God desires a personal relationship with all of His children. The Bible tells us that He seeks His sheep.
He knows us intimately and enjoys our fellowship. Genesis 3:8 tells us that God walked in the Garden of Eden and sought out the company of Adam and Eve.
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” Genesis 3:8 (NKJV)
“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.’” Ezekiel 34:11 (NKJV)
So, why did God create us? It wasn’t because He was lonely (think Deity). We were created to worship our Creator. We were created for His glory. Unfortunately, we often seek satisfaction in worldly ways and rob God of His glory. Our pride and lust for power cause us to ignore His hand in circumstances and deny Him of just praise.
“Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7 (NKJV)
Saint Augustine wrote: You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find peace in You.
Do we have a built-in longing within us that yearns to know God? Is it a part of our DNA? (DNA holds the instructions for an organism’s development, reproduction, and death) Scripture tells us that we have been given knowledge of Him through the world in which we live. This truth certainly suggests that man, who is curious by nature, would long to seek and find a knowledge of his Creator.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Psalm 19:1 (NKJV)
Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that God has put eternity in our hearts. Though we are mortal people, God has given us an understanding of eternity. It does not mean that we are fully able to understand the Eternal God, but we can understand the concept of eternity and life after death.
Unfortunately, man is sinful by nature. We long to satisfy the lusts of our flesh so we fervently pursue them. Too easily we cast aside our God and His desires as we seek out our own.
And yes, the devil is an adversary. Just as he deceived Eve and enticed her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he entices us to sin. We do have a free will and can turn away from sin but often we don’t. We succumb to our fleshly desires. Just as He caused Eve to doubt and question God’s will, wisdom, and character he will tempt us to do the same. He has an old game book of strategies and uses them over and over again.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:19
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” Genesis 3:1
Eve and her husband must have felt tremendous anguish when the full impact of their sin was realized. How they must have dragged their heels and pleaded with God as He lovingly drove them out of paradise. Their fellowship with Him was never the same. Their longing for God increased when their circumstances changed.
Yes, we long for God. We yearn for Him. We desire His love and fellowship. Unfortunately, we only cry out to Him when we want something or need His help. Too often we forget to acknowledge God during good times. We ignore His presence as we satisfy our worldly passions and turn a deaf ear to His knocking on our hearts. We say we are too busy to worship Him but really, the cares of the world are simply distracting us from what we really need. We need more of Jesus. Morning, noon, and night we need Jesus.
As Creation calls out His existence and glorifies Him with praise we too should be praising Him. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=helxFeG-0n0)
“So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” Acts 17:27-28
“I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me.
Proverbs 8:17 (NKJV)
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)