Proverbs 8:17-19 “Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, wealth that endures, and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver.” This episode is about God's love and how if we seek Him we will find Him. It also talks about how His fruit is better than gold. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Those Who Seek Me Find Me
Proverbs 8:17-19 “Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, wealth that endures, and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver.”
I thought this scripture was fitting after we just talked about love yesterday. Today, the Lord is telling us that He loves all those that love Him. Notice it does not say He loves all those that are perfect, or those that have never done anything wrong. It does not say He loves all those that are beautiful, all those that wear a certain size clothing, all those that say the right thing. It says “Those who love me I also love.” So, I have a question for you. Do you love Jesus? If so, then no need to question it, He loves you too! It says so right here in this verse.
Next it says those that seek me find me. It says this often in the Bible. Are you seeking God? Are you looking for Him in your day to day interactions with others? Are you looking for Him in all that you do? God is in everything, He is all around us. However, the verse says those that seek me find me. It doesn’t say that those who are too busy to look for me will find me. It says if you are looking for Him you will find Him. You need to take action. You need to start looking and then you will find Him.
I keep hearing about people who are really struggling right now. I have a really good friend who’s father just got diagnosed with cancer and who’s mother in law just started chemo. I have another close friend who’s mother got diagnosed with cancer as well. Then a prayer request came through for a mom of 5 that has pneumonia. There are a lot of people that are going through some really hard things right now. When you are going through something hard sometimes it’s difficult to see where God is in all of it. We wonder why it’s happening and why God is letting it happen.
This is normal. It is hard for us to understand why God lets these things happen to our loved ones. Sometimes, even when we are going through something hard, we can catch glimpses of God. I say glimpses because you have to be looking for Him. You have to search out where He is because I assure you, if you are going through something hard, God is right there with you. If you are not looking for Him though, then you might not see Him.
God can be found in the most unexpected ways sometimes. He knows exactly what you need and sometimes it is something that you didn’t even know you needed. For instance, I was walking to my car one time when I was upset and my neighbor came over and gave me a hug. I didn’t even know I needed this hug but as soon as she gave it to me I knew it was a hug from my heavenly father. He was telling me all was going to be ok. One time my husband and I went to the movies with my brother in law and his wife. We left our son and their daughter with his parents while we were at the movies. I am not sure exactly what happened but something to the affect of one was crying, the other one needed a diaper change, and his mom had no idea how she was going to handle both problems at the same time. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was my sister Suzy who had come to drop something off. My sister Suzy had 4 boys at the time and loves children. She came in and happily helped get the situation under control. Tony’s mom had no idea that she needed Suzy at that moment. However, when she came it seemed like she was an angel from Heaven. It was such a simple act and yet Tony’s mom will never forget it.
God is there when we need him, even if we can’t see Him. If you are struggling to find Him in your situation or your current circumstances look for Him in the small things. What small little thing brought you joy today? Was it the sun shining, or the rainbow after the storm? Did you know that a rainbow is a symbol of God’s promise? In Genesis 9:12-13 it says, “ And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” Did you notice that it says “a covenant for all generations to come”? That means the covenant is for me and for you as well. When you see a rainbow it is God reminding you of this covenant. If you are having a hard time finding God in your day to day circumstances, find a photo of a rainbow and look at it when you start to give up. Look at the rainbow and know that God has made a covenant with you.
Next the verse says, “With me are riches and honor, wealth that endures, and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver.” Now that we know God loves us and that we can find Him if we look for Him, He wants us to know what awaits us when we find Him. With God you will find riches and honor, wealth that endures and righteousness. But what does that mean? What riches and honor, what wealth will endure forever? Then He goes on to say, “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver.” What is the fruit that God is talking about? In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists the fruits of the Holy Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Can you see how these 9 gifts from the Holy Spirit are a kind of wealth that will endure forever? Can you see how these 9 gifts can bring you riches and honor? You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then your money won’t get you anywhere. Would you rather have even the purest gold, or these 9 gifts from God? What good is money, gold or silver if you don’t have love or peace? There are plenty of people out there that have more money than they know what to do with and yet they are not happy. Money is not what makes people happy. Sure, it can allow them to buy all the material things that they ever wanted, but things will only keep people happy for so long. We all have a longing for connection. We want to feel connected to other people, we want to be connected with a passion and purpose in life. We all want to be liked and loved by others. Can you imagine how hard it would be to be liked by others without these 9 gifts?
Self-control is another big one that I see ruin so many peoples’ lives. If you don’t have self control then what’s to stop you from just doing whatever you want whenever you want? Why do you think some people use drugs, gamble, steal, kill people? They don’t have the self control not too. I know this may not be the same for everyone. Maybe some people have other reasons they do these things. However, self control is something that a lot of people struggle with. What about you, what would your life be like without self-control?
I think its clear that God is the way to go. If you could choose to be with Him, why wouldn’t you. There is only an up side to following God. He loves those that love Him. Those that seek Him, find Him. Then once you do find Him you will get riches and honor, wealth that endures and righteousness. Who doesn’t want those things? Let God in, love Him and trust that He loves you! Seek Him and trust that you will find HIm.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for loving us. We thank you for helping us to seek you. Lord, help us to see you in those unexpected ways that you show up. Help us to see you in the small things as well as the big things. Lord, we love you, even if we can’t always show it. You are amazing and you do so much for us. Thank you for the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can’t thank you enough. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ Holy name, Amen.