Get Your Goat On

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

A few weeks ago I was driving our motor home in an area new to us and passed by a small pasture area. I am an animal lover, so the presence of pretty much any kind of four-legged furry friend captures my attention. This particular image was quick as I saw just two goats and two cows at a central feeding area. What caught my eye though was one of the goats – I love goats; particularly spunky little pygmies. These however were larger white goats with horns and the one caught my eye because he was full body into the feed area, with his head burrowed so deep that you could not even see his face. While the other goat and the cows pulled out a little “hay” and munched it, this guy was pressing in for the better stuff. Maybe it was a little sweeter or had a little more moisture than the easily accessible feed, but it was worth getting stabbed in the face, eyes tightly shut, straw in the nose, to dig in.

In that brief moment, I simply thought, “Abba, that is how I want to be in Your Word and in relationship with you.”

In restoring Israel from exile, we know the very popular verse, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). That passage continues though with “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you . . .” (11-14a; emphasis added). This verse 13 is a life verse for me that constantly challenges me to seek God with all my heart, setting aside anything that would be an idol that robs my time and focus from Him and all that He wants to be in my life.

Take this little image of a tenacious, horned white goat who wanted more and was willing to stick his face in the poky straw in order to get it!