Queen of the South

For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. (Luke 11:30-31 NIV)

When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. (1 Kings 10:1-3, 7 NIV)

The Queen of Sheba (also called the Queen of the South) was from what is now Yemen. She had heard about the wisdom of Solomon and his relationship to God, as well as his wealth, but did not believe what she had heard. No one could be that wise in every area, she probably thought, and decided to see for herself. The Queen loaded up a large supply of gold and spices (very similar to what the magi carried to Jesus) and headed out to see King Solomon. 

When she arrived, he was gracious and entertained her lavishly. While there, the Queen tested Solomon with as many hard questions as she could formulate. He answered every one. There was no question that was too hard for him. No situation was too difficult for him to find a solution. The Queen was incredulous. "I did not believe it until I saw it with my own eyes," she said. "You have far exceeded the report I heard." 

At the judgment, Jesus said, the Queen of Sheba will rise up and condemn those who refused to believe in Him. She will say something like this, "I heard all the hype about Solomon and didn't believe it, but I didn't just dismiss it and refuse to believe. I did what it took to find out the truth. I took all my questions to him, and found that he had the answers to every question I ever had. You should have done the same with Jesus. He has the answers to all the questions you have... if you'd only bothered to ask. He is all that was said of Him and more. If you'd only bothered to seek, you'd have found."

The Queen of Sheba will be right. If what we've heard about Jesus is true, and it is, it behooves us to find out for ourselves. If we have questions, He will answer them. All we have to do is ask. What a tragedy it will be at judgment day to find that the One we discounted as nothing more than a good man is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What a tragedy it will be to find that questions with eternal significance, left unasked, could have made an eternal difference.

There is something more that needs to be considered. Jesus was very specific about discipleship. The first step, He said, was to deny ourselves. Only then can we follow. If we never deny ourselves, you can be sure we are not disciples of Christ. This is so important that it bears repeating. Discipleship begins with denying ourselves. 

There will be a time of judgment. We will answer for our response to Christ. What a tragedy it will be if our response was limited to two hours in a pew on Sunday morning. If we don't understand, if we aren't sure, let us do what the Queen of Sheba did. Ask all our questions, for, when we do, we will find that Christ has every answer we need. We, too, will say what the Queen of Sheba said. "Jesus has far exceeded all the reports I have heard." He is more than we expect, but we will never know if we never ask.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:24-27 NIV)

Teach us to pray, part 52: Seeker prayers

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 NASB)

In yesterday's blog post, we considered the idea of seeking and finding. If what we have found in life is not what we wanted, we've been seeking the wrong thing. It is that simple. God promises that, if we seek Him, we will find Him, for He is also seeking us.

This morning, it occurred to me that this is a series on prayer. "Seeking" seems more like an issue for a series on priority or lifestyle choices, rather than prayer, until I remember that prayer is rooted in relationship. That relationship is an outgrowth of the kind of seeking that finds the One who is the object of my search. 

Yesterday, I was humming a song I learned as a child, "My Best Friend is Jesus". As I hummed aloud and listened to the words silently as they played in my head, I thought, "I really mean this!" When I learned those words as a little girl, I had no idea at all of the richness of relationship available to me, nor the depth of love that could be mine. 

Over the course of several decades, my seeking has led me to the One my heart most desired, my Lord, and to a relationship with Him. As I have spent time with Him in prayer, studied His words, and learned to trust Him, a relationship that is precious beyond all else has developed. Christ is the first one to whom I speak in the morning, before my feet hit the floor. He's the One whose "tongue is the pen of a ready writer" and supplies the words I write. He's the first One I go to with a problem, a need, a desire. He's the One I trust above all others. He's my best friend.

My best friend. As I write those words, I am utterly astounded. How can it be that someone who has done so very much sinning can find a friend in God? It seems impossible, yet our God is so forgiving, so loving and long-suffering, that He can embrace even someone like me. Someone like you. What is even more astounding is that the God who created and sustains the Universe will take the time to communicate with me, listen to me, talk to me in that Still, Small Voice in my heart!

We call that communication, between my heart and His, prayer. When I understand that prayer is simply talking to the one I love the most, it becomes a simple thing. I talk to God about all the things that concern Me, then leave those concerns in His capable hands, trusting Him to deal with every single issue. Sometimes His solutions require some action from me, but more often than not, they don't. 

If I want to have power in prayer, if  I want answered prayer, I must begin by having a relationship with the One to whom I pray. Satisfying myself, whether by the accumulation of money, houses, things, or by pleasure that lasts for a moment, or by gaining the status and power the world offers, must be set aside in order to satisfy and to please my God. Answered prayer begins with relationship, and the deeper the relationship, the deeper the conversation between us.

In teaching us to pray, Jesus taught, "Seek and you will find" because our seeking must first be for His kingdom and His righteousness. Prayer is simply the communication that flows naturally from that relationship. 

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 NASB)

Teach us to pray, part 51: Seeking

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10 NASB)

The word translated as "seek" is zēteō.  This word can mean several kinds of seeking, but in this verse it means "to seek with the intention of finding." My first question on reading that was why anyone would seek and not expect to find. Maybe that kind of seeking is really just looking around aimlessly. It turns out that this word can indicate the kind of seeking that is nothing more than pondering with the hope of figuring it out yourself. There is also a kind of seeking that is "striving". You might "seek" to be the richest person in America, but that is not the same as having the expectation that you might attain that goal.

This seeking, however, is the kind of seeking that expects to find or attain what it seeks. Proverbs 17:11 says a rebellious man seeks only evil. If that's what he's seeking, it's what he's going to find, as well. Scripture says a "cruel messenger will be sent after him". That's not the kind of seeking we should be doing. 

Scripture has numerous instructions about seeking. "Seek the Lord your God" (Deut. 4:29), "pray and seek My face" (2 Chron. 7:14), "seek peace and pursue it" (Ps 34:14), "seek good and not evil" (Amos 5:14), "keep seeking the things above" (Col 3:1). Our job as disciples of Christ is to seek our Lord and the things of God, rather than the riches and honor of this world. Our goal and that for which we seek must be pleasing God with our lives. We are to seek peace, seek good and not evil. When we seek those things with the intention that we will find them, our Lord promises that we will do exactly that. 

If we seek God with the intention of knowing Him, we will find Him. If we seek peace with that same intention, we will find it. 

Scripture also draws a sharp contrast between that which our enemy the devil seeks and that which God seeks. 1 Peter 5:8 says that our enemy the devil "prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." 

Ezekiel records the promise of God to send a shepherd for his people, who were like lost sheep, wandering about with no one to care for them. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick... (Ezekiel 34:16 NASB) Jesus declared that He was the Good Shepherd, come to seek and to save that which is lost. (John 10:11). It is the goal of the evil one to destroy those who are lost. It is the goal of Almighty to God to find us when we are lost, restore us, bind up our wounds and strengthen us. What a difference!

Here's the wonderful thing about seeking for God. When we are seeking for God, He is also seeking for us. In our seeking, we can count on both being found and finding the object of our desire!

The question we must answer is simple. For what do we seek? The answer often lies in what we have found. If we find that for which we seek, and we do, then what we have found so far is what we have sought. Ouch! For today, let's take a close look at our lives. Look at the kind of life we have found in our seeking, at the kind of relationships we have found, at the kind of relationship we have with Christ. Is it a warm and intimate relationship with Him or do we have a passing head knowledge that is more history than current event? 

If what we have sought has not brought us that which satisfies, let's be done with it and seek that which has eternal significance and brings joy and peace that lasts.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 NASB)