Blinded by the Light 20 The Need To See - The Truth

God has promised He will answer our prayers, but He has not promised what His answer will be. It can be hard to wait and not to know. Although we read in the Bible, and in the lives of Christians throughout the ages, accounts of God moving in a supernatural way – visions, voices, miracles – these occasions are rare. God will fulfil His purposes, and sometimes He does so in a spectacular way, but mostly it is done quietly and often un-noticed. The Psalms are full of cries that God appears to have turned away, leaving them to trust in faith that He has not forgotten them.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

In the film 'The Golden Compass', of the book by Philip Pulman, Lyra has an alethiometer with which she communicates with the 'dust' – the essence of all life. When she asks a question, the hands move to point to symbols, through which the answer is revealed to her. How we would love to have some way of telling us God's answers to our prayers! But God tells us that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). We cannot grasp His infinite plans, and must trust what we do not understand.

Peter promised us that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (1 Peter 1:3).There will be times when the way is clear and times when our hearts soar with the touch of the Holy Spirit, but these are times of special blessing, not our everyday experience. Do not let people make you feel inadequate because you do not live your life 'on the mountain top'.

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Legalism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Magic Formulas: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Answers to Everything: The Truth,The Trap, The Solution
Scripture Twisting: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Superstition: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Elitism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Further posts to come in this series:The Need to See: The Trap, The Solution
Conclusion