Go Looking for God

Isaiah 55:6-9

“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I often overlook things that are sitting in plain sight: my cell phone, my car keys, my wallet, a book I am reading.  This may be a symptom of aging - I don’t remember being this unobservant in the past – but it may also be a symptom of being human.  It seems that we just miss things, even when they are right in front of us.  It has to do with not paying attention, and with not really seeing things that are very familiar.  It also has to do with taking some things for granted and assuming that we know where everything ‘should’ be and what everything ‘should’ look like. 

We make the same mistakes in our spiritual lives and practices.  We go looking in all the wrong places, in all the old, familiar places, when we need to look in unexpected, unfamiliar places.  These verses from the Book of Isaiah remind us that looking for God is something that we choose to do, it requires intention, attention, focus, effort.  God is not like us, God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts, and so God appears in unexpected places and ways.  We have to be attentive, with our eyes, ears and hearts open and attuned to God if we are going to find Her in the midst of our busy, cluttered lives.  But finding God is well worth the effort. 

Blessings,

David