I answer with a question, “Well, have you asked God himself?” My response is so simple, they sometimes get offended, mistaking simplicity for sarcasm. But I'm very serious: Do you actually stop, get still, get quiet and ask God? More often than not, many answer, “No.”
Are we so busy we deceive ourselves into believing we talk to God when we are only talking about God???The difference is that talking to God is a conversation and if we want an answer, we have to willing to sit through the silence long enough to wait for one. We have to listen and not talk. We need to seek his response with our ears, not our mouth.
If you are anything like me, that is a trying experience and usually very frustrating. How do I listen for a voice I can’t hear? How do I spend time with someone I can’t see, hear, touch, or feel? And if I can’t see him or at least hear him, he must not be around. ….or is He?
If you believe the Bible is true and that it is the word of God, then you believe “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:8). He’s everywhere, is He not? He’s omnipresent! So why do we often feel unanswered and alone, choosing to talk to our tangible friends (who can hug us and comfort us) rather than God himself?
First, we must realize we are used to using our physical senses (sight, sound, touch, smell) and not our spirits. We are weak to sense God’s presence in the flesh. Second, the scripture says God hides himself (Isaiah 45:15). But why hide himself from us? Doesn’t he love us?
I do not have the whole answer because only God himself has the right to explain why he does what he does. But I believe our understanding begins in Deuteronomy 4:29, “If you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” And Psalm 14:2, “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”
And Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who EARNESTLY seek him.”
Have you every misplaced something? Your cars keys? Your mobile phone? Your wallet or ATM card? How earnestly do you look for those missing items? What is your desperation level to find your car keys when you are already late? Is leaving them “unfound” an option?
Most likely not! We can’t drive without our keys and we can’t function without our phones. So why do we think we can find answers without asking the Creator himself? Why are we ok with leaving God unfound?
God…being wise…will let us wonder aimlessly until we realize we are lost without him. And he will remain quiet until we truly seek him. Before you allow your feelings to be hurt, ask yourself if you have you ever been in a relationship with someone who didn’t reciprocate. Maybe they didn’t seem to want to hang out with you as much as you did them. Or have you ever had one of those so-called friends who you always had to call but they never called you? It didn’t feel good, did it?
If we, who were created in God’s likeness, feel the sting of being unwanted, wouldn’t God feel that sting too? Wouldn’t it hurt his heart when he knows we need him but chose to go it on our own?
So God, in all his wisdom, hides himself so we must seek him to find...earnestly. And he promises that when we seek, we shall find (1 Chronicles 15:15). He is never really gone and never far away. For God is a God of love and He desires to have a covenant with you…a living relationship. A REAL living, breathing, feeling, hearing, speaking, loving relationship. If Moses and Abraham can walk WITH God, so can we! But we must seek…earnestly until we find him, showing him we need him…we want him and we simply can’t live without him.
Ask over and over. Push. Wait in silence until he answers. Seek him, with all your heart and he promises he will show himself to you (John 14:21). “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me” (Prov 8:17).
