Scripture:
Deuteronomy 4:29-31 ESV
[29] But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. [30] When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. [31] For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
Observation:
The few verses before where this S.O.A.P. Started are kind of important as well. They explain why we would be looking for the LORD. HIS people tended to look to other gods making golden calves and so on needing something they could physically see so that they felt like they were following something. However, GOD didn’t show up in physical form until Jesus and that didn’t happen for a lot of years after this moment. So it was easy for HIS people to get distracted by something shiny. The LORD wanted them to open a set of eyes that we’re not physical. They were spiritual. There is a set of eyes that looked deeper into things just the way they looked. HIS people would always run back to HIM when they found themselves in a tough spot, and HE would always show them mercy tuck them back under HIS mighty wing, and move them forward. In these scriptures, HE was telling HIS people to look deeper into the matters at hand and they would be able to see HIM.
Application:
This is not a spiritual game of hide and seek. GOD wants us to search deeper into things than just the surface level. As humans, we look at the physical side of things and never even look deeper into the situation. GOD is right there in the middle of all of it. You just have to look. The physical eye and the spiritual eye are really 2 different eyes. One sees the physical and emotional side of things and reacts to it. The other one looks at the situation and starts to process it thinking it through for the best possible outcome. Now that being said I want to say that when we react out of emotion it can have a tendency to be fear-driven but when we slow down and listen for the still small voice we will see the way GOD wants us to move. That is what HE is saying. Slow down my child I got you. I want to see GOD move I want to know that I am right in the middle of what HE is doing. I will say this and I will finish up. Peter stepped out of the boat. He was seeking GOD. His words were. “Tell me to come and I will.” and he did. He stepped out of the boat. But then he started looking at things with his physical eyes. His faith started a journey his flesh couldn’t finish. If we seek GOD we can walk on water, but you can’t do that from inside the boat. I hope all this makes sense to us.
Prayer:
Father, I pray that you can take the mess that I made in trying to explain what it looks like to seek you and touch the hearts of those who read it so that we can see you I know that we are made in your image we are made to be like you and there are 3 parts to you. (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). We were created mind body and spirit. That is your image. We reflect you. Let us approach life from the spirit that you have placed in us. From the side that we can’t see laying down our physical side and seeking your face we want to know you in all areas of our lives let us feed our spirit man and starve our flesh. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray amen.