Maggie and the Relentless Search

Maggie the Wonder Dog is usually the most placid of early-morning risers. She wakes up just enough to go outside for a quick potty trip, then hurries back upstairs to snooze on the end of the bed while I study, write, shower, and get dressed. 

Mornings are not her favorite.

Today, however, I put her back on the bed after her visit outside and she sniffed something interesting on the covers. She went nuts, sniffing, scratching, trying to get under the sheets. Nothing I did settled her down. 

She'd had a bone on the bed a few days earlier, long since moved to a better place. I retrieved it in hope of calming her frantic search. The bone wasn't "it."

I offered her stuffed bear, a chew toy, another sliver of bone. She rejected them all. I commanded her to sit. She ignored me, completely intent on her search.

Finally, I opened my Bible and left her to it. She sniffed and scratched and searched all through my quiet time. "That dog is driving me crazy, Lord. You'll have to speak loud for me to hear over her scratching," I prayed. (I know. Maybe not the most churchy of prayers.) 

What I read next made me laugh out loud:

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah29:13 nasb

The words of Jeremiah came alive as I watched Maggie's focused, relentless, energetic search. She was so much like us humans. Some search for power, control, peace, or security, but we're all searching for something. Our quest gives direction to our lives and, in some ways, our destiny.

For what are we searching? What is the one thing we want more than anything else?

Do we seek God with unrelenting focus? If so, we have an iron-clad guarantee. If we turn from the things of this world and seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. 

Today, let's turn our hearts heavenward. Put our search for God and His ways before all the worries and concerns of this world. Seek Him, His Kingdom, and His righteousness and everything else will fall into place. 

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33 nasb
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Faces in the Crowd

One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. (Luke 5:17 NASB)

We are just beginning the story of the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus. To set the stage, Jesus was preparing to teach, and a crowd was assembled. News had spread throughout the land about Jesus and there was speculation that He might be the Messiah. There was talk of His miracles and His healing power. 

We will see that some people had come for healing, and some to hear the man they hoped was the Messiah.  Pharisees and teachers of the law had also traveled (on foot) from Jerusalem, Judea, and every village in Galilee in order to hear Him that day. They were not like the murderous crowd in Nazareth, but they were not disciples, either. Most likely, they had come together at an agreed upon time to "check Him out". 

There were several kinds of people in the crowd that day. There were skeptics, critics, disciples, and seekers. There were also likely those who just wanted to be entertained by some miracles.  Some would leave unchanged, but there were a few who would embrace the truth of Christ and be transformed. We approach Jesus in much the same way today.   Some of us are antagonistic towards faith, and some will follow Christ with blind faith in the unseen. Others are earnestly seeking truth and will embrace it with every fiber of their being when truth becomes clear to them. That's the one I want to be.  What about you? Where are you in the crowd around Jesus? 

Today, pray that we and our loved ones will clearly see Christ and His truth, find the answers to all our questions in Him, and follow Him unreservedly and enthusiastically.