Seeking the Lord’s Will

“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you.  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:12-13 (ESV).

Jeremiah foresaw a time when people would genuinely call upon the name of the Lord, turn to Him in dependence and faith, seek Him with the entire heart, and God will hear and answer.

We have gone through a period when America was challenged to “Pray the vote.”  No doubt, many earnestly prayed.  And when the results of the election were announced, many may have been greatly disappointed, wondering indeed if the Lord’s will had been done.

How can we go forward from this point, seeking still to seek God’s face and God’s will for our country?  James gave us a strong clue in James 4:15:  “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.’”  We learn from history that when William Henry Harrison was elected president in 1840, he had great hopes for his leadership of our country.  On inauguration day, he delivered the longest speech of any presidential inaugural address before or since, lasting for one hour and forty-five minutes.  In the speech he gave detailed projections of what he hoped to accomplish in his tenure as president.  The day he delivered the speech was bitterly cold and he was not properly clad against the inclement weather.  Unfortunately, he contracted an infection that turned into pneumonia. A month later President Harrison died, not living to see the fulfillment of the dreams he had for his country.  “If the Lord wills”…is a stronger condition than we humans can comprehend or understand.  Man often plans and seeks to accomplish tasks he feels may be within the parameter of God’s will.  But sometimes the best-laid plans of mankind cannot be fulfilled.  God has an ultimate plan that will be worked out in His time and in His way.

In the meantime, what is left for believers to do?  Jeremiah had the right perspective.  Call upon the Lord.  Pray to Him.  Seek and find him.  Be so completely aligned with God that what we pray is a reflection of what God intends for the best answer for His people.  Is there a way we can know when we have done this?  Our prayers are surrounded by our genuine wish that God’s will be done.  Some serious problems still threaten the very stability of our beloved nation.  Even though laws have been passed that will allow abortion, same-sex marriage, and extravagant, above-budget spending and waste, these do not comply with God’s principles as set forth in His Word.  We cannot let up on our stand for what is right, nor can we fail to pray that these violations of God’s laws persist.  “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).  We needed prayer before the election.  We need to continue faithfully in prayer.  We could change the words of the familiar spiritual to read:  “It’s my country, it’s my country, it’s my country, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”