How does one get to know God? How can we understand His ways? How can our hearts be completely His? Those are questions that many people would love to have an answer to, yet in the simplicity of the question lies the truth in what we seek. To know Him.. to understand Him and be so totally in love with Him is to DESIRE HIM!
The more we seek Him, the more we know Him, the more we know Him, the more we want Him, and the more we want Him, the more we love Him! It is that simple. Sadly however, many people will never desire God on the level of knowing Him personally as their Savior…their Friend or their Lord.
You see we can not love God merely on circumstances. For our circumstances can never be trusted to indicate with certainty what our actions should be or what God’s purposes are in how He chooses to move in our lives. In Ecc. 8:14-9:1 Solomon wrote about the futility in trying to determine God’s will on the basis of circumstances. Scripture only permits the child of God to be Shadrach’s, Meshach’s and Abednego’s… who’s life responses says to the world that our faith is great enough that we will trust God no matter what happens…for we know Him, and although we may not understand all His way, we trust Him, and our hearts are turned toward Him no matter the situation or outcome.
I once read a story about a young coal miner who because of his injuries in a mine accident became an invalid. Over the course of his life he watched as his friends raised their families, prospered and enjoyed life’s recreations. Many days passed as the young man watched others enjoy the rewards of having families, being able bodied to take care of their homes and provide for their loved ones and playing with grandchildren in which he knew that he would never have. He sat and watched as his body withered away, his house crumbled and the missed joy of having a family to comfort him in his old age.
One day a young man came to visit the old man. He had heard that the man was a lover of God and showed his strong faith by never wavering in all his tribulations. As he asks the old man, “How can you believe in God through such things, with all that has happened to you? Don’t you sometimes doubt God’s love for you?”
With that the old man smiled and then replied, “Yes, it is true. Sometimes satan comes calling on me in this old fallen down house of mine. He pulls up a chair and sits down beside me and begins his questions….he points out my window to the strong, still active men that I once worked with, and says, “Does Jesus love you? Then the devil will cast a jeering glance around my tattered room as he points to the fine homes that my friends across the street have and will say to me, “Does Jesus love you?”. Finally, satan points to the grandchild of a friend of mine, a man who has everything that I do not, and after I have shed a tear or two, satan will say, “Does Jesus really love you?”.
And what do you say when satan speaks to you like that, ask the young man. Said the old miner, “In my mind, I take satan by the hand and lead him to a hill called Calvary . There I point to the thorn tortured brow, to the nail pierced hands and feet, and to the spear wound in His side….then I ask satan, “Doesn’t Jesus love me?”
You see the cross is our confidence in God in spite of lifelong heartaches. Had any of us ever stood at the foot of the cross and seen the physical and spiritual horror; we would have cried out to God to stop the suffering that His Son undertook on our behalf. Knowing that we could not nor would we be able to bear it, He deserves our continued longevity in our faith and commitment and devotion out of His great love for us. Your faith will find it’s true focus as you look to the cross, and you do that by knowing God through His Word, giving your life over completely to what He ask of you, and trusting the outcomes for every life’s circumstance. This is how you will know if you are “Desiring Him”….for to love Him is to know Him, to know Him is to love Him!
Bren
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