Seeking or Settled: Staying Hungry for God in a Comfortable World

"Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!" — 1 Chronicles 16:11 (ESV)

Back on December 11, 2012, I jotted down something my friend and mentor Scott Engelman said — I didn't want to forget it: "Jesus went to people searching for God; He didn't focus on people content with life." That's not to say Jesus didn't love people content in life, or wasn't willing to die for them — He was. It just means He sought after people whose hearts were open and searching for Him.

And that reality still grips me today. It poses a deep question we should all ponder: if Jesus walked through my ordinary week, would He find me searching for Him — or would He find me comfortable, satisfied, and content without Him?

So, what does it even mean to seek God continually, as the verse says? Does reading my Bible each morning count? That's a good start — but I suspect it's deeper than a box I check. Maybe it's learning to look for Him in everything a day holds: the tasks, the conversations, the interruptions, the quiet, the noise. Not something to do, but a posture to carry.

And here's where things get a little uncomfortable for me. Is it wrong to be content? No — Scripture calls contentment a gift, and Paul learned to be content in any circumstance. So why the knock on contentment? Because there's a second kind we need to watch for — one that isn't godly at all. It's a quiet self-sufficiency that no longer feels its need for God. And I wonder whether living where I do — with such excess, such beauty, such easy comfort — makes that second kind almost invisible to me. When those things are simply the air I breathe, it's easy to stop feeling my need for the One who holds it all.

Contrast this with the Psalms — full of desperate, all-in people seeking after God, people gripped by struggle, grief, fear, and loss. That's no coincidence. The people who sought God hardest were often the ones with the least ease and comfort. Their need was obvious, and so was their hunger. Do you feel that hunger today?

Years ago, my family built schools for kids in Nicaragua in memory of my late sister. It was there my dad watched a group of them play soccer barefoot on a gravel field — and couldn't get over how happy they were, even joyful. How could kids with so little be so full of joy? He came to learn the answer: these were followers of Jesus. They had almost nothing, but they had Him, and that was everything. Their need was great and undisguised, and it drove them straight to the Lord. Theirs was the good kind of contentment — not the comfortable kind that quietly forgets God, but the kind that clings to Him because He is everything.

But here's what I don't want to miss: the seeking goes both ways. First, Jesus comes looking for us — "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). His pursuit always runs ahead of ours. But He also makes an extraordinary promise to those who respond by seeking Him: "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8). God loves everyone — but He gives Himself, in a special and intimate way, to those who truly want Him. And that's exactly why comfort is so dangerous. The person who's content in life, needing nothing, is quietly saying they don't need God either — and He doesn't force His nearness on someone who isn't reaching for it. Seek Him, and you'll find Him. Stop reaching, and you can drift a long way before you even notice He feels distant.

So I keep coming back to the question I asked earlier: if Jesus walked through my ordinary week, what would He find — a comfortable man who's stopped noticing his own hunger, or someone still searching, still reaching, still wanting more of Him?

Big Idea

God loves everyone, but He gives Himself especially to those who seek Him. Contentment can be a gift or a quiet sign we've stopped needing the Lord. The difference shows in whether we're still seeking Him.

Questions to Ponder

Before anything else, I want you to sit with a question that often goes unasked and unnoticed: when did you last feel a real need for God — not for something He could give you or do for you, but for Him? There's a difference. One says, "Lord, I need You to do this." The other says, "Lord, I need You — I need to feel close to You." If you can't easily remember, don't rush past that. Now come at it from another angle: what in your life is going well enough that you've quietly stopped feeling that need for Him? And hear this: the goal isn't to feel guilty about these things going well; it's simply to learn to recognize them and the quiet complacency they can bring.

Application

With your journal in hand, start where the questions left off: name the good things — the comforts, the wins, the ease — that have quietly muffled your need for God. Not with guilt, just honesty. Then do two things with them. First, turn each gift back toward the Giver: thank God for it by name until the comfort becomes a doorway to Him rather than a substitute for Him. Second, pray the harder prayer — ask Him to make you hungry: "Lord, I want to want You. Not just what You can do — You." That's a prayer He loves to answer. And this week, seek His presence once when nothing is wrong: not in crisis, not out of need, but simply to be near Him. The goal isn't to manufacture desperation — it's to keep reaching for Him.

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Before the Lord — a daily devotional by Blake S. Crawford. Read more and subscribe free at blakescrawford.com/before-the-lord.