In talking to people about God, I often tell them that they really need to seek Him. This is often met with a blank stare or a confused comment. People seem to think that seeking God is some mystical kind of lifestyle that has to do with monk robes and candles. However, when I say “seek God” I mean an action that is as definite as playing basketball or watching a movie. I stand on the promise of scripture that if you seek God, you will find him. Too many Christians have never really heard from God because they have never really sought him.

People generally think of requests when they think about prayer. They think about talking to God and asking him for things. However, the most valuable part of prayer is when God talks back. Most of us never experience this because we aren’t really listening.

Seeking God for Christians

“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’” –Psalm 27:8

The simple command from God is that we seek his face, but this leaves most of us wondering what to do. What does seeking him and his face really mean? The first thing to ask yourself is whether or not you know what you are looking for. Have you ever really experienced God or heard from him? If not, think about why that might be the case.

In my life, the biggest thing that has prevented me from hearing God is the fact that I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I knew that he wanted to tell me something that I didn’t like. At other times, instead of seeking him I actively ran away from him by pursuing sin. Sometimes I couldn’t hear him because his voice was drowned out by all the other noise and distractions in my life.

In order to really hear from God, someone has to get alone, shut out all the distractions and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27, which is great for this topic, tells us in the last verse, “wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” The practical way in which we seek God as an activity is to set aside time to wait for him. Listen carefully and expect him to answer. When I tell people this, they often ask me, “how long do I need to wait?” The answer has always been for me, “a little longer.” This may mean thirty minutes or it may mean all night, but if you really want to know God, that won’t matter.

Seeking God for Atheists

I can understand why a lot of atheists don’t believe in God. Usually they have a fairly scientific worldview that will not allow them to believe, with any intellectual honesty, in something they have never experienced. However, a disbelief in God does not preclude one from seeking him. If a friend of mine told me that he had just discovered a dead body in the basement of his house, I might not believe him. However, this does not stop me from going down into his basement to check it out.

The way that God has created people, he shows himself, for the most part, to people who look for him. He wants individuals who are hungry to know him. This fact means that it isn’t surprising that most atheists have no real personal evidence to believe in God. They are simply unwilling to look for it. I liken this to a child who refuses to believe that such things as light and color exist simply because he will not open his eyes.

In philosophy they teach us to anticipate the best argument from our opponent. Most atheists that I know would argue back that humans are set up in such a way to believe in what they expect to find. If you go out looking for God and expect to hear from him, then you will believe that you have heard from him. You can convince yourself that you are hearing a voice in your head or had some amazing experience. It can also be argued that mystical religious experiences are reported by individuals of all major religions.

This argument, however, clearly demonstrates a misunderstanding of what I mean when I talk about experiencing God. My communication with God is as real to me as a face-to-face conversation with any human. Just because I go looking for a conversation with Ben when I call him up on the phone and I expect to hear his voice when the ringing stops, does not invalidate the fact that his voice is real and I have truly heard him speak. Furthermore, if Ben is in a distant city, in order for me to talk to him, I either have to go there or call him on the phone; just because seeking him is required for communication again does not invalidate my experience of him. The only way for the atheist’s argument to work is if the experience of God that I am referring to is some vague internal affair. However, the reality of God’s presence is powerfully active in my life as a reality.

It is essential that we seek God.  It is essential that we come into a dynamic, interactive relationship with him rather than a religion of beliefs and doctrines.  Only by receiving from God can we experience the saving power of his resurrection.  I will leave you with one of the scariest verses in the whole new testament.  “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ and then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” –Mathew 7:21-23