“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
This is powerful. While it is written to Israel in exile, I believe it reveals the truth about God that applies to all people everywhere.
- (11) Even though Israel was so wicked that God sent them into exile, He says He has plans for them. God has not abandoned His covenant with them. Apparently, when He said “forever,” He meant forever.
- (11) God’s future for Israel is restoration, not destruction or abandonment.
- (12) Israel will call on God, and He will hear them.
- (13) He promises they will find Him when they seek Him with all their heart.
My thoughts are on the condition of verse 13. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” I don’t know how to measure “with all your heart.” However, I think it means with sincerity. Perhaps, “with all your heart” means with the same energy and commitment we would search for our lost car keys if we were late for a meeting at which we would receive one million dollars, but only if we are present.
It’s hard to measure the heart, so we can’t look at someone who seems to be low energy about finding God and say, “You aren’t seeking with all your heart.” I suspect this is more of a personal standard that we use to measure our own hearts.
Jesus uses similar wording in His Sermon on the Mount: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
Father, please grow me in my faith so that I am more regularly seeking you with all my heart. Amen.