Monday, August 21, 2017

Finding God

Monday, August 21, 2017
If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  Jeremiah 29:13(NLT)
Jeremiah’s message is a great comfort to those who are earnestly seeking to know God.  And especially comforting to those who still have many questions about who God is, and how you can be certain you’re finding him among all the clamoring voices in the world proclaiming they have the truth.
Have you ever felt like the Roman centurion who came to Jesus about healing his critically-ill child?  Jesus asked him if he believed, because that was important. 
The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”  
Mark 9:24(NLT)
C.S. Lewis took on many of humanity’s questions about God, because he was a brilliant thinker who wouldn’t settle for someone else’s faith; he had to struggle (as do we all) with doubt and fear that he might miss God.  Much of this comes out in his writings.
This is what we see in his children’s Narnia fantasy series.  In The Last Battle one of the characters who has been serving Tash (the enemy of the lion, Aslan, representing Jesus) comes face to face with the true king:
…in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. . . . He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert.  Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honor) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him.  Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him.  But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, ‘Son, thou art welcome.’  But I said, ‘Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash.’  He answered, ‘Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.’  Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one?  The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false.  Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him.  For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him.  Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him.  And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.  Dost thou understand, Child?  I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand.  But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days.  Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly.  For all find what they truly seek.”[2]
In Genesis Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers; years later when they met Joseph had the upper hand and his brothers stood trembling before him.  Joseph had Pharaoh’s authority to have them all put to death immediately.  But he said:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.  Genesis 50:20(NLT)
They didn’t deserve that…but neither do I deserve God’s kindness.

For You Today

If you haven’t worked out the last detail of who God is, and whether you’ve got it all together how to have a relationship with him…but you’re hot after that, you’re seeking God with all you’ve got…try to relax and breathe a little in the knowledge that you will always seek, until the day you see Him face to face. 
And what a surprise and joy that will be!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!


[1] Title Image: Courtesy Pixabay.com
[2] The Last Battle. Copyright © 1956 by C. S. Lewis Pte., Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1984 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With Aslan: Daily Reflections from The Chronicles of Narnia. Copyright © 2010 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Extracts taken from The Chronicles of Narnia. Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. 1950-1956.  Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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