Kingdom First – Hide and Seek
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
Today, I would like to turn our attention to that first phrase “but SEEK ye first the Kingdom of God.”
There is power in seeking after the Kingdom of God.
God is calling for a church that just doesn’t proclaim or declare His righteousness but seeks after Him… seeks after His Word, after His Will and after His Kingdom.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
God gives us clear instruction to humble ourselves, to pray and to seek His face. To be focused on Him and Him alone.
When we seek after Him, it is not a half-hearted decision that Jesus is talking about. But it is a focused decision, where we decide to abandon anything that would take the place of His Kingdom.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[a] Is anything worth more than your soul? Matthew 16:24-26
To follow Jesus is to be a seeker of His Kingdom. Seeking the Kingdom is more than just a mere act or a short prayer. But it’s a lifestyle of giving up our own way and pursuing His way.
It’s taking up our cross and seeking after Him. It means we’re no longer worried about our wants and desires, but we are focused on His way.
Just a few scriptures after our key verse, we instruction from Jesus on seeking…
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Matthew 7:7-11 NLT
Some of you may have this experienced but I remember playing hide and seek in my neighborhood as a kid. There was a group of us, and we would hide in different parts of the whole neighborhood. There was always that one kid who was a little too good at hiding. This kid would hide in places that were borderline illegal. He would climb in neighbors’ trees or if there was a parked car and the door was unlocked, he would climb in the back. I remember one time, he hid in someone’s backyard that was not a part of the game. The guy who was living there came out with a flashlight and threatened to call the cops and we all scattered like ants.
Most of the time this kid was so good, he would be the last one hiding and eventually we all were trying to find him. Because if we didn’t find him, we would be in trouble.
And if we’re not careful, we can believe the lie that God is playing hide and seek. We can be mistaken into thinking God is just hiding from us. God is hiding His promises. God is keeping His will from me and if I just look hard enough, I might find it or I might not.
But this scripture puts it clearly, God is not in the business of hide and seek. Seeking after God isn’t a guessing game. There is a clear promise here in the scripture that says
Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Matthew 7:7-11 NLT
When we seek after Him, it might not happen when we think it will, or in the way we think it should happen. But we can rest assured in the promise that when we seek after Him, we WILL find. When we knock, the door WILL be opened.
There is a clear word of encouragement here. Wherever you find yourself, keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. Keep on praying. Keep on reading His Word. Keep on being faithful to the House of God. Keep on putting Him first. Keep on loving Him. Keep on, keep on, keep on. Seek and you will find.
We find a story in the Bible where there was a man by the name of Bartimaeus. He was seeking after something his whole life.
Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:46 – 52 NLT
Blind Bartimaeus sought after a miracle. But the miracle was only found in the presence of Jesus. When we seek after His presence, being closer to Him, that’s when we find what we’re needing. For a moment there, it probably felt like hide and seek. Bartimaeus was stopped along the way. People told him to quiet down. When it felt like his miracle was hidden from him, he didn’t give up. He kept seeking. He cried louder and he found his way to the feet of Jesus.
God wants us to know even when we’re not getting the answers we want or the timing we think it should be, He’s not hiding. He’s not playing games. It’s simply in His will, in His time.
