The Price to know God

I was reading in the scriptures this morning, something I habitually do virtually every day, and was reading in a passage that I have read many times but the words came to my mind more forcefully than I have ever received them before.

Perhaps that was because they were in Spanish and therefore required more attention to detail since that is not my native language.

But I choose to believe it was because the message in the words was more important for me to understand today than at any previous time.

The particular words are "Oh God . . . if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me and I will give away all my sins to know thee."

I have been sitting here sort of ruminating over the meaning of that simple phrase. Within its short message is an entire universe of understaning.

Not only is the question one that our world struggles with today, but it echos the search that is in the heart and mind of every living soul. 'Is there a God and if there is, how do I get to know Him?'

While there are many who would dispute the existance of God, to me that is a moot point. I have experienced too many miracles in my life to believe that happenstance and accident rule the regulation of the creation. I know there is a God because I have felt His hand working in my life - sometimes a strong influence and sometimes a breeze that brings refreshment to my soul or just an impression that lets me know what I should do next.

The part of the question that occupies my thoughts and actions is how do I personally come to know God? I know that prayer is a sublime form of communication which allows me to have the priviledge of coming into the presence of God the Father, if only in a spiritual sense, and to literally talk WITH Him.

I have received answers to prayers and solutions to problems as I have sought to come to know God.

The older I have become, the more I have realized that the object is to come to know God over all of my life. It cannot be accomplished completely in one shot. It requires a relationship that grows over time and that develops a trust that surpasses the finite and grows daily into the infinite realm of His presence and Light.

The troubling part of the equation is my own lack of faith, trust and belief that I can literally give away all of my sins and that there will be a completeness and wholeness that I cannot have unless I am willing to walk by faith and not by sight. I have to be totally obedient. There cannot be a partial participation grade.

For something so absolute, I will need help. And I seek it every single day in my prayers. I keep that thought uppermost in my mind.

Though I fall short of perfection on a daily basis, I can seek forgiveness and repent of those things that keep me out of His Light.

It is only throught this understanding that I am able to make it through the day. And some days, I know I don't do a great job at it. Some days are more like a lick and a promise, but I keep trying.

I truly hope to be able to arrive at that point where I can truly say I have given away all of my sins, my pride, my arrogance and the multitude of shortcomings that have defined my struggles and reach out for something more.

Like the painting of man reaching his finger out to touch the finger of God and hence to touch the Divine, I really do want to be able to touch and know that the price I have paid was worth the effort.

Does that mean I am faithless now? You bet. That is the whole point. When faith becomes absolute, it isn't faith anymore because it turns into something a whole lot better. Faith grows into KNOWLEDGE. And that is what it really all comes down to. We seek the knowledge that only comes by the trials of our faith.

But, like me, I guess most people are hoping to skip that trial phase and move right on into the eternal reward without the sweat equity neccessary to build that mansion in the sky. That may well be why we keep hearing the same messages over and over again about how to be a follower of Christ and a Child of God.

The message hasn't changed, but God is hoping over time that our PERCEPTION and our RECEPTION of His message will . . .