Knowing God, He is intensely interested in you. In the Bible He tells us that He lovingly shaped your life with a craftsman’s care.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139
Since then He has never let you out of His sight.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Psalm 139
Pause to think: How does it make you feel to know God is interested in you like that?
SEARCHING FOR GOD
But perhaps God still feels distant and far away. How do you get to know Him? The search can feel like a bit of a mystery. Yet, God shows himself to you in many ways. He displays his handiwork in all that He has made in the world around you. He tells you about Himself in the Bible. He shows you most clearly what he is like in Jesus, His Son, who came to live here on earth 2000 years ago. So, God isn’t hiding himself from you. He wants you to come to know him in your life.
Pause to think: Does it feel like God has hidden Himself from you? Can you begin to see that there are ways of getting to know Him?
AWAKENING TO GOD
Perhaps you find yourself wakening up to God, increasingly aware of His presence in the unfolding circumstances of your life. The famous Irish writer, C.S. Lewis, describes how as we journey through life,
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.
Pause to think: Take a moment or two to think about how God has begun to come out from behind the scenes so that you have begun to become more aware of Him in your life just now.
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Is God whispering to you through something great that has happened in your life – a loving relationship formed; a new arrival; a deep sense of everything coming together for good in your life’s circumstances; an amazing turnaround of events that feels like a dramatic rescue.
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Is God speaking to your conscience – you feel a nagging sense of guilt, failure, sorrow, ingratitude that you can’t shake off.
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Is God shouting through your pain – everything in your life has gone out of control. You have a deep sense that things are not the way they are supposed to be. You find yourself asking ‘why’ and feel instinctively that the question makes no sense unless God is there to answer it.
Be glad that God has begun to draw especially near in your life, whatever the circumstances He is speaking through.
NEXT STEPS
So, what can you do next? Here are a few suggestions.
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Pray. However strange it may seem, simply ask God in your own words to help you come to know Him clearly and personally in your life.
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Explore more about Christianity.
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Go to a church service. Perhaps you know someone who is a Christian. Ask them if you could go to church with them. If not, use Find a Church to locate your nearest Presbyterian church and just turn up. Most churches are welcoming, will be glad to see you and not put you under any pressure to do anything you will be uncomfortable with. Allow yourself time to experience God in worship. Listen to what He is saying to you. Observe how Christians live together in the family of the church.
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Join a course that offers the opportunity to find out more about what Christians believe. Many churches run Alpha or Christianity Explored courses. Look out for advertising in your local area. Find out more about what it is like to go on an Alpha course at http://www.alpha.org/stories
Quotations from the Bible taken from: Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.