“Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals'” (Revelation 5:5).
The search for God has become an industry. Books, videos, seminars, tapes, religious pilgrimages—all of these cash in on something totally valid and very meaningful: in every heart there is an empty spot which can be filled only by God Himself.
When our first father, Adam, turned his back on God, something within died, something which can be revived and renewed only by God’s quiet, powerful presence. The fact is there is a universal hunger for God; it’s an indication that God wants to satisfy that hunger as well.
So, what’s wrong with the books, the tapes, the seminars and all of the pilgrimages? Well, the problem is they market the quest or the search rather than focus on the solution. We’re selling the sizzle of the steak in the skillet without ever allowing folks to sink their teeth into the juicy, succulent meat.
For some folks the quest for God turns within—morbid introspection. It’s akin to searching for something in a dark room, with the lights out, when the object of your search isn’t there anyway. God is never found within, but what is often discovered is a cesspool of dark thoughts, of lust and hatred and evil. Jeremiah, who knew a lot about human nature, said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Others search for God in the obituaries. The God they are seeking is not alive and is not interactive. He may have been the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but not the God of the twenty-first century. The God they envision is either too old, too disinterested, or too far away to know and worship. The one they are searching for isn’t the God who raised His Son from the dead, the one who says, “Call unto me and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV). The chronicles of the living God aren’t recorded in the obituaries. They are being written in the lives of ordinary people today.
Vast numbers of other people simply search for God in the wrong places, and when a religious system or a strong cult-like personality or a distorted Bible is the basis of your search, you’re bound to come up with grasping hands and an empty heart.
So where do you find God? Anyone who comes to the foot of the cross which Roman soldiers erected outside the city of Jerusalem on that dark day when Jesus was crucified will discover his search for God is over. The cross is the intersection of time and eternity, of mortal man and invisible God, of our sins and God’s forgiveness. It is through what Jesus did that you will find God and make peace with Him. In the week before He went to the cross Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man comes to the father but through me” (John 14:6).
Interested in finding God? Then take a Bible, turn to the Gospel of John, and start reading. John focuses on who Jesus Christ is—how He was sent from God to take us by the hand and to lead us back to the Father from whom we strayed. In simple, graphic scenes you will read of a God who loves you. Who sent His son to show you the way back home.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart,” God told His people long ago. It is still true.
Now a final thought: Once you have found Him, stop searching! Embrace Him, enjoy Him, celebrate new life in Christ. It’s finding, not searching, that really counts.
Resource reading: Revelation 19:11-16.
