If...Then...

If…then.  We have all heard the phrase used for many cause and effect relationships.  Countless times I had to use the phrase in science class and I grew to have a love-hate relationship with the words “if” and “then.”  But maybe they aren’t so bad after all…

Deuteronomy 4:29 – But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

If you didn’t catch that, let me rephrase it a bit for you – If you search for the Lord your God then you will find Him!  That tiny “if…then” statement, that cause and effect, quickly becomes a major promise!

The word used for “seek,” baqash, can be defined as “to seek the face of God” (Strong's H1245). Then we move on to the word “search” or darash – “to seek with care” (Strong's H1875).  In order to find God, we must be seeking His face, seeking Him with care, or rather, with all of our hearts!  Henry notes, “Those, and those only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek Him with all their heart, that is who are entirely devoted to Him, earnestly desirous of His favor and [eager] to obtain it.”

But the amazing thing here is that there is not a single place where God is not!  We are never too far, we are never out of His reach – “Whatever place we are in, we may from thence seek Him.  There is no part of earth which has a gulf fixt between it and heaven” (Wesley).   And equally amazing – “God is longsuffering, and of tender mercy; and waits, ever ready, to receive a backsliding soul when it returns to Him” (Clarke).  There is not a single thing that can keep us from Him - there is no sin too large, no distance too great.  If you seek Him then you will find Him!  That is a promise!  All you have to do is seek…with all of your heart and soul…and He will be there, you will find Him! 

Our God is truly and wonderfully awesome.