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December 27, 2018

Isaiah 55:6-9

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

New International Version (NIV)

At a Shoney’s restaurant in Austin, a man proudly handed me his business card which described him as a “seeker.’ We spoke for a season about faith and he made it clear that he liked to seek but believed that it was impossible to know God. As I left that day I asked him to consider whether being a seeker would ever lead him to being a “finder.”

What do you think? Are some people just too smart to believe in Jesus Christ? Is he a childhood fable, like a cosmic tooth fairy, to be outgrown as we become more reasonable and rational? Some say, “I believe in a higher power, but I don’t believe we can know anything for certain.”

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God invites us to seek him because he wants to be found. Later Jeremiah speaks for God, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you declares the Lord.” God is not playing “hide and go seek,” with us, but “Seek and you will find.”

Dallas Willard used to say that among his other great attributes our Lord was the smartest man who ever lived. Following Christ, far from requiring us to suspend thought invites us to a relationship which introduces us to a God whose thoughts and ways are higher than ours. If you and I could figure God out and circumscribe him with our own reason, he would cease at that moment to be God.

Great thinkers like C. S. Lewis, John Polkinghorn, Francis Collins and Dallas Willard were so smart that they believed in God. If such great thinkers believe, then we may be sure that we are not just too smart to believe in God. So Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.”

I am not calling us to anti-intellectualism but to a little humility. As long as I believe I must “figure out” God to believe in him, I never will. As the gospel of John teaches us, “Seeing is not believing. Believing is seeing.” Seek the Lord, believe in him. Then you will find him, see him and know him who knows all.

Pray with me:

Father, help us today to love you with our whole minds. Forgive us for imagining that we can fully comprehend your infinite ways with our finite minds. We seek you first and foremost today. Teach us so that we may come to know you more and more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This year we focus our Every Day with Jesus readings on Jesus’ story. With references to Tallowood's Read Through the Bible in 2018 daily reading plan, let's focus our undivided attention on Jesus and follow where he lead. He will not fail. Neither will we!
Joyfully,
Duane

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