, really wanted others to be able to find God by seeking after Him; and as we read in Acts, Chapter 17, Paul discovered a number of seekers who sought God in all the wrong places; but he also found some who found the LORD by seeking God diligently and with determination. In Acts 17 we read of the Thessalonians [Acts 17: 1-9], who sought “god” through the results of their business and ended up running Paul out of town. Then Paul encountered the Bereans [Acts 17: 10-15] who sought after God by pursuing His truth in God’s word; and they were able to find God though knowing that Paul was preaching the truth from their study of God’s word. And finally in the remainder of Acts 17, we read of Paul going to Athens to encounter the Greeks, who heard Paul preach from Mars Hill about their misguided search for God through man-made idols. And there on the Areopagus, some of these Greeks were able to see a new way of seeking and finding God and some of them were able to come away, claiming … “Finders keepers!!”

 What about you? Are you a seeker after God and His truth? And if so, where are you seeking Him? Are you trying to find Him in the humdrum of everyday life, … in the tyranny of the urgent … and the informational tirade of smart phones, computers, and the upward mobility demands of your job or career? Are you seeking the Lord in modern-day idols and pleasure-seeking such as p0rnograpy, drugs, or pseudo-relationships? Because if those are your modes of seeking God, you will never be able to claim, “Finders keepers!”

 But perhaps you’ve discovered, as have I, that God can be found as the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sings in the song to which I’ve linked you above … ”In the Presence of Jehovah.” Yes, dear one, I came to this place this morning, and I genuinely sought after the presence and power of God; and I can honestly say that I found Him here … in the solemnity of this quiet place … in the richness of the treasures found in His word … and in just knowing that someone like you might just come along after me, reading what He has given me in the treasures of these thoughts, … and perhaps you can declare, as I can here today, … “FINDERS KEEPERS!!!”

My Prayer for Today … Lord, thank You for making Yourself known to me here today!! I have found You here; and I’ll be back tomorrow to seek You again. … Amen