In a variety of ways, people around the world are seeking, debating and wondering about the realities surrounding God
Seeking EVIDENCES of God
A lot of people are (or claim to be) seeking God or trying to determine whether He exists or not. For many, this means seeking evidences for His existence across the Creation itself. Many seek to find evidence that NO God or gods exist. Some seek to determine whether the Bible is God's communication to us or whether it's true or not. Many seek him in a vast array of false religions. In fact, for those seeking God, millions are looking for evidences that have the potential to reveal the truths about God, Christianity, and the Bible. Seeking evidences can be a rewarding and enlightening quest, because God has left His fingerprints all over this world and universe. In fact, through science, the massive evidences as to why a Creator MUST exist multiply every single year, through scientific investigations and study - evidences which are well-documented across this website!
God's witness of Himself through the Creation evidences of order and immense complexity
In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul says that God has already and powerfully revealed His existence through "the things that have been made" - meaning through the Creation itself. In fact, upon the dawn of the scientific age, every year, scientists discover more and more incredible evidences of the massive complexity of the universe, it's incomprehensible beginning, as well as the many astounding things found within it. From: The discoveries surrounding the Big Bang's beginning, when a vast and expanding universe INSTANTLY birthed from what was, mere moments before, absolutely NOTHING - in which NO time, space or matter existed! To: Our many astonishing discoveries about DNA, RNA, atoms, molecules, microscopic life, the sudden appearance of life, our growing knowledge of the Cambrian explosion, all of which only can exist per a massive list of insanely complicated and interdependent variables that make all life on earth sustainable. We've discovered a universe teaming with design and engineering that only a Creator could make. We don't see constant randomness and chaos, but stunningly precise mechanisms and functionality of breathtaking ORDER, which are found throughout the universe and earth's physics and systems. In fact, it is the mind-blowing consistency of how God made the universe to function that allows us to discover so much about it through the scientific method.
But did you know God has also given us an EASY and DIRECT way of seeking and finding Him?
The many evidences God has given us are ultimately not what this post is about - because as abundant and powerful the countless evidences God has provided for us are, He has ALSO given us a DIRECT and SIMPLE way to seek Him! The Bible has some powerful things to say about searching for God. And it also has a lot to say about the importance of using our rational minds and sifting evidences. The problem is, people often demand some unobtainable or unreasonable level of evidential PROOF to determine whether God exists. And few of these have ever carefully studied or searched the Bible, or read much scholarly commentary on it. Millions merely Google or search Youtube for their theological beliefs - an often very unreliable and dangerous way to seek truth. The Bible tells us that God is a living Being who loves us ALL, and very much desires a relationship with us. In fact, He says to save us we must go BEYOND mere intellectual understanding of his existence, by entering into a relationship with Him as our Lord, while also seeking the forgiveness He WANTS to give us! The question is, DO WE WANT WHAT GOD WANTS TO GIVE US - AND to truly know about Him? Do you REALLY want to know the truth about God or not?
Discovering God through a SIMPLE approach that He will honor!
In your seeking and searching for God - Have you EVER considered a simple and sincere personal experiment to find out the truth about Him? Many people make finding God a complicated, unending process in which they can never find enough evidence to satisfy themselves. The reality is, people often seek some level of PROOF they feel certain this quest requires - and thus, they become unrealistic, with NO level of powerful evidences ever seeming to be quite enough for them. And so, people often make finding God extremely difficult. Yes, He HAS told us that evidences for Him abound and we should pay close attention to them. But did you not know that GOD also has provided us a way that makes finding Him EASY - in a way that goes BEYOND just evidence! And doing so is as close as one's own mouth and breath!
So, if you are SERIOUS about finding God and learning about Him - HAVE YOU EVER JUST TRIED TO TALK TO HIM? Yes, even if you think trying to communicate with a God you aren't convinced even exists seems absurd! As IF you SINCERELY want to know the truth about God, why not try what, for YOU, might seem a crazy experiment: Just ASK Him to reveal Himself to you - which is what He invites ALL to do! As the Bible says God WANTS us to seek and talk to Him. It says He WANTS to reveal Himself to those who TRULY want to know the truth about Him. Because IF you seriously want to know the truth about God, well, why wouldn't you at least do THAT? Pride? Ego? No one needs to know of your effort to talk to God - as this is a matter between just you and Him. But the question is, do you REALLY want to know the truth about Him? Do you truly care? Or do you only desire to keep avoiding or denying Him?
What the Bible says about seeking God by just talking to Him: Seek and you will FIND!
Jeremiah 33:3: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Matthew 7:7-8: 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Jeremiah 29:12-13: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Proverbs 8:17: I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Psalm 10:4: In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
Again, the Bible also has much to say about actual evidences about Himself He has abundantly supplied us. Thus, finding God is NOT an either / or matter of talking to Him vs seeking evidences, as seeking Him with our minds and looking at the evidences is merely an additional way in which He reveals Himself to us.
Seeking God DIRECTLY:
The amazing story of the Roman centurion who became the first non-Jew to hear the Gospel
As we saw in the verses above, God desires to reveal Himself to us and does so for those who truly seek Him. In Acts 10, we read of the first non-Jew to become a Christian (along with his family) - a seemingly unlikely convert. A Roman centurion named Cornelius zealously sought to honor and know God, long BEFORE he ever learned about Jesus and the Gospel from the Apostle Peter. So, HOW did Cornelius learn about Jesus? He constantly and sincerely prayed and sought the truth about a God he SENSED existed, but did not KNOW any details about. And the Bible says that God rewarded His diligent search and desire to know Him by sending His angel, who told him, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter." But, even so, Cornelius was not saved UNTIL AFTER God honored his seeking Him by further instructing him to send for Peter, through whom he first HEARD, and then BELIEVED, the Gospel message Peter preached to him. So, people CAN seek God through words and prayer - and whether they know about Jesus or not. And so, God sent Peter to a man (Cornelius!) He knew was both seeking Him and also be receptive to His Gospel message about Jesus!
Encouragement: If you have been pondering God, Jesus, or the Bible looking for the truth about God or His existence, and you just can't seem to find the level of evidence you want, or your quest just seems impossible or unanswerable, I greatly encourage you to do exactly what the Roman Centurion Cornelius did in Acts 10 - attempt to communicate to God - just ASK Him to reveal Himself to you! And don't give up - Cornelius didn't. And as Cornelius continued to seek God, through prayer, he also showed God that he sincerely wanted to know the truth about Him. And so, Scripture says, God honored his diligent seeking. And if YOU also will do that, He will honor your seeking as well - but in HIS perfect way and timing.
Philip
Read the entire story of Cornelius, the first non-Jewish Christian, HERE: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=ESV