Finding God
Excerpt from Isaiah 12
“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might.”
Reflection by William C. Green
A Muslim (Sufi) story says a lot about finding God. “Help us find God,” the seeker begged the Elder. “No one can help you there,” the Elder answered. “Why not?” the seeker insisted. “For the same reason that no one can help a fish find the ocean.”
God is a constant presence. In hard times we endure. In strength we thought we didn’t have. In confidence we thought we lacked. In hope and blessing we long for. Isaiah doesn’t pray for something we must attain. He’s praying about what’s already true and present right now: God, along with salvation, trust, confidence, “strength and might.” The spiritual task is simply to recognize this, not to keep trying to achieve it.
How did you get through the nightmares you’ve known? The loss of someone dearly loved. Times when family life was out of control. Periods of loneliness and confusion. And what of the surprises when things you most worried about worked out after all. Or times when you were simply happy, whatever was going on.
We’ll never know what we have if we don’t remember what we’ve known before. Named or not, we have known the divine presence. As Frederick Buechner wrote, “God doesn’t sign [the] sunsets.” But God’s there--here, too, with us, all the time.
Prayer
May I remember your presence, God. You have always been who you are right now: my strength and my salvation. Amen.
|
