God’s Promise and Scripture

God’s Promise: When we search for God, we will find Him.

Scripture: But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey His voice. (Deuteronomy 4:29-30)

Devotional

What a promise! When we search for God, we will find Him. That truth has never felt more personal to me.

I grew up in a Jesus-loving home with parents who built my faith on a strong foundation. I knew God, loved Him, and lived that out loud all through grade school. But when I got to college, I stopped searching for Him, letting things of this world guide my choices instead of seeking the One Who gave me purpose.

A little bit about me is that I played college volleyball for six years (yes, six!). Early on, I struggled to get playing time. Because my identity was so tied to the sport, I started to spiral. When I didn’t find validation on the court, I looked for it in all the wrong places. I chased after the kind of love and validation that never truly satisfies, searching everywhere except for God. Fast forward to year four. I was recovering from a major injury, feeling lonelier than I ever had, and crying out to God. “Where are You? Why would You let this happen?” It felt like He had left, but that couldn’t be further from the truth (Read Psalm 34:18.) 

What looked like a setback was actually His mercy. That injury stopped me long enough to look up, to finally search for Him again. And when I did, I found Him waiting. But even after that, I did not stay consistent. Instead of running toward the healing He offered, I drifted again, making choices that led to more hurt, more heartbreak, and more distance from God. Chasing love and validation in things that could never give them to me. Each choice, thinking I was finally going to feel that love or validation, and each time, ending up more broken. Lost. Looking back now, I can see God in all of it. He never turned away from me. He allowed me to reach the end of myself so that I would remember that true love is found ONLY in Him. (Read 1 John 4:9-10.)

Fast forward some more, after getting tired of trying to fix life on my own, feeling lonely, and realizing that closeness with God does not come from perfection but from pursuit. I started searching again. Not just on Sundays or when I was desperate, but daily, choosing to believe that God was worth seeking and finding. About a year ago, God led me to Onward. After visiting several churches, I went to a 9:00 a.m. service that happened to have “Enjoy and Obey,” Onward’s Membership Class, afterward. I remember feeling God clearly say to GO. That reluctant “yes” changed everything.

Since then, I have found a community that genuinely seeks Him - people who encourage me, challenge me, and remind me what it means to live fully on fire for God. Through my community group and time in His Word, God has taught me something life-changing. He never moved. I just stopped looking (Read Psalm 23.) 

When I finally turned back to Him, I found that He had been there all along, patiently ready to restore. I call that feeling of finding him a big ol’ God hug. Now my walk with Him feels steady and full of peace. My old desires no longer have the same pull, and every time I seek His help, He meets me with love. He comforts me, reminds me that I am forgiven, and points me back to the cross - the ultimate proof that He never gives up on us. Through it all, God has never left me. And He has not left you, either. No matter how far we wander, His promise still stands and His invitation remains the same: search for Me, and you will find Me.

He wants our hearts, our honesty, our surrender. He wants us to choose Him, again and again, resting in the assurance that He is always near.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Reflect on your story. Where do you see God's provision in your life?

2. Is there anything you are currently anxious about that you need to let go of and give over to God?

3. Who is someone you know that needs to hear the good news of God's provision for us through the sacrifice of His son?