How to Diligently Seek God

“He says: ‘Beside this, giving all diligence.’ He is very concerned to impress that upon us, and so he repeats it in the tenth verse. I think we all know something about this. There is a kind of general indolence or laziness which afflicts us all and is undoubtedly produced by the devil himself. Have we not all noticed that when it comes to things in the spiritual life, we do not seem to have the same zeal and enthusiasm, nor do we apply the same energy as we do with our secular calling or vocation, our profession or business, our pleasure, or something we happen to be interested in? Have we not all noticed when we have been working quite well that somehow if we turn for a season of prayer, we suddenly feel tired and fatigued? Is it not curious that we always become tired and sleepy when we want to read the Bible?

“We are fully persuaded that it is something purely physical, and that we really cannot help ourselves, but it is as certain as anything can be that the moment we begin to apply ourselves to spiritual things we shall immediately come face to face with this problem of indolence and the laziness that afflicts us, however alert and energetic we may have been previously.

“Or take it as it assumes the form of procrastination. We desire to read the Bible, we want to study it, we want to read a Commentary; but we do not feel like it at the moment, we think it is a bad thing to try to do these things when we do not feel at our best, and we have better put it off until we feel better, there will be a more appropriate opportunity later on. Or we have not the time, or we lack the opportunity. How often have we all passed through this kind of experience.

“Then when the time does come, in a strange manner we still find we cannot apply ourselves. It is beyond dispute that most of us are living lives which are seriously lacking in discipline and in order and in arrangement. Never perhaps has life been quite so difficult for the Christian as it is at the present time. The world and the organizations of life round and about us make things almost impossible; the most difficult thing in life is to order your own life and to manage it. The reason for this is, not that these external things really compel us but that if we do not realize the danger of drifting and put up a stand against it, we will have failed without knowing it.

There are so many things that distract us. You start with your morning newspaper (many people start with two rather than one), and then in a few hours come your evening paper or papers. Now these things are thrust upon us. Of course we are not bound to buy a paper but it is there and everybody else does so. Perhaps it is delivered at the door. The thing is put in front of us and without our realizing it there is something occupying our time. I need not waste time in detailing all these things, the wireless, the television and the things we have to do, meetings to attend, incidents here and there, various problems that arise. The fact is that every one of us is fighting for his life at the present time, fighting to possess and master and live our own life. All pastors will agree with me when I say that there is nothing that one is being told more frequently today than just this: ‘I do not know what to do, I do not seem to have time to read my Bible and to meditate as I would like.’

“Now the simple answer to that is, that it is sheer lack of discipline, it is a sheer failure to order our life. It is not use complaining about circumstances. It simply comes back to this, and there is no need to argue about it – we all have time! If we have time to do these other things, we do have the time, and the whole secret of success in this respect is to take that time and insist that it is given to this matter of the soul instead of to these other things. That is the second cause of the trouble – a sheer lack of discipline in the life, a failure to order our lives, to command and to control our lives as we know in our heart of hearts we should.

“That being the cause, let us turn to the treatment. What is the treatment prescribed by the apostle for this condition? It is just the reverse of the cause of the trouble. First and foremost he emphasizes ‘all diligence.’ ‘Make every effort’ – according to another translation. That is it – ‘make every effort’ – ‘beside this,’ ‘for this cause,’ ‘in the light of these things ‘ – the exceeding great and precious promises that are given, with all the things that appertain to life and godliness, and because you have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust – because of all these things make every effort, give all diligence, or as it is translated in the tenth verse, be more zealous than ever before to do these things. Here is the treatment then, the exercise of discipline and of diligence.

“Perhaps the best way of putting this matter is to put it in a simple historical manner. I defy you to read the life of any saint that has ever adorned the life of the Church without seeing at once that the greatest characteristic in the life of that saint was discipline and order. Invariably it is the universal characteristic of all the outstanding men and women of God. Read about Henry Martyn, David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, the brothers Wesley, and Whitfield – read their journals. It does not matter what branch of the Church they belonged to, they have all disciplined their lives and have insisted upon the need for this; and obviously it is something that is thoroughly scriptural and absolutely essential. ‘For he that cometh unto God must believe that He is,’ says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:6), yes, and also ‘that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.’ We must be diligent in our seeking.

“‘But,’ says someone, ‘your preaching, is it not an inculcation of justification by works?’ You see how subtle the devil is! ‘Surely you are going back to the Roman Catholic heresy and the whole Catholic type of devotion?’ The answer to that argument is that it is the Apostle Peter, the inspired apostle, who goes out of his way to remind us that all these Scriptures are inspired, it is he who tells us that we must ‘add’ to our faith these various other things and to give all diligence in the doing of it. Be more zealous, be still more active, he says. And, of course, there is no contradiction at all. The error justification by works is in trusting to the discipline of your own soul to save your soul; but the opposite to trusting to your work is not to do nothing, it is to do everything but not to put your trust in any of it. It is not the works that are wrong, it is the faith in your works, trusting in your works. But what a subtle danger this is.

“It seems to me that one of the chief dangers in Protestantism today, and especially in evangelical circles is that, in our fear of the error of justification by works, we have been saying that works do not matter at all. We argue that faith alone counts, and because I am a man of faith it does not matter what I do and my life can be thoroughly lacking in discipline. Out with the suggestion! The opposite to a false trust in works is not indolence, lack of discipline and doing nothing, it is to be diligent and more diligent, to be zealous, and to add to your faith. But all the time you must realize that your action alone will never be enough, but that God is certainly a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

“So many people say that they would give anything to have but a vestige of the knowledge that the saints had, ‘If only I had that joy, I would give the whole world for that – why cannot I have the experience of the warm heart?’ they say. The answer is that they have never really sought it. Look at the lives of those men and the time they gave to Scripture reading and prayer and various other forms of self-examination and spiritual exercises. They believed in the culture and the discipline of the spiritual life and it was because they did so that God rewarded them by giving them these gracious manifestations of Himself and these mighty experiences which warmed their hearts.” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression)