Isaiah 55:6 - "Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near."

Thoughts on today's verse:

This verse provides both an encrouragment and a warning. First: the encouragement. The Lord may be found. The fact that we read these words now gives us hope. Paul said that "now is the day of salvation." If you are breathing on this earth right now, then the Lord may be found.

Secondly, Isaiah says "while" implying that there will be a time when He cannot be found. This doesn't mean that we will lose God, nor that He will be lost, but that there will be a time when we will no longer be able to turn to Him for help - or, in other words, when we cannot be saved. God's gift of grace lasts a lifetime. He is indeed longsuffering with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. In fact, it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). However, once a man dies there is no more opportunity to reach out and lay hold of the gift so freely offered in this life.

Why? Because, then one will know fully the truth. Jesus reminded us of this in Luke 16 with the account of the rich man in hell. Once he died he fully knew the truth and wished that someone would go back and tell his family. Notice that he recognized the permanence of his situation, not asking for salvation or deliverance, but asking for others, that they might not be tormented as he was. "The lost in hell realize that the day for their repentance is gone for ever." (from http://www.mwtb.org/site/moments-for-you/back-issues/first-quarter-1995/repentance-after-death.html, accessed October 5, 2011)

Why in this life? The answer is simple: God wants us to trust him. He is, after all, trustworthy. That's what He wanted from Adam in the Garden, and that is what He wants now - for us to take Him at His Word. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9.

So, "seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near."