At my Pastor’s recommendation, I’ve been reading a new book by Oz Guiness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. I highly recommend it for anyone trying to find God’s purpose and calling for their life (and who isn’t?). This book has continued to surprise and challenge me…it has even gotten me to write a few notes in the margin next to highlighted sections. One section in particular has stuck with me over the past week. I actually wrote the word “Wow!” next to this excerpt on pages 13 and14:

We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God-which is another was of saying that our seeking will always fall short unless God’s grace initiates the search and unless God’s call draws us to him and completes the search…The secret of seeking is not in our human ascent to God, but in God’s descent to us. We start out searching, but we end up being discovered. We think we are looking for something; we realize we are found by Someone. (emphasis mine)

What a thought! In the middle of my searching and seeking God I discover that instead of finding Him…he has found me! Instead of being the one pursuing God I find out that I am the one being pursued…and not just by anyone, but by God Himself. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the whole idea that God wants to get to know me, that he cares about me so much that He gave everything He had to find me.

The only way I can even begin to imagine how God feels about finding us is when I think about my own kids. Ever have that moment in a crowded store when you lose sight of one of your kids? Ever actually lose one for more than 30 seconds? Panic. Heart wrenching. Anxiety. At that moment nothing else is important…finding your child takes priority over everything. And if it goes on long enough you’ll do just about anything to find them.

Do you think maybe that’s how God feels about us? We’re lost. He desperately wants to find us. But as with all analogies, this one isn’t perfect because God actually has the power to find us. All we have to do is stand still and let Him do His thing. Maybe if I would just slow down enough for Him to descend on me then I would have what I’ve been looking for all along. Maybe then I’d be able to get to know the God who has been searching for me all along.

Just maybe…