How To Find Your Way Back When You’ve Been Gone For So Long

It’s been swirling, echoing in my head for a few days now. Well, life feels so busy and the pace so frenetic, it might be a few weeks… a month? Okay, I’ve lost count, but here it is:

We have as much of God as we actually want.

If it was my own thought, out of my own brain, I’d have taken it with a pinch of salt and moved on. But I knew it was from somewhere besides this mind inside my head that is presently juggling homeschooling, toddler proofing (re-proofing?), meal planning and a schlew of other tasks on the list that make me feel foggy-brained at the end of many-a-day.

I haven’t fallen off of any metaphorical faith-wagons, mind you. I’m opening the Bible and praying (albeit sporadically) — but I sense in my soul there’s a deeper fount — I’ve tasted it before, and I don’t taste it right now.

We have as much of God as we actually want.

It was A.W. Tozer who said it. Wrote it. Probably both. And while at first the thought might feel a little insulting, the underlying truth in the idea might gradually feel a bit more like a punch in the gut: if you aren’t feeling very close to God, perhaps it’s you who moved.

Ponder this thought that’s also not from my own brain for just a moment:

“How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him.”  (Tozer, The Pursuit of God)

A while back, I decided to throw a little Reader Survey onto the interwebs to find out a bit more about you lovely people that Google Analytics tells me so little about — other than just that you, dear readers do exist, do visit this page, and come from different parts of the planet (no surprise there) — and I found out so many good things.

You were all so incredibly warm and kind in your thoughts, your thanks, and your encouragement. I wish I could write a jillion books and dedicate one to each of you.

What started as a whim developed into a very intentional concluding question for the survey. I asked, “If I could write a post just for you, what would you want me to write about?” One precious person (I didn’t ask for names for the survey so I’m not sure whom) asked these exact words:

How to find your way back when you’ve been gone for so long.

I wanted to sit across from you, friend, with a big cup of coffee for each of us, and look you right in the eyes with these words:

Precious one. Dear one. I don’t know your pain or your story but I know there have been seasons where it seemed like God was a million light years away and I was the last person on Earth He wanted to hear from. Like I was in the pit and why would He actually want to get me out of it — I bought my own ticket here!

This random verse I memorized when I first became a Christian popped into my head on more than one of those a-thousand-miles-away occasions and helped so much:

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. {Deut. 4:29}

And do you know where there is?

Anywhere.

Any. Where.

You don’t have a long walk to take because Jesus made this amazing promise: I am with you always.

Even though you feel distant, know that He is near. He sees. He knows. He is well acquainted with your sorrows.

And friend, after I take this next sip of my big cup of coffee, I want to give you two steps for turning the ship around. Two steps for finding the way back. They both come out of one simple verse that I hope you’ll take to your heart.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. {Heb. 11:6}

Don’t let those first few words throw you for a loop or make you feel more lost — hang with me for a second.

There are two simple things the writer of Hebrews has in mind for planting your feet in and grounding your whole soul right there at the feet of Jesus.

Know that He Is.

I know you believe that. You believe it because you believe He exists. You believe you were once near and you now feel far away. But if you dig a little deeper, I want you to think about what you believe about God. Do you believe He’s good? Good enough to send His Son for you?

He’s the One who promised that nothing could separate you from Him and His love for you (see Romans 8 for a great list of things that can NOT separate you from God…).

He is eternally, unchangeably, incredibly, indescribably God — and you are His chosen, His worth-dying-for-Beloved.

If He is — and He is good — you are loved. This is true.

If you can nod your head to this part of the story, then read on to step two.

Know that He Is the Rewarder of Those Who Diligently Seek Him.

Once you’re convinced in your soul that He is, you’re already on your way to this part of the story. Kind of like just discovering for yourself that He is, this part is also gloriously good.

Even though you’ve found Him, you get to keep looking for Him.

Sometimes, even though He’s always right there, He draws back what you might “feel” about Him being right there.

Why, you ask?

Well, lots of reasons.

Sometimes, the best stuff comes from digging in.

Here’s a little story. The Hero Hubs is originally from a tiny little mining town almost smack-dab in the middle of South Africa, called Welkom. (Translation? Why yes, it’s Welcome.) And if you could drive from Bloemfontein with me to visit Welkom, you’d see these hills, that from far away look just like any other hills. But the Free State is super flat, so they seem sort of out of place. When you get closer, you realize they’re these gargantuan, almost perfectly symmetrical and therefore obviously not natural, man-made hills that come from mining underground.

Welkom was the center of the Gold Fields in South Africa, and South Africa was once the world’s biggest gold producer. For decade after decade, mining companies dug down into the Earth, so much so that they left those giant hills of processed Earth behind them in the process.

Why were they willing to dig and dig and dig? We all know mining is a risky, dangerous endeavor, right?

They were willing to dig because they knew they were going to find something valuable. Something precious. Something important. Something useful. Profitable even. And it was just there for the taking — if they were willing to dig.

If they were willing to dig.

I’m sure you can put the string of thoughts together from here. You could probably write the sermon in a nutshell for me, right?

While this world is full of fast-paced, quick-results, speedy satisfaction, the God of the Universe just isn’t the Insta-God we sometimes wish He was.

But He is. And, He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And you will find wisdom so valuable. Gifts so precious. Love so important. Understanding so useful. Knowledge that will be profitable for your soul. And it’s there for the taking — if you’re willing to dig.

Maybe that looks like starting to write down things you’re thankful for every day.

Maybe it looks like beginning to worship your heart out in the shower.

Blow the dust off the cover of the Bible and read a chapter of Proverbs every day for a while. (31 Proverbs, about 31 days each month — win!)

Give some thought to some deep thinking about what Jesus says He wants us to do, how He wants His people to live — and go out in your own small ways and love. Flowers for an elderly neighbor. A smile for the stranger at the grocery store. Pay for the car behind you at the Drive-Thru.

The best part of this deal is you don’t have to find the way back — you get to find the way forward.

This is a new season. When God writes new chapters, they’re better than the one before. There will be new rewards as you diligently seek Him.

So friend, maybe we can write this Nutshell Sermon together: Believe that He is. Believe that He is the Rewarder of those Who Diligently Seek Him. And if from there — ANY there — you seek Him with that one precious whole heart of yours — you’ll find Him.

Let me know how it goes?

And? Thank you for sharing your heart.

xCC