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| Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; |
| —Isaiah 55:6 |
The Prophet Isaiah was faced with the monumental task of holding people accountable to the Laws of God. As a prophet, Isaiah represented God to the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This Kingdom consisted of Jewish people from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some from the Tribe of Levi. Unlike their northern neighbors—the Jewish people from the remaining 10 tribes—Judah had remained much more faithful to God. As a result, God had given them wise prophets who led them through the times of distress for several hundreds of years.
In fact, Isaiah served as a prophet through the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, or a period of time of at least 64 years. For this period in history, a 64-year-long time of service was exceptional. During this time, Isaiah faced the struggle of constantly teaching the people the value of obedience to God and he spent a great deal of his efforts in trying to encourage deep spiritual formation on the part of the people God had placed under Isaiah’s care.
It should pose no surprise to us that, in the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post, Isaiah urges the people in his care to seek the Lord. Basically, Isaiah tells the people that God has made Himself available to them. While God has done this, it will prove wise for the people to take advantage of this special grace that God has given them. As long as God makes Himself available, the people should actively and ardently seek Him.
How should they seek God? By calling upon Him. In other words, if God has chosen to make Himself available, the people should call upon Him to help them live their lives in the best possible way.
Such an admonition certainly applies today for those of us whom God has called to Himself. We “Christ’s-ones,” or Christians, have the most fortunate circumstance that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us and call us to follow Him. No matter to what branch of the Christian faith we may belong, the reality remains that one way or another God has called us to Himself. In so doing, God has extended His grace to us. Why has He done this? Because He is a merciful God—that is, He is full of mercy. God is also overflowing with love. So, we can say with confidence that in His unfailing love and mercy, God has extended His grace to us and called us to Himself. He has united us with Himself through the sacrifice of His one and only Son, Jesus, whose precious blood has paid the penalty for our sins.
Having called us to Himself and transformed us from mere creatures to actual children—as clearly described in John 1:12. Because we are God’s children, we must heed the words of the Prophet Isaiah and seek the Lord because He has chosen to make Himself available to us. In seeking God, we must call upon Him because He has made Himself near to us.
As we begin another new day of life, these words from the Prophet Isaiah should breathe new energy into us. The very fact that, as God’s dearly loved children, He has drawn near to us, we should take full advantage and call upon Him. He is waiting to welcome us. He is longing to have fellowship with us. He wants to make our lives fairly glow with His divine Presence in and through us. So, let’s not hesitate to do as the Prophet suggests—this day and every day.
