Don't Squander the Wander!

God is not hiding. He is not hard to find. His renown reverberates from the hilltops. His creation bears witness in every facet, every moment, every season, and storm. He is not a God far off, as if He looks through His spyglass down at His minions, leaving us without communication or communion.

He does not give us the silent treatment, leaving us to grope around in the dark for some semblance of faith. We don’t need to search for Him in hidden rooms, secret groups, and hushed whispers.

God says here I am! Shout your praise from the rooftops! Come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest! I am here for you. I love you. I want to know you.

So why would we think He is only found in a new concept no one in the history of time has ever uncovered? Or in a side room away from the body of believers throughout the ages and area codes? We think this sounds odd, but unfortunately it happens around the world in some form or fashion daily.

Father God is not playing hide and seek with His creation. At least not like we know hide and seek to be.

In our youth, that cute little hide and seek game was a thrill. We would find the best little nook and cranny to tuck into while another child called out and searched for us. The goal was to stay hidden. The game was to remain unfound. Not so with God. He calls to us, drawing us out from the darkness and deception all around us.

Humanity, fallen as we are, hide in our sin with the lies of satan, until we seek the Lord with all our heart. In that moment we rush out of that nook or cranny, arms open wide to the promise and forgiveness that Jesus provides, while we repent of the sin and shame game of the enemy. We leave it there, and hopefully never pick it back up.

We leave the game, and claim Jesus as Lord. Then we are not only found, we are seen as righteous. By God Himself. We are given a new name, and a hope and a promise. That’s the truth of it.

And Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. And nobody comes to the Father but through Him.

The God of All Creation longs to draw us to Himself, to have sweet fellowship with us. This is no more evident than in His provision for the bridge for our spiritual gap, the redemption for our fallen humanity found only in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Now, I know, hearing of blood and guts and other such yuck could leave a person cringing at the imagery of blood shed for us. Until you see the beauty in the sacrifice. The necessity in the atonement. The rules and requirements that God Himself requires, then provides without hesitation, to His children who cannot earn it, work for it, deserve it in our own strength.

Guys, it is literally God, giving Himself, through Jesus His One and Only Son, to pay the penalty for our sins, while we are in our sins, so that we could enter into fellowship with God.

So that we could accept this perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice God accepts on our behalf.

So that we, fallen and hopeless without Jesus, can be made whole and righteous in the eyes of the Lord.

When God sees us, He sees us as righteous, because He sees the blood of Jesus atoning for our shortcomings.

God makes us clean so we are clean. He says this is how it has to go down, and oh by the way, I’ve already provided the solution for you. Surprise!

The Father creates us,

makes the rule,

provides the answer to the rule,

and welcomes us into the kingdom.

Now, I know, there are always those who will say, then why didn’t He just make us perfect? Why go through all this? Yeah, that’s one of the questions we will all get answered the other side of glory.

Until then, consider this. As a parent, we make rules for our kids. Boundaries to keep them safe. Because we love our kids. Do they like the rules? Not usually. But, our rules come with solutions. Bathed in love. Ways to stay in good standing. Because we want our kids to choose wisely. To pick the right road. To be safe, and loved, within the playground of the boundaries.

Same with God. If we want to live the best life we were created to live, by following God, we have to follow God’s process.

One of the ways to best understand what we believe is to understand what we don’t believe. To come up against the false, we see why the truth is that much more solid.

So, bear with me, couldn’t this be the same process of sorts? Like in order to own our faith, and praise God for the magnitude of His great mercy and forgiveness, we get a glimpse of what it might mean to not have that. We appreciate what we have when we know what life would be like without it.

And oh, what a glorious life it is, when we choose to follow God and all that He has for us.

Seek and you will find.