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2
A
s cotton wool clouds drift across the sky
and one day is more or less like yesterday
and the day before that… and as so often our
attempts to witness appear to hit the same
brick walls… we can get the impression that
God is somehow distant. There, but otherwise
occupied; all set to meet us at judgment day,
but meantime, leaving us to our own devices.
This is absolutely not the case. God is in
search of man. That’s a phrase which rambles
on my mind, and it leads me to another one,
which you might perhaps misunderstand, at
first blush: God is actually in need of man. He
is passionate for us. He is not disinterested.
The gift of His Son was evidence enough of
that, for all time.
God’s search for man is a repeated theme of
the prophets. “Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig
tree, I saw your fathers” (Hos. 9:10). “He
found him in a desert land… He encircled him,
He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of
his eye” (Dt. 32:10). “I have found David my
servant” (Ps. 89:20). “I said, Here am I, here
am I… I spread out my hands all the day to a
rebellious people… I called, no one answered”
(Is. 50:2; 65:1,2; 66:4). Jeremiah speaks of
running to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem,
searching her squares on God’s behalf, to see
if he could find a single man who did justice
and wasn’t greedy (Jer. 5:1,5; 6:6,13; 8:10).
God looked, and was deeply shocked that He
found no man: “He saw that there was no
man, and wondered that there was no inter-
cessor: therefore His own arm brought salva-
tion” (Is. 59:16).
It’s not simply so that men search for God and
then find Him in Truth. He is in search for man.
So it’s not us as it were reaching out to God;
He is fervently reaching out to us, and we have
to come to realize that. We don’t so much as
find God, as realize that He already is
earnestly with us. This explains how wonderful
is the moment when both sides meet; all
heaven rejoices when the woman finds her
lost coin, or the shepherd His sheep. As the
Yiddish proverb says, “And going out to find
Him, I met Him coming towards me”.
Page
Editorial | God in Search of Man ..........
Understanding Baptism ......................
Look for the Good Things ...................
God has Spoken Through His Writing .......
Walk with God .................................
“It is more blessed to give ...” ............
The Good Shepherd ...........................
God’s Gracious Gift ..........................
The River of Living Water ...................
Eastern States Fraternal Gathering .......
Times of Fear .................................
“Our Citizenship is in Heaven” ............
The Fruit of Patience........................
Begin with a Forgiving Heart ..............
“Lead us not into Temptation” ............
For Your Good ................................
My Blind Friend ...............................
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Editorial | God in Search of Man