“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Mathew 7:7-12
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Being a seeker is a lonely affair. Like the children’s game, when we seek we can feel like the odd man out. Rejected, alone, and fighting for ourselves. There’s something about being on a team that girds the heart and strengthens resolve. So it is for the addict. God asks us to seek for the things that we want answers to, gifts we wish to receive, or personal development that we wish to grow. There are three short lessons here. First, that the way feels lonely. I have yet to meet a man who does not share this feeling in the wake of recovery. It is the product of sin. Sin separates us from God, loneliness is sure to follow. In some sense, this is how it should be. Our loneliness is part of the cost of the path we take to heal, no longer comforted by our addiction. We must settle for nothing less than the actual presence of God. Second, that the way is good in and of itself. There is often a great distance between sought and found, and living in that tension is the very capability we must grow. Addicts have no sense of patience, only grasping after control, comfort and value. And yet, the slow, tempered journey of God gifts us sustainability in the unknown. It’s a mighty gift. Third, that we are not actually alone, either by the presence of God or by a community of grace. Jesus has not forsaken us. It is for us to come now to Him and receive the lasting peace of righteousness; the abundance of life.