About 20 years ago, I was kind of obsessed with this promise in Deuteronomy that Moses made to the people as they were about to go into the Promised Land:
Deuteronomy
4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you
look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
It's comforting...and yet there are caveats. IF you look with all your heart and all your soul. IF you seek God. Does this work for everyone? It seems sometimes like it does not. Maybe it just for the people to whom Moses was talking?
So I did a search through the Bible for the word "seek" and found the following verses. Not all of them are about seeking in the same sense as Deuteronomy. Some of them don't have the word "seek" but they're still about seeking God.
Despite this body of evidence from the Bible, I was still hesitant to tell people about this promise from God of being found. I'd heard people say that they had sought God for years and never found him. I'd also heard people say they didn't believe there was any God to be sought, and God sought them. I've since learned that experiencing God is different for everyone, and we shouldn't expect it to be the same. In whatever way you find God, I hope you know that God's love is for you.
1
Chronicles 16:10-11
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD
rejoice. Look to the LORD and his
strength; seek his face always.
1
Chronicles 22:19
Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.
1
Chronicles 28:9
"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve
him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches
every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek
him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you
forever.”
2
Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2
Chronicles 15:2
He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah
and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek
him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
2
Chronicles 15:12-13
They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with
all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel,
were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.
Psalm
9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken
those who seek you.
Psalm
14:2
The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God.
Psalm
22:26
The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise
him— may your hearts live forever!
Psalm 24:3-6
3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. [a]
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [b]
Psalm
40:16
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love
your salvation always say, "The LORD be exalted!"
Psalm
53:2
God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God.
Psalm
63:1
[ A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. ] O God, you are
my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for
you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm
69:6
May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD
Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O
God of Israel.
Psalm
69:32
The poor will see and be glad— you who seek God, may your hearts live!
Psalm
70:4
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love
your salvation always say, "Let God be exalted!"
Psalm
105:3-4
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD
rejoice. Look to the LORD and his
strength; seek his face always.
Psalm
119:2
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their
heart.
Proverbs
8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
Proverbs
11:27
He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for
it.
Proverbs
15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on
folly.
Proverbs
28:5
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD
understand it fully.
Isaiah 51
Everlasting Salvation for Zion
1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the LORD :
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were
hewn;
2
look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one,
and I blessed him and made him many.
3
The LORD will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her
ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the
LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Isaiah 55:5-7 (New International
Version)
5
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will
hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with
splendor."
6
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have
mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isaiah
65:1
[ Judgment and Salvation ] "I revealed myself to those who did not
ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that
did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'
Isaiah
65:10
Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting
place for herds, for my people who seek me.
Jeremiah
26:19
"Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did
not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? And did not the LORD
relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We
are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!"
Jeremiah
29:7
Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried
you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will
prosper."
Jeremiah
29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart.
Jeremiah
50:4
"In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of
Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the
LORD their God.
Lamentations
3:25
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks
him;
Hosea
10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break
up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes
and showers righteousness on you.
Amos
5:4
This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and
live;
Amos
5:6
Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph
like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
Amos
5:14
Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will
be with you, just as you say he is.
Zephaniah
2:3
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek
righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day
of the LORD's anger.
Zephaniah 3:17 (not about seeking but since I was already in
Zephaniah...)
17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with
singing."
Malachi
3:1
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then
suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger
of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.
Matthew
6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well.
Matthew
7:7-8
[ Ask, Seek, Knock ] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek
and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will
be opened.”
Luke
11:9-10
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks
finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke
12:31
But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Luke
19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
John
4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
Acts 15
16"
'After this I will return
and rebuild David's fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things'[a]
18 that have been known for ages.[b]
From
one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and
move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his
offspring.'
Romans 2:6-8 (New International
Version)
God
"will give to each person according to what he has done."[a] To those who by persistence in doing good
seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who
are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath
and anger.
1
Corinthians 7:27
Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look
for a wife.
1
Corinthians 10:24
Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
1
Corinthians 13:5
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs.
Galatians
2:17
"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident
that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin?
Absolutely not!
Hebrews
11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to
him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek
him.
1 Peter 3:10-12 (New International
Version)
10 For,
"Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
11 He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."[a]
James 4:8
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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