Searching for God?

AFTER turning to just about everything else for help, many people are experiencing a resurgent interest in religion. They're confronting anew such questions as: What does it mean to believe in God? Where do I find Him? What happens when I do? These people may visit various churches, looking for something that touches their hearts. They talk to their religious friends. They look for answers in books. Even when their search for God takes them into unfamiliar territory, however, the Bible gives reassurance to those who are seeking God: ``Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord.''1

If we turn to the Bible, we discover we are walking on a well-traveled path. The search for God is not new. Neither is the finding of God, the coming to know God.

The founder of this paper, Mary Baker Eddy, urges a deeper knowledge of God when she observes: ``The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith.''2

And God can be known. His ways are not dark or mysterious. When people protest the notion that disasters are ``acts of God,'' isn't this part of an emerging sense that we need not be afraid of God, who is divine Love? Indeed, the Bible urges, ``Be not afraid.'' If we are to bring a deeper understanding of God into our lives, it's important to realize that the Almighty is not a fearsome force but rather almighty Love and omnipotent good. If we are ignorant that God is all good and operates only as goodness, we won't be able to trust ourselves fully to His care. But as we begin to see that God, good, gives only good to us, His children, it's natural to draw closer to Him.

Most of us struggle with hopes, dreams, doubts, despairs, fears, hurts, insecurities. All sorts of how-to books and methods explain how to ``live with'' these things. But many people are tired of just coping with their problems. We, rightly, want them to be solved. We want life to have meaning. Here's where the search for God intensifies, and where we need to discover the presence of God.

God is found when we are willing to let Him govern and change our lives. We so much want to be in control of our own lives and destiny that it can take some wrestling to submit to God's control. But when we do, we become more aware of the constant, self-revealing presence of God. And knowing God more fully brings the power of His goodness into our lives.

Picking up the Bible and reading through any one of the gospel accounts of Christ Jesus' life, we find illustrations of what happens when God is accepted in one's life. Jesus taught that God is infinite Spirit and that He answers prayer. The Master's teaching can reach us powerfully today as we seek to know God better. Mrs. Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, has done much to make Jesus' teachings accessible to each of us in her book Science and Health. She writes in this book's Preface: ``In the spirit of Christ's charity, -- as one who `hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, -- she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.''3

If you are searching for God, this book may give you the very aid you need.

1Jeremiah 29:13, 14. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. vii. 3Ibid., p. xii.