And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. — Luke 19:5
It is no secret that many people looked for Jesus when He walked this earth. That is the story we find here in Luke, where a man named Zacchaeus wanted to simply see Jesus. Scripture tells us that he was not able to see Jesus because he was short.
So Zacchaeus decided to climb up into a tree. No one told him to get into the tree. No one said it was a good idea. But Zacchaeus made the decision that seeing Jesus was the most important thing he could do at that moment in time.
A lot of people in this world claim to be looking for God, but they seem to be looking in the wrong places. He isn’t found in the possessions and sins of this world. Zacchaeus knew exactly where to look for Jesus, but little did he know what was about to happen.
We find that Jesus specifically looked up, right at Zacchaeus, and said for him to get out of the tree that there was something for Zacchaeus to do that was more important than simply looking at Jesus. Zacchaeus sincerely wanted to see Jesus. Jesus, knowing this, looked straight at Zacchaeus with a plan for him.
If we sincerely look for God in our lives, I believe just like Zacchaeus we can find Him looking for us. The interesting thing is that it is all on where you focus. Had Zacchaeus been looking a different way, or climbed a different tree, perhaps he would have missed Jesus that day.
Rather than looking for God in all the places that we know he is not, perhaps we need to turn our focus to where He is. Perhaps we find Him looking for us with a plan and purpose for our lives we never expected.