Seeking the answer…
It started over ten years ago when a friend and I started a religious conversation. He was having trouble understanding the concept of God and His existence. He stated something to the effect “If is God is real, He needs to come down here, sit down if front of me and tell me exactly what He wants from me, why doesn’t He do that?”
I didn’t know what to say, but I wasn’t going to just give up trying to find an answer to that question. Certainly there are other people that feel the same way. This question can really affect the way some one perceives God; this is a bold question. After several years of reading the Bible and prayer, this is what God revealed to me.
On a side note, when I talk about conversation, prayer, and revealing pertaining to God, I don’t want to leave the impression I have ever heard Gods voice, because I haven’t heard His physical voice. God has sent an advocate in the Holy Spirit to guide us through signs which lead us on a spiritual path to Him, which I believe is true.
Giving up control and allowing God to guide us shows the amount of faith we have in God. Often we feel we need to take charge and be in control, but we really aren’t really in charge or control. The best things that have happened in my life are not of my making or control, but the bad choices can be traced to ME and God has allowed me to learn from them.
In answering part of my friend’s question pertaining to God coming down here “face to face” I looked at some examples in the Bible. Moses and Paul were both physically affected by God sightings. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai he had physically aged from receiving the 10 commandments from God. When Saul was on the road to Damascus he was physically blinded for 3 days and changed his name to Paul turning from persecutor of Christians to advocate for Jesus.
Did they both see God? Maybe a glimpse, thus causing the aging and blindness, but I don’t think it is impossible for our flesh to handle God’s grace and power; therefore, we are not able to see him while we are in the flesh.
Another example is the Ark of the Covenant the Israelites took into battle. Other nations were plundered by the power or the Ark while the Israelites possessed it. If you remember the movie Raiders of the lost Ark when the Germans opened the Ark anyone that looked at its contents were destroyed.
With that in mind, that limits our chances of meeting God face to face while we are in the flesh, but what about “God tell me exactly what you want from me?”
How many of you have deadlines in your job? How many have a schedule of tasks to do? How many of you have had a big test in school? How many of you have run a race? There are many life “tests”. Our lives could consist of tests God gives us every day, are you passing or even know what His will may be?
I watched the end of an Iron man race (swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a marathon) where 2 women were trying to finish. Both were so exhausted and cramped up they could not stand up. They were both so close to finishing, but yet were physically worn out. It was hard to watch as their bodies would not function; finally one of them crawled across the finish line only to totally collapse. She did finish and quit just past the finish line.
What is the first thing you do when you complete a task in your life? What is the first thing a runner does after crossing the finish line? Quit, rest, and relax. Many times we don’t ever want to do it again, especially if it was really difficult.
What is the answer to the question “why we don’t know?” Knowing our destiny before we live life would remove the need for living. Let’s say God told me I was going to live 25 years and you would die on Friday, May 25th. I would start making a schedule of things I need to do and have a great effect on what I did. That would limit my freedom to live knowing when my time was finished, but many of us long for that kind of control and would welcome it.
Why is free choice so important? God cannot know our true heart if we are manipulated by fact. Does God want us to seek Him of our own free will, not manipulated to seek Him? That is why we cannot know Gods plan for us, because we would quit, rest, and relax and it would alter how we would live. Again, how can God get a true test of our heart if we are manipulated?
Our flesh will perish at the finish line of our journey on earth. Will our spirit continue on; will our sprit have eternal possibilities if we seek a spiritual journey on a path to God? That is the question and where faith begins…
Finding this path requires seeking God to understand His perfect will. Once accepting God to be in control of your life He may test you. There may be times when you think God has forsaken you and what is happening to you is unfair, will we find out later the meaning of the test? I think yes, as a reward for seeking God and having a pure heart.
If we look at our journey through life we can reflect on times when we were tested by God. We often stumble and fall, but weather we get back up and continue to seek God afterwards is a true test of our heart and shows Him our courage, faith, and desire with a pure heart as a result.
The finish line for your flesh will come at a time you will not know, but Jesus teaches us that your spirit can go on and He has prepared a place in heaven by His father. The promise of eternal life provides for our spirit to live on, but if no time is spent nurturing your spirit it will surely perish. Just as an unattended garden turns to weeds.
To run the race of life you must train by seeking the Lord our God and feeding your soul with spiritual food by abiding in what Jesus teaches in the Bible.
When it is your time to face God, do you want him to say “who are you?” Unless you seek Him how will He know who you are?
