Are we seeking God or is he seeking us?

Are we seeking God or is he seeking us?

That appears to be a question that everyone should be able to answer without scrutinizing the truth.  However, look at the first issuance of a statement given by God.  “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”  (Gn 1: 26).  If God, who created the universe and all the minions that surround us there is no need trying to understand his ultimate decision.  

Since the Lord of heaven and earth already knew what his greatest creation would be like, after his likeness, he also saw into our future which was eons away and how each of his human creatures would turn away and need to be coddled back to the love of their creator.

“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years;  I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter.  Up visited hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chastened fears, From those strong Feet that followed after.”  The beginning stanzas of the poem “The Hound of Heaven.”  As we go further it will show how God searches for us as we seem to avoid his searching for us.

What then is the premise of who is seeking who?  Was the creation of human-kind a mistake of God’s creativity?  Did he leave something out of the mold that makes man stand tall and create for himself a direction to find?  If left alone man’s journey would collapse into oblivion since he does not know the next turn in his life that needs a mind stronger than what he already has.  It is impossible for man’s finiteness to see beyond what his comprehension will allow.  Like a sheep that wanders out of sight of his master, man will shape his sleekness beyond the eyes of his master.  Jesus knew this and told the parable about the lost sheep;  “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?”  ( Lk 15: 4). 

“Shade of His Hand, outstretched caressingly!  Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He Whom thou seekest!  Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest me.”  (From “The Hound of Heaven).  To compel.

God would not have created a species so filled with arrogance in order to use what free will is all about if he wasn’t going to seek his very choice of ensuring his safety as a shepherd looking after him.

Enter the most sophisticated manner to come after man by using the humanity he created as the perfect solution by showing this man he knew exactly what his entity was all about.  Had the Lord just given instructions to humans to obey, as through the Old Testament, man never would have been able to discern what was waiting in eternity.  Only by taking on the person of Jesus with both a human nature as well as his divine nature would sinful men realize God's Intention of perfect contrition to humanity.  Incarnation: the most perfect adherence of God’s divinity. 

However, man needed a free will to make his decisions on his own without coercion from his creator.  The Incarnation assumed humanity and from that moment on God knew exactly what you and I encounter at each temptation that we cannot eliminate on our own.   Believe it that God tirelessly goes after the sinner even if he sins seven times seventy times.  The desire of Almighty God is that every human person would live with him forever.  Those who don’t  are free to use their free will to refuse the one who is always seeking the lost sheep.  

Ralph B. Hathaway