Do you believe in God?
Do you understand the world?
If you believe in God, can you fathom how He is working in the world?
When I look around at the world we live in, there is so much that is anti-God. So much suffering. So much dishonesty. So much selfishness. So much death. It is overwhelming and disheartening.
Looking inside is not much better. I find all sorts of things inside that are just as distressing.
My lack of understanding can really get me depressed.
I am sure I am not alone in this, so I want to share a “ray of light” that has helped me.
The ancient book of Jeremiah, chapter 9, verses 23-24 says that I should be able to boast in knowing and understanding God. In fact, it warns against boasting in riches, or wisdom, or strength. These are all the things men usually like to boast about. But knowing and understanding God? Really? We are finite and God is infinite. And yet I find comfort in this verse because God’s word says it is possible.
So how do you get to know and understand God? I guess it is a simple but never ending journey. Jesus, when He was on earth, says that if we have seen him we have seen the Father. So getting to know Jesus is the same as getting to know God.
The world was a mess when Jesus was here, just as it is today. And He had a lot to say about it, even though He taught us to live in a larger and more eternal context. He says a lot about seeking to know God. Jesus tells us to seek FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and that then we will receive everything else we need.
And yet, from God’s perspective, nobody seeks Him on their own.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,2
who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good, not even one.
(Psalm 14)
And then there is Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, who set out to understand God. In Ecclesiates 7, this is what he concluded:
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out MANY SCHEMES.
Many schemes?? LOL. That sounds about right. It pretty much sums up the world! Man and his many schemes.
But we do not need to despair.
Jesus says that HE came to give life. As He says, to give it MORE ABUNDANTLY!
CS Lewis described us as playing in mud puddles, and refusing a trip to the beach, because we thought we were happy in the mud. But we are really not happy in the mud. We need and want the trip to the beach!
Seek the more abundant life! Seek to understand and know God. If you are discouraged, or confused, or exhausted, or fearful, there is an answer to be found. We humans have big problems, but Jesus came to be the solution.
!
