Seeking God

It is always refreshing to speak to someone who is seeking God. A friend of my son has been coming to church for several months and attending youth activities and Bible study. He is a sixteen year old seeker, coming from a family who do not place much emphasis on religious beliefs. He asks questions that my own children did not ask; like "Who made God?" :Why did God ask the Israelites to kill their own people after the golden calf incident and still maintain that he is a loving God?". Being brought up in a Christian milieu, my children took for granted for example the existence of God, and accepted much of orthodox Christian teaching without going through the questioning stage. Their answer to the second question, for example is just that "God gave them the first commandment and they disobeyed", a 'good' answer yet would not satisfy a seeker. I believe this is 'unfortunate' because many Christian youth may not have the ability to defend their faith when seriously challenged, for example in college or university.

I am pleased with the questions and in fact, would be worried if the seeker too easily accepted our orthodox and conventional answers. A pastor I know commented, "there are many people who remain 'intellectual' converts". One of the reasons for this I think, is that we just ask ourselves to believe certain truths without engaging with the One whose truth it is. God's 'truth' is never in danger, even when we have questions. Our faith is not shaky even with many questions as long as the questions lead us towards God, seeking and asking, rather than into complacency and cynicism. I am sure our loving Father like any earthly father enjoys it when his children ask him even many times about things they cannot understand.

I look forward to hearing more of this young seeker's questions. I have asked him to pray, asking God to illumine his heart and mind, before he reads the Bible. It is not a text book of information. It cannot always be understood logically, even though our faith is a 'rational' one. The written Word is not God. However, it should by its very nature lead us to encounter the One who inspired its writing.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened".