Have you ever been on a scavenger hunt?  This past Sunday in at Christ United Methodist Youth we went out on a vehicle-born scavenger hunt to seek a list of items.  My favorite definition of “seek” is “to try to find or gain by any means.”

While out on a scavenger hunt, in a vehicle, as part of a group, there has to be certain strategies in place for a team to be successful, including communication, cooperation, and attentiveness.  If whoever has the list refuses to communicate the items to the rest of the team, how would everyone know the objective?  If the driver decided to drive only where they desired, how could the rest of the group contribute? If other members of the group knew the location of items to be found and refused to offer them, would the group have any chance of winning?  It takes a relationship for the goal to be accomplished.

If it takes communication, cooperation, attentiveness, and relationship with others to be successful just in a scavenger hunt, why is it that we think that we do not need these things when it comes to the rest of our lives?

                Let’s talk about seeking from a different angle.  In our everyday lives, what is the first thing that we do whenever we want to know an answer?  Don’t we go straight to Google?  What happens whenever we don’t find what we are looking for within the first two or three pages of results?  Usually we stop, even though there are one hundred twenty-nine more pages in the search.  Does three pages on a Google search count as “trying to find or gain by any means”?

                A similar thing happens among unbelievers when they are confronted by painful problems or intense challenges in this world about which they want answers.  Do they turn to the idea of a God that cares about them and their problems?  Is it in any of our hearts to turn first to another believer who is strong in their faith for advice?  My first instinct has always been and continues to be “I can handle it myself.”  Barnes & Noble has an entire section in their stores with a sign that says those words; the sign is just more cost effective when it says “Self-help.”

                I am convinced that the self-help section of the bookstore is the Google or Wikipedia version of dealing with deep-seated Spiritual problems in our lives.  The God who created us and loves us more than we can possibly imagine wants us to turn toward Him and try to find Him by any means possible.

                When we finally give up all of our own ways to figure out our problems and focus on God, guess what happens?  Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  We are told what will happen when we finally let go of our selfishness and trust that God means what He says when He says it. (aka Faith)

The combination of faith and seeking God always works out because of another of God’s promises, found in Hebrews 11:6.  “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  He REWARDS us!  Does he give us what we ask for? Does he remove all our problems and pain? No, He does better than that!  God gives His presence to us, and remains with us throughout our problems and pain.

                So I ask you again today, are you wasting your time looking for your answers inside the vehicle that is your life?  Is your life stuck somewhere between a Google search and the self help section of Barnes & Noble?  Or are you daring enough to go into your everyday life and seek after the God who wants you to find Him, experience Him, and live with Him each and every day?