Sunday, April 8, 2012

The world's gone crazy.......So where's God?

   As we look around at a world that has seemingly gone mad, it's natural to ask "Where is God?"

   Do you ever remember days like these at any point in our lives? As you look out at the world around you, have you ever felt such an incredible sense of hopelessness that we, as a world, will ever be able to turn this thing around?

   So, where is God?

   The only way I can possibly explain what I know to be true is to speak of my own experiences. After all, I can't teach what I haven't lived. Doing so would smack of hypocrisy and dishonesty. I don't ever want to do that, especially here.

   Some of you who read this have only known me a few years. Some only a few months. Others have known me a very long time, while a few have known me for most of my life. You've seen me make absolutely horrible decisions, and defend my doing so in spite of your concerns. You've seen me become a victim of my own blindness. You've also seen me make very good decisions. You know I'm not mentally unstable...........well.........for the most part, anyway.

   What I have experienced first-hand in my life is what happens when we try to search for real-life outside of God. You've seen this. You've felt for me as those decisions were made. And if you're honest, you've done some of the same things in your life. Maybe not along the same lines or to the same extent, but you've done so.

   My intentions were, for the most part, good. I never wanted to do myself or anyone else any harm. I always wanted to get along with others, and I've always been genuinely happy when things have gone well for others. But with every effort I made, every direction I pursued, I was simply trying to find what it was that made me happy...........I never found it in the world..........And I was never genuinely "happy."

   Over the course of this weekend, I thought a lot about the disciples just after Jesus's crucifixion. Before He was raised from the dead............There was a delay. He didn't die, and then spring back to life. They had a full 24 hours to contemplate everything they had experienced, everything they had seen, everything they had believed. They had left their homes to follow this "Messiah," who was now dead. They had gone to great lengths to try to get others to believe they were doing the right thing by following Him.................Suddenly, He was gone, along with any hope that what they had believed so strongly in was even true.

   How could they now return to the life they once knew? They had sworn that off to follow the Messiah. If they weren't killed for following Him, they would surely become the laughingstock of their communities.

   But on the 3rd day, He rose........That's the "game-changer" of all game changers. It was completely unexpected. It was absolutely unthinkable.......But it happened, giving them not only an incredible sense of hope in their future, but also giving them an intense desire to remember all that He had told them......I would've loved to have been there for some of the conversations that must have followed amongst them. I'm certain that revelation after revelation came to them as they remembered His words. I'm sure that these were some of the words that rang in their minds:

 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
   “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me." John 14:27-31

   This is where I find myself now. I've seen what God has done in my life. I've literally seen miracles unfold before me. I've seen circumstances that seemed impossible to overcome change with the blink of an eye, completely out of nowhere, and due to no effort or planning on my part. In short, I've found "peace." Not from the world or the pursuit of happiness, but in seeking God in spite of my many flaws and mistakes. It occured to me over the weekend that, for the past 3 years, my life has not had this "master plan" that I've been working toward. I have been far from perfect by any sense of the word. But I've tried to get up every day and ask just one question. "God, what would you have me do today?"

   During that time, I've heard bad news. I've been heart-broken. I've been disappointed. I've lost friends. I've experienced the very same things that many of you have, because I'm still human, and I still live in the same world that you do. It's a tough world, and it's a hard life.

   But something else has occured to me. As I was simply asking what I should do on this day, many areas of my life have come together in ways I never would've dreamed. I sat at my dining room table just yesterday, and realized that for the first time in my life, everything I'm heavily involved in is incredibly positive. Through various sources, I am now making a regular habit of feeding the mind, body, and soul. I'm reading a lot, (mind) I'm excercizing regulary, (body) and praying continually. (soul)

   Am I perfect? Not by any means. But I know this: As I've looked to God every day for direction in that day alone, He has taken each of those individual days and strung them together in a way that created an incredibly beautiful tapestry in my life.

   That, my friends, is the Christian life. It's not about being perfect, or even less, imagining that you are. It's not about looking down upon others because they do things you disapprove of. It's not about putting a long list of rules in front of us about what we can or can't do. It's about coming to the conclusion that, even on our best day, we can't even come close to knowing what's really best for us as God knows it to be, and asking for His guidance in doing those things "today."

   So, where is God? He's standing right in front of you, asking you to give up on believing that politics, finances, people, or even religion itself will make things right in your world. He's asking you to start today in calling Him Lord, trusting in Him, and believing in Him.

   I know what that simple step has brought about in my life. Has it been pain-free? Absolutely not. Has it been without trials? Not even close. But just as the disciples arrived at the tomb to find that He had risen, the hope that taking that step - both for today as well as for eternity - is absolutely unspeakable. And the best part?.............It's absolutely free.

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