So what are ways that God chooses to reveal
Himself to us? How might we encounter God? Now that we know God lives beyond
the four walls of the church or synagogue or temple and reveals Himself beyond
even the life of Jesus, how might we encounter God?
Perhaps the most important issue here is the
ability to develop a heightened awareness (eyes to see) of the divine all
around us. The famous poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned the words, “Earth
is crammed with heaven, And every bush aflame with God, But only those who see take
off their shoes.” Here are some questions to ask that might increase your
vision:
When is the last time you
truly noticed an act of love and compassion manifested by someone? Describe the
unselfish love you saw in that situation. How was God revealed there?
Jesus often told contemporary stories about
people to illustrate the what He called the Kingdom of God, God’s presence in
the world. These include the story of the good Samaritan who boldly intervened
to save a beaten and bruised traveler; a father who welcomed home his profligate
and prodigal son by throwing a big party, and then imploring the resentful
older brother to join them at the party; a shepherd who risked personal danger
in order to find the lost sheep and then invited his friends to an ecstatic
celebration of his find.
“Jesus himself looked for God not among the
pious at the synagogue, but in a widow who had two pennies left to her name and
in a tax collector who knew no formal prayers; he found his spiritual lessons
in sparrows sold at a market, and in wheat fields and wedding banquets, and
yes, even in the observations of a half-breed foreigner with five failed marriages.
Jesus was a master at finding God in unexpected places.” (Yancey, pp. ix-x)
Where have you noticed
deep, intense desire recently, a longing or passion? What was the desire for?
Who was involved? How did the person go about trying to fill that longing? Where
was God encountered there?
Journalist G.K Chesterton used to say that a man
who knocks on the door of a brothel is knocking for God. It is an intriguing
concept. Actually, Jesus affirmed that idea in His conversation with a woman
whom He met one day at a well. Hers was a life of relational brokenness. She
had already had five husbands and was living with yet another man.
Jesus recognized her deep desire and longing for
love, for meaningful intimacy and deep connection and belonging that continued
to drive her search with men. He acknowledged and affirmed that thirst for love
in her. And then, in a powerful paradigm shift for her, redirected her thirst
to Living Water, an encounter with God, an experience with God, who refuses to
condemn or withdraw from failure but who chooses instead to engage with love
and acceptance. This “outcast” woman was the first person to whom Jesus openly
revealed himself as the Messiah, the Sent of God. Jesus modeled this Living
Water perfectly with this broken, isolated woman, so effectively that she ended
up bringing her entire village (with whom she endured a mutual resentment and
isolation) out to meet Jesus.
When is the last time you
were out in nature and felt a sense of mystery and awe that caused you to feel
you were in the midst of something bigger than yourself? Where does that
feeling of mystery, awe and wonder come from? What would cause you to feel a
part of something bigger than you? Where is God in that experience?
Novelist Walker Percy has observed, “There may
be signs of [God’s] existence, but they point both ways and are therefore
ambiguous and so prove nothing … The wonders of the universe do not convince
those most conversant with the wonders, the scientists themselves.”
Although there are certainly many scientists who
in fact do see God in the wonders of the universe, Percy is right: nature gives
off mixed signals. Like humanity, the rest of the created world presents a
strange mixture of beauty and horror, of splendid cooperation and savage
competition. Even the New Testament makes the statement: “We know that the
whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present time” (Romans 8:22)
In so many respects it is true: nature is our fallen sister, not our mother.
C.S. Lewis, the noted author and scholar, used
to say that the believer doesn’t go to nature to learn the truth about God—the
message is too garbled—but rather to fill theological words with meaning. “Nature
never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had
to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word ‘glory’ a meaning for me.
I still do not know where else I could have found one.”
In other words, nature can be a place where we
encounter God as we already believe God to be, where we can experience personal
and intimate episodes of awe, wonder and mystery, where we can witness
something in that context that stirs within us a sense that there is something
bigger and more powerful than ourselves. Nature helps us recognize that we are
not the center of the universe, there are other sources of power and life beyond
us, that we are but inhabitants in a universe of magnificent and mysterious complexity.
An appreciation for God as the Source can be enhanced in these contexts.
The poet and song writer in the biblical book of
Psalms put it this way:
“God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The day breaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.”
(Psalm
19:1-6, The Message)
When is the last time you
used Sacred Scripture to encounter God? How you can read in a way that
facilitates an experience of divine revelation in what you read? Have you asked
yourself as you read, what does this say to me about God? Better yet, what is God
trying to say to me in these verses?
So often Scripture is used by people to prove
some theological point in order to win an argument. The Bible becomes a weapon
or a tool to shore up our rightness or another’s wrongness. Or Scripture is
used as a resource for sacred information, a knowledge base, the ultimate
treasury of theology, so if we can simply learn enough from it we can further ourselves
along the path to holiness.
Like many of the religious leaders of Jesus’
day. They prided themselves for how much they knew of Sacred Scriptures in
comparison to the uninformed public. Many could recite by memory lengthy
passages, even entire biblical books (they were required to learn this in their
schools). Consequently, they felt superior to other people.
But Jesus had some strong words for this limited
approach to spirituality. Simply reciting and knowing Scripture wasn’t nearly
enough. Here’s how he put it: “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly
because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for
the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before
you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.” (John
5:39-40, The Message)
The primary point of Sacred Scriptures is to
facilitate a living, meaningful encounter with the God of Scripture. It’s not
just about knowing information, it’s about encounter, experience, relationship.
Scripture is to be approached as a divine communication opportunity, to hear
the voice of God speak to your deepest soul, to listen to the words of God in a
way that lets them tug at your heart.
Like the two men who, after witnessing the death
of Jesus, walked the dusty road home completely disillusioned and discouraged.
Jesus joined them, though they didn’t recognize him, and engaged in
conversation about the recent events in Jerusalem. Taking the opportunity, Jesus
spent the rest of the journey explaining to them the Scriptures about who the
Messiah was and what was to happen to the Messiah and why; how the events fit
into the over-arching purpose of God.
Later that night, after Jesus left them and they
realized who He was, they commented to each other, “Didn’t our hearts feel
strangely warm as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to
us?” (Luke
24:32, NLT) And within the hour, they hurried back to Jerusalem with a new
sense of faith in God and passion for community with the other followers of
Jesus.
That’s the point of Scripture, to give us an
encounter with the living God that renews and builds our faith and confidence
in God and God’s purpose for our lives, to empower us with a passion to live
lives of love and compassion for others like Jesus did. So that as others connect
with us, they can encounter the God of love living in and through us.
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