Yes, you may love God and seek him, but that’s not enough. The true victory in Christ is not that you have sought God out but rather that he has sought you out. He has come after you. He has chased you.
David knew this when he wrote Psalm 119:175-176, “Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” David is telling God, “I’m lost. I’m wandering. I’m feeling a coldness of heart, a lack of desire for prayer. I don’t feel that sense of anticipation when I come into the house of the Lord anymore.”
When pride and anger start to get stirred up in our hearts, when lust is in our eyes, when we feel far from God, we are like lost sheep.
The book of Hosea describes God’s anguish over his people who are unfaithful, commenting, “My people are bent on turning away from me” (Hosea 11:7, ESV). There is a bent in us toward sin, a natural tendency to move away from God and his righteous ways. David recognized this in himself, but his response wasn’t, “I’m going to come to you, God! I’m going to pursue you, Lord.”
David knew the condition of his heart. He knew he needed something stronger than his own willpower. Now I believe and teach that those who diligently seek the Lord will find him (see Jeremiah 29:12-13) and that those who are fervent for the things of the Lord will be rewarded (see James 1:12). But it’s God’s love that initiates our relationship with him.
We need the shepherd’s love to find and rescue us. His heart and his power, not our own, will draw us back from the lost and twisted paths.