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Scripture
28There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone, gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. 30When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. (Deuteronomy 4, NLT)
Commentary
In a Hindu story a man tells a young friend of a remarkable spiritual Teacher. The friend is curious, but skeptical. He seeks out the Teacher to test him. He discovers where the Teacher lives and teaches. He defiantly walks before the Teacher and exclaims, “Show me God! Prove to me that God exists!” The Teacher extends his hand and calmly speaks, “Come with me.” Hand in hand—a sign of friendship in Asia—the two walk to the beach. The Teacher leads the man into the surf and says, “Dive into the water.” Then, the Teacher rushes and grabs the neck of the man, before the young man comes out of the water. The Teacher holds the head of the man under the water. The man three times tries to come up, but the Teacher rufuses to let him. On the fourth attempt, finally, the Teacher allows the man to lift his head out of the water. This man bursts out of the water, gasping for air. He yells, “What are you trying to do, kill me?” The Teacher looks at him, patiently responding, “Forgive me if I caused you undue anxiety. But, when your desire for God is as desperate as your desire for air, for your very breath, then, you will find God.”
In Acts 17, St. Paul is addressing earned Athenians. He is attempting to convince them through the application of reason, even quoting from one of their own.
26From one man Pure Spirit created all the nations throughout the whole earth. She decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and She determined their boundaries. 27Her purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after the Divine Presence and perhaps feel their way toward Her and find Her—though She is not far from any one of us. 28For in the Divine Presence we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, `We are his offspring.'” (NLT, Adaptated)
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Of course, God does not have to be found, for God is not lost. But,we seek the Pure Spirit in that we become estranged from God. We become estranged from the True Self, our Deepest Essence.
Our seeking is accompanied by confidence. We know, “We are his offspring,” thus, God cannot abandon us. God is of us, we are of God. Even as we carry in our genetics the ancestors and descendants of the familial linage we belong to, we carry within the spiritual DNA of the Infinite One.
Knowing our prior and eternal oneness with our Father, our Mother, we are encouraged to know that returning to God does not have to be a morose experience. We can, anytime and anywhere, joyfully return to our Love and be reconciled with Her. We return, not to gain Love. We return to enjoy the Love that loves us, already.
How do we return to “find” God? We return with our “whole heart and soul.” When we want God above all things, God will not deny us that desire. Indeed, that desire arises from God, to take us to God, and to reunite our wholeness with the Whole of God.
Spiritual Exercise
1. Consider the question, How important is God to me?
2. Do you ever feel estranged from God? What does that feel like?
3. Is there anything in your life, presently, that is keeping you from enjoying the Presence of Love?
4. Do you truly love God? How do you know? How do you show that love?
5. Do you recall a time in life when you fell head-over-heels in love with God? What was that like for you?
6. In what ways does God reveal love for you, daily?
7. How much time daily do you devote to loving God?
8. Have you considered having a daily date with the Wonderful Presence? What would that date, ideally, consist of?
9. Do your daily meditation.
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