FOOD: WHEN SEEKING GOD EARLY BECOMES TOO LATE
By: Pastor Toye Ebijomore
(Founder & General Overseer, GABCI)
Text: Proverbs 1:28 – “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”
Last weekend we ate from the table that God honours those who seek Him early. He said, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” Proverbs 8:17.
But this weekend the text shows us a sobering truth: there comes a point when “early” seeking no longer brings an answer.
This happens when disobedience silences heaven.
Proverbs 1:22-25 speaks about people who hated knowledge, despised reproof, refused God’s counsel, and ignored His call to seek Him early:
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Verses 26-28 reveal the consequence of ignoring God’s call:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.
Think of it like this: A father or mother warns a child repeatedly, teaches, corrects, and calls. The child hates instruction, rejects counsel, and disregards every call. Later, when trouble comes, the child knocks at the door early in the morning demanding help and insisting the parent must respond.
How would you feel? Your reaction would mirror God’s reaction in verses 26-28:
- You would say, “Can you see yourself now? Did I not warn you?”
- You would not answer immediately. You would say, “Go and solve it yourself.”
That is what “they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me” means. Disobedience has silenced heaven, and seeking “early” has become too late.
But there is another side: You can seek Him early, yet your life opposes His presence. Early seeking without obedience is empty.
As a Christian, you can be first to arrive, first to pray, first to sing, but if you are living in known disobedience, heaven remains silent and gives no answer.
Eat the scroll this weekend and live rightly by:
- Avoiding disobedience to God’s call to serve Him rightly
- Avoiding coming grudgingly into God’s presence
- Avoiding bitterness in your heart
- Avoiding secret sin while pretending in His presence
- Avoiding anger at correction and the rebellion of telling God how He should correct you
God is not mocked Galatians 6:7. Early arrival does not cover up a rebellious heart. Repent first, then seek Him.
Psalm 66:18 – “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
May the Lord interpret this message deeply to you in Jesus’ name.
PRAYER
- Lord, help me to serve You devotedly, committedly, truthfully, and faithfully, in Jesus’ name.
- Lord God, don’t let it be too late for me to find Your presence, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
