Where Is God?
LYSA TERKEURST
“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you.
You will seek me and find me /when you seek me with all
your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 (NIV)
I’m asked lots of questions when I meet people at conferences.
Practical questions …
“How did you get started speaking and writing?”
Heart-wrenching questions …
“How did you forgive those who hurt you so much?”
Hard questions …
“Why would God let this happen?”
Honest questions …
“How can I find God, and connect with Him in the midst of my everyday life?”
It’s that last question that compels me to do what I do every day.
It’s what brings me to sit at the computer and tangle with words and
truths and vulnerable admissions. It’s what compels me to split my heart
wide open and let people see the not-so-great stuff about me, mixed
with the gracious goodness of God.
Because if I can help a soul find an authentic, honest way to connect with God, all the other questions will settle down a bit. Wait more patiently. Maybe decide () it’s okay if they go unanswered.
Connection with God is such a deeply personal and uniquely individual
process. Surely it can’t be reduced to three points and a poem. But
there are two words that stir me. Move me. Show me. Propel me. Two words
I hear Jesus saying over and over: “’Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19a, HCSB).
* “Three points and a Poem” means that the preacher makes three points and then ends with a poem.
Tucked within these two words, three syllables, 8 letters is the wild secret of a deep connection with God.
If we want to know God, we have to abide in Him.
How do we abide in Him?
Follow His instructions.
Follow His heart.
Follow His example.
Not just follow along /as we mindlessly repeat the words of the Jesus songs and scribble some notes during the pastor’s sermon.
No.
Really follow. Follow hard. Follow passionately. Follow fully. Follow with engaged minds and willing hearts and open hands and ready feet.
And where can we start this kind of all-out following?
By asking God to let us see Him.
When we pray, we invite the divine presence of the Almighty God to do
life with us that day. Watch for Him. Look for Him. Make the connection
of things //that happen /as direct evidence of His hand at work.
In us. Around us. In spite of us.
Ask Him to help you see His activity /as you seek to follow more fully. And He will.
Rest assured () God isn’t trying to hide from us. He is waiting to be seen by us.
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you. You will seek me and find me and find me when you seek me
with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:12-13).
Father God, oh how my heart longs for an ever-deepening
connection with You. Thank You that You aren’t hiding from me. Thank You
that Your heart isn’t to frustrate me or confuse me. You respond to my
seeking. You draw near to me when I draw near to You. Teach me what it
means to follow hard after You. And open my eyes to see You as I’ve
never seen You before. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.