FINDING A FINDABLE GOD
|
It might seem that God and humanity keep missing each other.
It is one of the dynamics of that broken relationship between us—from God’s lonely walk that evening in the garden of Eden while Adam and Eve hid to all the times that human beings have longed for God and expressed frustrations at His seeming silence or absence, particularly in times of need or trouble. While the approach of God might make us nervous, one of our greatest human fears is that we are left alone, that God either has never been more than an abstract explanation or fairy story, or that He has abandoned us to the uncertainties and fragility of our lives. However, God insists across the Bible that He is never too hard to find.
“I publicly proclaim bold promises,” He told the people of Isaiah’s day. “I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found” (Isaiah 45:19, NLT). God was available, interested, and courageous in His vulnerability to His people—and to any people who would truly seek Him. This was also a marker of who Jesus was, what He was about, and how He conducted His ministry. At His trial, Jesus alluded to this verse in response to questions from the high priest: “I have spoken openly to the world. . . . I said nothing in secret” (John 18:20). While this might seem a careful answer to questions that were trying to draw Jesus into self-incrimination, the reality was that His answer was a claim to be God.
Although His statement drew a sharp response from His questioners, even as He suffered, it was a reminder that He was “God with us” (Matthew 1:23)—a God who is not hard to find for those who seek Him and who is working to restore the relationship between God and humanity.
