The QuestSample

We’ve viewed two of our five recalibrating questions: 1) Where are you? and 2) Who told you that? Our third question is the one Jesus asked in John 1:38: “What are you seeking?” He’s unimpressed when we respond to Him with what we think He wants to hear. Jesus is perfectly capable of handling our honesty. He knows when the real answer to the question, “What are you looking for?” is “trouble.” Or money. Or security. Or sex. Or substance. Sometimes the most powerful testimony can be, “I was looking for ___________________ and found Jesus.”

The Samaritan woman in John 4 didn’t come to the well wanting Jesus. She came wanting water, so He introduced her to living water. She wasn’t rejected for wanting the wrong thing. Jesus used what she sought to bring her to what He knew deep down in her heart she thirsted for most: a Savior who could stop the madness, forgive her sins, and give her dignity. The Messiah who knew the real version of her story and wouldn’t buy her savvy diversions.

Likewise, Jesus was the last thing Saul thought he wanted when he ran into Him on the road to Damascus. He wasn’t hunting for Jesus. He was hunting down Jesus’ followers. You see, askers receive even if what they receive differs from what they asked. Seekers find even if what they find differs from what they sought. Doors open to the ones knocking even if an unexpected host turns the knob. He sees beneath our temporal desires and foresees what we will have wanted most when we step across that finish line. Isaiah 46:10 captures a concept of titanic proportions in our quest: God knows the end from the beginning. Those seven words are game-changers in this Olympic race. They put trust in the breast of the quester.

What desires stir deepest within you? What are your longings? Which of those have gone enduringly unfilled? Write to God and tell Him all you long for. What you crave. Tell Him what desires drive you. You may soon realize that God planted some of those desires in your heart with His own hands.

Read the words of Psalm 38:9 aloud to Jesus as you conclude. Meditate on them. Memorize them. Let this truth be a tent you can rest in as you continue your journey.