Isaiah 55:6-9

Seek God while he may be found,

call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked abandon their path,

and the unrighteous their ways of thinking;

let them turn and face the Lord,

so that God may have mercy on them,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways,” These are Gods words.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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Seek. Find. Turn. Mercy.

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It seems that God is always wanting to be sought…

Throughout the scriptural witness when people are in trouble, are lost, are trapped in injustice, are committing injustice….

God says to them, “Look for me! I’m right here!”

Even in the New Testament this thread is strung through.

“Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.”

.   .   .   .

David heard about a treasure…

(Not that David, a different one, from California)

Rumor had it that after a bank robbery, back in the 20s, the thieves had tossed their gold bars in to a cave which

unbeknownst to them had a deep and cavernous

underground well of water in the back of it

Since that time, a number of people

The authorities, Treasure hunters, Historians

Had searched the caves near Redding, Califiornia

To no avail.

Dave wanted to avail, and he was always seeking to learn

And to adventure.

. . .

So he and a friend found the cave that most people were sure was

The cave.

It had this little puddle of water at the back, which turned out to be hundreds of feet deep. Hundreds.

What had happened, they hypothesized, was that the thieves had tossed their gold into the back of this cave and it had sank so far down that no one had ever been able to find it.

To find this gold, they decided, they would build a contraption that would have a light and a video camera, which would drop down to the bottom of this cave and they’d see if the gold was there. These devices, they found out, already existed. They’re called ROVs, remote operated vehicles. They’re used by oceanographers and geologists, and they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. David did not have hundreds of thousands of dollars… but he was gonna find that gold.

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Seek. Find. Turn. Mercy.

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Seek God while he may be found,

call upon her for while she is near;

 .  .  .

I don’t know about you, but when I read passages like this

And I hear God asking to be sought,

My gut response is often… ‘Can’t you just show yourself?

‘Can’t you just reveal yourself?’

Couldn’t God just do the pillar of cloud or fire thing?

The burning bush thing?

The showing up and gettin’ it done thing?

. . . .

Fast forward four years.

. . .

David has gathered a whole team of friends, and an entire online community who are helping him to build this ROV out of practically hardware store parts. Techies, oceanographers, engineers, and other do-it-yourselfers, have all pitched in and basically open sourced an ROV that anyone could make in their own garage. He’s made 20 different prototypes and finally they’re ready to take it to the Hill City cave and send it down, nearly 300 feet.

By the time David and his friends get to the cave to test the their creation, they had nearly forgotten about the gold. In fact, as the machine slipped through the tightest narrows and into the never-before-seen vast underwater cavern, the cheers that erupted from those gathered were not for gold (they never found any gold) but were instead because they had found something more…

Something deeper and wider.

Something bigger than themselves.

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Seek. Find. Turn. Mercy.

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Shuv… God says to us – Turn!

let the wicked abandon their path,

and the unrighteous their ways of thinking;

Let them turn towards God.

. . . .

I often wince when I read the bible at the words ‘wicked’… ‘evil ones’… ‘sinners’…

.   .   .   .

I know it’s just a knee-jerk from some of my earlier theological traumas. . . . When I hear them I have an individualistic response. It’s like I think they’re being used only to condemn, and only to condemn individuals. (which in a sense they are… but)

More often than not, especially in the prophets, they are condemning cultural practices, ways of doing life – systemic and widespread – that have to change. It doesn’t feel good, it’s not pretty, but the prophetic voice of God breaks in and says, “You’re going the wrong way! Turn around!” And we all say, “Who? Me?”. . . We don’t want to see the ways we are complicit in things being the way they are.

. . . .

There’s a short comic strip that’s been making the rounds on Facebook right now, and if I were technologically savvy I’d throw it up on a screen for you to see. . . but I’m not. . .

Maybe you’ve seen it.

It’s just two panels. In each of them a man is facing a crowd.

In the first, he says, “Who wants change?” and all the hands in the crowd are raised high.

In the next panel, he says, “Awesome! Who wants to change?” . . .

As you might guess, no ones hand is up.

. . . .

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying the prophet’s message is entirely communal, having nothing to do with the individual,

What I am saying… is that for a culture, a way of life – systemic and widespread – to change, individuals have to decide to do something different.

. . . .

If we want different outcomes,

if we want justice,

if we want peace,

if we want black lives to matter,

if we want women to be empowered,

if we want the sick to be made well instead of made broke,

if we want the homeless to be housed,

If we want “security fences” (like Berlin Walls) to come down,

If we want the hungry to be fed instead of choked,

if we want different outcomes . . .

we have to do. something. different.

we have to go in a new direction.

we have to shuv.

. . . . .

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Seek. Find. Turn. Mercy.

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let them turn and face the Lord,

so that God may have mercy on them,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

These four verbs occur, in this order, a number of times throughout the bible, especially in Deuteronomy . . . And every time, not surprisingly, God’s verb is ‘mercy, compassion.’

Sometimes the verb is given to us, in the passive… ‘be mercied, be compassioned.’ But God is always the actor, the initiator of mercy.

The echoes of meaning in this word are physical. It’s related to physical touch, a comforting touch to the sick.

. . .

I heard about a study this week that showed that good hugs from loved ones or trusted friends, can actually help you get over a cold faster.

. . .

A healing touch.

God’s mercy is healing and loving.

Seek me, God says, because I have healing for you.

Find me, God says, because I have comfort for you.

Turn your face towards me, God says, because I can see a better way for you.

God doesn’t ask to be sought out of some need to be desired,

or out of ego,

. . . .

God asks us to seek… because God’s power is not coercive but creative, sacrificial,

inviting, and empowering love.

. . . .

God asks us to find

not because we will find the answers,

But because in the process of seeking, as David ‘the gold hunter’ and his crew discovered,

we find deeper, and wider, and more meaningful life together.

. . . .

God asks us to turn

Not because we will be saved by our own turning,

But because in the process of turning,

We become co-creators of God’s coming kingdom.

. . . .

Seek. Find. Turn.

So that our God may have mercy on us.

Our God, who abundantly offers healing touch.

Alleluia, Amen.

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Resources Consulted:

BibleWorks

Strong’s Concordance

“How Can We Open Source Our Oceans” from Ted Radio Hour: NPR, 23 October 2015

‘Isaiah 55 and Deuteronomic Theology’ by Walter Brueggemann in Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft: Volume 80: Issue 2. 1968.