“O God, you are my God. I will seek you earnestly” (Psalm 63:1).

What does it mean to seek God? It is not as if God is lost, or even that he hides himself. Indeed, “the heavens declare the glories of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19). We must seek God, not because he is evasive, but because we are blind. Our vision of God has been darkened by layer after layer of pride, selfishness, and faithlessness.

It is for this reason that seeking God is linked with repentance: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

Seeking God is not for the complacent. It is for the desperate. It is for people who see the world around them as a “dry and thirsty land, where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). It is for people who have gotten a taste of God’s “power and glory” and realized that his “love is better than life.” The world-seeker looks around and sees status, glitz, pleasure, and power. The God-seeker looks around and sees sand dunes and skeletons everywhere–except in God’s presence. That’s why he looks into God’s eyes and says, “In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

Most people end their quest for something when they finally find it. People who seek God never stop seeking, not because they can’t find him, but because they never stop finding him.

“Seek his face continually!” (1 Chron. 16:11). “He is a rewarder of those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).