Found and Found out?
If you know me at all you will know you don’t need to be around me long before I start quoting C.S. Lewis. And Elder Don’s message this past Sunday soon got me reflecting on Lewis’ words on encountering the Living God…
It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. “Look out!” we cry, “it’s alive.” And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back—I would have done so myself if I could—and proceed no further with Christianity. An “impersonal God”—well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads—better still. A formless life- force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap—best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband—that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us! – C.S. Lewis, Miracles
It takes a humbled, broken heart to experience God in this way, and if its not humbled and broken already the Lord has His ways of making it so:
● With King Hezekiah it was a deathbed realization (2 Kings 20:1-11).
● For Nebuchadnezzar it was a seven year season in the wilds. (Dan. 4:28-37).
● For Thomas it was Christ’s nail-scarred hands (John 20:24-29).
● For Saul it was that instant itself of direct revelation (Acts 9:1-19).
And for you?
When Paul reasoned with the Greeks he told them God was not in their statues and idols, but God was their Creator and He is everywhere waiting for people to simply “seek him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27).
Jesus said, “Seek and you will find.” (Matt. 7:7-8).
Jeremiah proclaimed, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13).
Often we do not find God because we do not want to be found. We do not want our sin exposed. We know that if we are found by God we will also be found out! But that day will come. It comes to us all – eventually.
Will you, as C.S. Lewis writes, “suddenly draw back?” Or will you seek Him now? Will you find Him, or will He find you?
More tomorrow…
thebrokenrunner 
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