Glimpsing God

    I think I know why people don’t believe in God. You can believe that something isn’t unless you have some proof that it is.  Yet, why is it so difficult to believe that something is, if you have no proof that it is? We are afraid of what we cannot see, of the unknown. In point of fact, we are afraid of things higher than us. In our selfish nature we are number one. The possibility that there might be something so much bigger than your very being, your entire life, is impossible to grasp. And because you have the choice whether to see it or not; we most likely choose to ignore it. From my observation, I find it so odd when people go out of their way to state explicitly that they don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in pink unicorns, but I don’t make brash statements about it. Of course you don’t believe in pink unicorns, there is no need to disclaim that. I just find it interesting that people do this; in the very act of denying him, they imply his existence. But this is either here nor there.
    I still do this frequently. I can easily tune God out. I cant see him, feel him, hear him, or know him if I don’t want to at any particular moment. It’s so much easier to ignore people than to get to know them isn’t it? The same goes with God. Why is it that we don’t want to have a relationship with him? Sure, we can learn about him all we want, but how many actually try to cultivate a relationship with him? Why do you find it necessary to find out as much as you can about him before you talk to him? This isn’t a blind date. This is you, a miserable speck of creation, being able to bow down before the presence of an almighty, all-powerful, loving and wrathful God. How could you not want to know everything about him, to be in a personal relationship with him?
    But it is more than getting to know about God, its literally getting to know him, and be known by him. Thomas Kelly said ,“practice come first in religion, not theory or dogma. And Christian practice is not exhausted in outward deeds. They are the fruits, not the roots.” The best way to get to know God is to adopt his very character. Become like him, as you were made to be in his image. And do that by learning about him, not just through theology or teachings, but by talking to him. Ask to feel his presence. Just try it, I dare you. “Just as it is fire and not the philosophy or science of that element and its effects that heats; so it is God’s order and his will which sanctify,  and not curious speculations about its origin or purpose.” Jean-Pierre de Caussade, I would argue, makes a very strong point on how to learn about God. But there are other ways to come to know him. Ways that may seem complex at first, but are the most entirely simple things that we were actually made to do. Communicate with God.
    We might take Thomas Kelly’s advice in regard to repeating the psalms inwardly, over and over again, “so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.” Because repeating the same words and phrases over and over again seem to be the only way to get into my thick skull the actual realization of the thickness of my skull in it’s inability to feel a God that is always there. With it being so easy to turn away from him, so it is just as difficult to turn back towards him after so long. Thankfully, its never too late.