We know. We receive. We find.

I hate to belabor the topic of discovering God’s will for our lives.  But, it is something about which I often stress.  Maybe this is true for you.

A friend recently asked why God would want us to miss His will.  This question likely exposes a common flaw in our understanding.

“For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  (Matthew 7:8 NIV) (emphasis added).

Perhaps the waiting is more important than the knowing.  The seeking is more important than the finding.  The asking is more important than the receiving.  When you wait, you know.  When you seek, you have found.  When you ask, you have received. 

I thought the process was linear.  After I wait on God, then I will know what God wants.  After I seek God, then I will find what God wants.  After I ask God, then I will receive what God wants.  This presupposes that waiting and knowing, that seeking and finding, that asking and receiving are separate occurrences. 

They are indivisible.  By waiting on God, we already know what God wants; by seeking God, we have already found what God wants; by asking God, we have already received what God wants.  In Matthew 7:8, there is no “then” before receives, finds, etc.  By placing the “then” there, I created a linear and a causal relationship between asking and receiving, seeking and finding.  I was the cause of the effect. 

I was mistaken.  In reality, this process produces an undeniable reliance on God that we quickly forget about when our query ends; when we think we have found the answer.  But, Christ attunes our hearts toward Him during this process.  And the process becomes what matters because the process is the result.  We know, we find, we receive the moment we seek God, we ask God, or we wait on God. 

Praise You, Lord, that we do not have to strain to discover Your will.  Praise God that by the waiting, the seeking, and the asking of God, we are in His will. 

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”  (Proverbs 8:17 NIV).

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”  (Acts 17:27 NIV).

Happy National Coffee Day a day late.  And boy, is God good to give us that sacred holiday. . . . . . .

I may or may not have celebrated with this.

I may or may not have celebrated with that.

Much love to you,

Paige