“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call him while he is around.” Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
Seeking the Lord while He may be found means coming to Him fully by the way Jesus did on the cross, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, which allows us the ability to experience and understand God on a supernatural level. A more recognizable verse in this chapter of Isaiah is found a few verses after the previous one. It proclaims: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Is. 55:8 NIV). Isaiah prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, the rescue of God’s people from an exile that had not yet occurred, and the eventual restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth.
What does the Bible mean by ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found’?
“Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call him now that he is near. Isaiah 55:6 (NLT)
The New International Version of Isaiah chapter 55 is entitled, “An Invitation to the Thirsty.” The New Living Translation titles it “Salvation Invitation from the LORD.” The standard English version, “The mercy of the LORD.” The translation of the Passion, “Invitation to an abundant life”. The paraphrase of the message, “But no money.” And the Amplified Bible, “The Free Offer of Mercy.” The titles of these chapters help us understand the meaning of verse 6. Found, in this context, has 26 different definitions according to Strongs, some meanings to find or reach, to find, to learn, to find, to be found. We are no longer separated from God as his people were at the time Isaiah was writing. He is accessible to us through Christ Jesus and wants us to turn to Him through his Son so that he can fill us with his Holy Spirit!
Isaiah’s name means “The Lord saves.” (NIV) The great prophet spent most of his life in Jerusalem and was married with children. In his divinely inspired message, he was projected into the future, just like the apostle John in writing the book of Revelation. He warned Judah of his exile and spoke of his restoration by God, the coming Messiah and the Kingdom of God on earth. “Through the work of God’s Messiah, people who do not know the Lord will come to know him,” explains the NIV Study Bible. “We need forgiveness, and we cannot afford it. The good news of the suffering servant, however, is that God paid the price for it. Justice has been satisfied through a sufficient substitute.”
The Book of Isaiah highlights God’s sovereignty, judgment, compassion, and salvation. His heart that his people (and us) not perish without hope is evident in his promise to continually restore them, even though they constantly fall by the wayside. We continue with Isaiah in chapter 55, when he speaks of the foretold restoration from exile. Spiritual thirst describes a deep need for God. Isaiah 41:17 says, “The poor and needy seek water, and there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake you.” (NIV)
Isaiah begins chapter 55 by saying, “Come, all you thirsty, draw near to the waters; and those who do not have many, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and at no cost. Is. 55:1 (NIV)
Jesus proclaims that He is the Living Water in the New Testament, but at the time Isaiah is writing, He has not yet come. Through Jesus, we experience a thirst quenching in our souls that was impossible to achieve before He defeated death on the cross.
Why would Isaiah say ‘Seek the Lord’ to the Israelites?
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call him while he’s around.” Isaiah 55:6 NIV)
Isaiah had connected with God and been given a glimpse of what is to come. The closeness he has experienced with God has undoubtedly made him want others to experience it intimately as well! Through Isaiah, the Lord told the people of him, and encourages us today, to seek him with all our hearts so that he can unlock what we don’t even know that we don’t know. Seeking the Lord in the context of Isaiah 55:6 is seeking him wholeheartedly, not hypocritically.
Seeking the Lord benefits our souls. It leads us to a rich and fulfilling life on God’s terms, not the shallow and fleeting ways of the world. Although the curtain of the temple was rent at the crucifixion of Jesus, many still live their lives behind a curtain that no longer separates them from God. It is a guard we put up and a barricade we can walk through, but we don’t always choose to. We have to come to Him freely, seeking Him with all our hearts. Christ made a way, but we must walk it.
Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have exiled you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from which I brought you into exile.’” (NIV)
Amos 5:4 pleads: “Seek me and you will live!” Again in verse 6 the prophet wrote, “Seek the Lord and you shall live…” And again in verse 14, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. (NIV)
Jesus came for us to live our lives to the fullest (John 10:10)! God has a purpose for everyone on this earth, and he wants each of us to walk the path of his will for our lives in a joyful and fulfilling journey of faithfulness.
Why? Should you seek the Lord today?
“Seek the Lord Yahweh when he makes himself accessible; call him when you feel that he is near”. Isaiah 55:6 (TPT)
To live life to the fullest, we must seek the Lord with all our hearts. Who wants to live half a life? No one wants to be left in the dark while their friends gleefully laugh at a shared joke or an experience that brought them joy. God also does not want us to be left without experiencing it, fully, through Christ.
Jesus spoke of the same thirst for water that Isaiah prophesied. John recorded Jesus’ words about the living water twice. The first was in a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well: “Jesus answered: ‘Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst. Surely the water that I give them will become in them a spring of water springing up to eternal life. John 4:13-14 (NIV)
He spoke again of living water at the Feast of Tabernacles. : “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and said aloud: ‘Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink’”. John 7:37 (NIV)
Instead of drinking from the well of the world, which will never quench our spiritual thirst, Jesus provides us with a way to fully connect with the Father in Heaven through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. The Passion Translation of John 4:14 says, “For when you drink of the water I give you, it becomes a fountain of the Holy Spirit, flooding you with eternal life!”
The gift of the Holy Ghost is available to all of us, however often we choose to pass on. There are many in this world who do not know the extinction available through Christ. They are wandering thirsty. We are part of God’s plan to make it known throughout the earth! But some of us, though we drink from the Well of Living Water, remain idle in our call to “Go.” James wrote: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone must be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry, because human anger does not produce the justice that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and evil that prevails and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” James 1:19-21 (NIV)
The Passion Translation says: “My dear brothers and sisters, take this to heart: be quick to listen, but slow to anger, because human anger is never a legitimate tool to further God’s righteous purpose. That is why we abandon all that is morally impure and all forms of perverse conduct. Instead, with a sensitive spirit we absorb the Word of God, which has been implanted within our nature, because the Word of Life has power to continually set us free.”
We are established in our generations, with a purpose, to listen to the LORD. As we seek him with all our hearts, the light of the Lord in us shines on all those around us.
Prayer to Seek the Lord
“Then turn your attention and seek the Eternal while it is still possible; call him while he is around.” Isaiah 55:6 (VOICE)
Dad,
Just a few verses after the one we have studied today, You spoke through Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8 NIV)
We come to you, God, because we need you to show us, guide us and fill us with the wisdom that we need to walk in your ways, which we are not fully capable of understanding as human beings on this earth. As we learn to yield to the Spirit of God in us, which connects us intimately with you, let us grow in discernment, able to hear, hear, obey, and learn from our close connection with you. In Christ, we can draw close to You, Father. You settle into us and we are amazed. It’s too much for us to comprehend, let alone know what to do with on a daily basis! Help us to humbly submit and seek you with all our hearts, fully and genuinely, all the days of our lives.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; Call him while he is around.” Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
The Lord is close to us, every day and at all times. We just need to turn to Him to experience life to the full, as we look forward to eternity with Him. No matter how many times we get the same things wrong, He opens His arms and welcomes us home. God will always forgive us and will never love us less. When we truly understand how long and wide and deep His love is for us, we come to Him with repentant hearts, listening…allowing Him to change us and become more like Christ each day through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. . Seek the Lord while he can be found.
Additional Resources:
The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible. Copyright © 2021 by Zondervan. All rights reserved.
NIV Study Bible Notes, Full Edition…