Seek Unto God Betimes

Job 8:5-6

If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

What you seek after first in times of trouble reveals who or what you truly trust. Our first response to trouble ought to be to seek God. Sadly, many have a habit of making their first response to run and hide, or to run to a vice to get relief from their troubles. What many have not learned is that vices and running and hiding from troubles have never fixed one problem. Bildad said that the way to make it through troubles was found in seeking God first in your time of trouble. You will notice that he said, If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes… The word betimes means early. In other words, seek God early, and He will help you. There are five times in your life when you should seek God betimes or early.

First, seek God early in your life. Early in life is the best time to put God first. As a youth, don’t wait until later in life to start seeking God if you want Him to work in your life. The best time in life to start seeking God is early. As soon as you get saved, start seeking God. Don't wait until the troubles are great to start seeking Him, but seek Him before the troubles come in life. I am thankful that I had parents who taught me to seek God early in my life because it salvaged me from experiencing the heartache the world would have brought to my life had I sought the world first.

Second, seek God early in the day. You will find that God will be much more present in your day if you spend time with Him first thing in the morning. Don't wait until the end of the day to start seeking God, and don't wait until you are facing troubles in your day to start seeking Him; rather, seek Him at the beginning of your day so He will already be there when you face troubles. Seeking God early in the morning sets the tone that you will include Him in every aspect of your day.

Third, seek God early in troubles. Don't wait for the troubles to break you down to start seeking God, but at the very onset of troubles, run to God in prayer. I am reminded of Hezekiah who did not wait for the sickness he faced to destroy his health before he started seeking God; rather, he immediately went to God for healing as soon as the sickness hit his body. You would be wise to swallow your pride at the onset of sickness to seek God in prayer and to follow the Scriptural model of going to be anointed with oil as you ask for God's healing.

Fourth, seek God early in plans. Whatever your plans are, be sure to quickly get God involved in those plans. God wants to be involved in the plans you have for life, and you will be surprised how much insight he will give you into those plans if you will see Him early. Don't wait until the plans have crumbled to start seeking God, but seek Him as you are putting the plans together so that He can give you the wisdom you need to make those plans a success.

Fifth, seek God early in pursuits. At the beginning of every pursuit, spend time with God asking for His blessings on the pursuit and His power to help you to accomplish the pursuit. If what you are doing is a worthy pursuit, you will have no issue with asking God in prayer to bless your pursuit. Every part of a pursuit is critical to its success; therefore, seek God early in your pursuits, and you will have God's hand on every aspect of them to your success.