“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
— Jeremiah 17:10

The Lord says His eyes are roaming to and fro across the earth looking for somebody who will love Him (2 Chron. 16:9). You see, there is a paradox, a tension. On the one hand, God is sovereign. He does what He will with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and He chooses individuals to bear fruit for His kingdom. Yet God gives us free will. He did not make us robots, because He wants us to choose to love Him.

Here in Jeremiah 17:10 the Lord is saying He is looking to see how we will respond to Him because how we respond to Him determines how He responds to us. Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him” (John 14:21). God’s response to us is directly connected to our response to Him.

The Lord is looking for you to choose Him—to choose to love Him and to be faithful to Him. He wants you to stay connected to Him through prayer. He wants you to cry out to Him when you are in need and obey His Word. God isn’t looking for you to be perfect. He just wants you to keep reaching out to Him. As you do, God’s favor is going to rest upon your life. He is going to respond to you as you respond to Him. This is why Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).

This was a hard truth for me to accept. I wanted to think everything I experienced in life depended on God, but I had to realize that some of what God does depends on me. I want to encourage you today to accept this responsibility to be accountable to God. Love Him not in your flesh but by the power of His Spirit. As you give yourself to Him and do your best to put Him first, He is going to do something marvelous in your life.

Father God, I realize that You give to each of us according to our ways. Give me a heart that says yes to You and seeks You first. If there is anything unlike You in my heart, I ask that You expose it and root it out. I pray, Lord, that when You look at me, You find me pleasing.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Revelation (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2020), Used by permission.