How Can I Find God?

Anybody can find God if they wish to. God is not difficult to find. God is so easy to find that it is a wonder there are not more Christians in the world than there are. A person must work hard not to find God. Everywhere a person goes, every situation in which they find themselves, God is there. Still, people convince themselves that God cannot be found.

There are many reasons people don’t want to find God. They all have one thing in common. They have all been taught an extreme dislike for Him. This has come from their upbringing, their education, or their environment. Parents and other family members who dislike God influence a person’s opinions. Teachers who dislike God can influence their students with their views.” The environment a person finds themselves in affects their opinion.

When all a person is exposed to speaks negatively about God, they will pick up on that bias and ascribe it unto themselves. Through all this, God has made it easy for people to find Him. With all the world standing against you, God can be found if you first look for Him.

“If you search for God, you will find Him.”

Matthew 7:7…… 7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Luke 11:9…… 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Many people do not believe in God because they never look for Him. If they did, they would surely find Him.

Finding the Lost Baby

If you lose your keys, won’t you look for them? Of course, you will. I know because I have had this unpleasant experience, but it was not my keys. I lost my toddler daughter.

My wife wanted to go grocery shopping and asked me to watch our daughter while she was gone. I assured her I would watch her closely; she had nothing to worry about. I could tell she was apprehensive as she left the house and drove off. This was the first time I would be responsible for the baby without my wife being near.

I was looking through magazines while the toddler was playing in her bedroom. After some time, I could hear the deafening sound of complete silence. It was terrifying. I sprung off the couch and ran to her open door. The room was strewn with toys, but no sign of her anywhere. Instinctively, I began looking for her.

She wasn’t under the bed, in the closet, behind the shelf. Then, I began tearing the house apart. She was nowhere to be found. Even though she could never have opened the doors, I began looking outside. She wasn’t in the backyard, garage, driveway, under the cars, or in the shed. I tore the house apart. I could not digest the thought of telling my wife I lost our child.

I looked in her room again as my wife drove up in the driveway. I was in a panic. My daughter had a round plastic Dumbo toy box that I had not noticed was upside down because of its round shape. I stuck my finger in one of the airholes and flipped it over. My daughter had crawled up in it and somehow turned it over on herself. I was so happy.

Chris Pavone¹ said, “The best hiding spots are not the most hidden; they’re merely the least searched.” God does not hide Himself from us. He is right there. We don’t find Him because we don’t look. You will never find something if you don’t look for it. I would have never found my daughter if I hadn’t looked.

Finding Can Be Deceptive

People don’t find God because they don’t look. Much of the time, people are deceived and convinced they have found Him. I have asked many people if they are Christians, but most of them have told me otherwise, saying, “I’m an American. We’re all Christians,” or “My parents are Christian,” or “I was baptized,” or “I go to church on Christmas and Easter.” Many excuses are designed to deceive people into thinking they have found God when they have not. Their purpose is to give people a false sense of security. They think they have found God when they have not, so they stop looking for Him. God is not to be found in those things.

Finding God Takes Diligence²

Luke 15:8…… 8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

The key to keeping from being deceived is to search for God with DILIGENCE. The Hebrew word for “diligence” means – carefully.³ This does not mean that God cannot be found. It does not mean that God is not easy to be found. It means that you must be careful in your search for God because many deceptions lie in wait to get you to stop looking for God.

The woman had ten pieces of silver, and she lost one. She looked diligently for the lost piece because {FACT} she knew what she had to begin with.  She knew it existed. She knew it must be there somewhere. She knew what it looked like.  She knew what she was looking for.  She would not confuse a stone with a silver coin when she swept the floor.  She wasn’t going to confuse a sewing instrument with a silver coin.  She knew she had it before. She knew it was there, so she looked diligently (carefully and deliberately) for it.

You can find God if you are careful and deliberate in your search. You know God exists. You know He wants you to find Him. You know He is easy to find. And, you know, there are counterfeits. You must use faith!⁴

It takes faith to ask for God to find you. We like to be in control of our destinies. Because of our self-fulfilling sinful nature, we feel vulnerable and helpless when we leave such a big decision up to someone else. But God is faithful and trustworthy.

Prayer: God, I am looking for you. I want to find you. I know you want me to find you from your word, the Bible. I don’t want to be deceived by lies, so I ask if you will please find me. I ask if you will reach through the countless deceptions, grab ahold of me, and bring me into your presence. Amen!

“If you are not willing to risk being wrong, you will never find out if you are right.”⁵ Or “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”⁶

You will find God if you look for Him. You must want to find Him. You must be diligent during your search so you won’t be deceived. By faith, you must know He is there, and He wants you to find Him. By faith, you must trust Him to be there waiting for you to ask Him to be found.

Even in the darkest times, Happiness can be found if one only remembers to turn on the light. – J. K. Rowling

You can find God nearby.

Jeremiah 23:23…..A God at hand and far off.

We tend to think God is only present in certain places, not others. Of course, we think He is present in the church. We even feel that the bigger and more flamboyant the church building, the stronger His presence is. At the same time, the more wicked a place is, we feel “God couldn’t be present here.” Although we can comfort ourselves with these thoughts, the Bible doesn’t teach them to be true.

God can be found close at hand.

Psalm 145:18…… 18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, To all that call upon him in truth.

When parents take their children to an ocean shore, they are careful to keep an eye on them. They let their child play in the sand or run in the shallowest of waves but always keep an eye out for any danger. They don’t want them to get into trouble unknowingly.  Even if their child is digging in the sand or jumping in shallow water, they always have one eye peeled on their child.  They want them to have a good, safe experience. They want to be able to render aid at a moment’s notice.

There always seems to be one rogue wave a little stronger than the rest. It is the one that splashes water in the face of their child, who is digging safely in the sand. The parent springs into action, coming to the aid of the child whose face is covered in water. Into their arms, the parent lifts their child, who reaches out for help, soothing and bouncing the child with comfort. “It’s okay. I have you. You’ll be alright.”

God, too, is never so far away from us that He does not watch over our well-being. He always has our safety in mind. He does not want us to fall into an unpleasant situation ignorantly. He stands ready to scoop us up into His loving arms the second we get into trouble. If we want, He is happy to walk hand in hand with us. He will carry us if we reach up to Him. He is never far from us.  He is our Father. He stands ready to save us.

God can be found wherever you go.

Scientists would have us believe they can calculate tremendous distances and times. No instruments can accurately measure the astronomical numbers they confidently proclaim. In his book Measuring the Universe, even scientist Stephen Webb⁷ said, “The goal of an experimental scientist is not to discover the ‘true’ value of a quantity but to make the uncertainty in the value as small as possible.⁸ The point is that Science has no idea, only guesses.

Just because science cannot see the other side of the universe does not mean God is not there. God is everywhere.⁹ He is omnipresent.¹⁰ He fills the entire universe with His presence. He is everywhere at once. Man can never escape God, but he can always find God. Anywhere man goes, God is there waiting to deliver man. All man has to do is ask God for salvation.

God can be found where you need Him to be.

When I drop something off my desk onto the floor, it inevitably bounces, or rolls, off into some obscure corner of my floor. I have learned not to look for the item where I think it might have landed. I know it could be any place in the whole office.  I know the devil is toying with me because the more important the item is, the farther and more well-hidden the item is. I have found things under shelves, in my shoes, in the cuff of my pants, in trash cans, in plants, under paper shredders, and as far back as you can go under my desk under computer wires. It is certainly aggravating. I wish it would be right where I wanted it to be. Some are easy to find and easy to retrieve.

God is not like the elusive item that is hard to find. He is easy to find. He will always meet you where you want to meet Him.  He knows exactly where you are at every single moment.  He is watching, waiting, and ready for you to ask Him for help.¹¹

You can find God in the arrangement of the universe.

Psalm 19:1…..The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Have you ever gone outside at night and looked up at the stars? On a clear night, you can see so many stars you couldn’t even begin to count.  If you are in the city, the city light obscures your view, so you can’t nearly see as many available. Go to a dark place with no lights for many miles, and you will be amazed at what you can see in the sky. 

Find God in His Glory

Looking at all those stars in the sky can only make you feel small! The heavenly bodies’ distance, size, and number show God’s glory. The design of the ecosystem, the sheer volume of plants or animals, the variety of colors, and the uniqueness of human beings are just a few things that lead us to consider God’s glory. It is breathtaking.

Find God in His Handiwork

Where did all of those things come from?

Scientists agree there are only four possibilities for the existence of all things:

1. Illusion. – It is all just an illusion.  It is not real. Your eyes are playing tricks on you.

2. Big Bang. – The entire universe was compressed into an unstable mass that suddenly, avoiding chaos, exploded into the order we see today.

3. Evolution. – Everything was already here and naturally began evolving.

4. Creation. – Everything came into being suddenly and supernaturally. This is the empirical statement of Genesis 1:1.

God put all of those things exactly where He wanted them to be.  According to His plan, He designed the universe just like He wanted it to be. We unmistakably see a design when we look at all the heavenly bodies in the sky. If there is a design, there must be a designer.  The designer is God, and what we see is His handiwork.

There is no excuse not to find God.

Romans 1:19–20……19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

A little boy was told by his mother to put some dirty clothes in the clothes hamper. Uninterested in the task, he tossed them on top of the hamper and then went his way. Later, he heard his mother say, “Joey! Come here!”  Following the sound of the voice, he found his mother standing next to the hamper. “Yes, Mom?”

“What do you see wrong here?”

“Um, I don’t know.”

“You don’t see anything wrong here?”

Looking at the clothes he had on, “Are my clothes dirty?”

“No! Look again!”

“The light switch was left on?”

“What did I tell you to do?”

“Keep my room clean.”

“I told you to put these clothes in the hamper. Where are they now?”

“Getting ready to go in the hamper.”

He knows what mom is getting to. He doesn’t want to admit it. He is avoiding the subject by making excuses.

Like Joey, people often avoid the subject of God. They don’t want to admit God is real, although they conclude this creation is evidence of a Creator. They spend enormous time and energy making excuses. The reality is that we have no excuses.

God is everywhere, easy to find, and cannot be avoided. Creation is evidence that He cares for you. He patiently waits for you to ask Him to save you. He can save you from any situation or problem in life. If you want to find God, ask Him to show you.

You can find God if you sincerely look.

Psalm 119:2…… 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, And that seek him with the whole heart.

Jeremiah 29:13…… 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

When I played football in school, the coach would encourage us by saying, “Put your heart into it.”  He meant for us to put everything we had into it, put in 100%. He wanted us to stay focused on that one thing.

You can’t try God.

You can’t try God out for a while to see if He is something you want.  Unfortunately, this is standard practice for today. There is little commitment. Not much whole-heartedness. People will even marry knowing they can get a divorce if they are disappointed. These are halfhearted marriages. God wants a relationship with you. He wants a commitment from you because He wants to be committed to you. It is hard to have a healthy relationship with someone less committed to the relationship than you are.

You can’t test God.

Sometimes, people want to test God to see if He is all He claims to be. they might say, ” God, if You’re real, let me win the lottery.” Or ” God, if I could just see your face, then I’ll believe you.” this is not searching for God with your whole heart. This is a halfhearted attempt to trap God into allowing Him to be manipulated by you. He is not a person’s genie waiting to grant you your three wishes. He has already shown you How much He is committed to you.

To find God, you must genuinely want to find Him. If you have sincerity about finding God, He is there. People who looked for God but did not find Him were looking with the wrong motive. Like the Pharisees who mocked Jesus on the cross said, “If you are God, then come down off that cross and prove it.”  Wouldn’t they have been surprised if He did just that?

The Sooner you look, the easier it is to find God.

Proverbs 8:17…… I love them that love me, And those that seek me early shall find me.

Finding God early in life is essential because it is easier to do So. The older a person gets, the more “set in their ways”¹² they become. It is harder for them to accept anything different from what they already know, whether true or not. Unless they are open-minded, critical thinkers, they have much to unlearn before learning something new.

Finding God is easier for the learning mind.

When a person is born, they are like a new computer searching for knowledge. They begin filling their brains with information. There is much room to fill. Anyone who has ever been around an adolescent has had the “why” experience. This is when the child asks incessantly the “why” question. Why, why, why? They are in the learning mode. They are gobbling up as much knowledge as they can.

This is an appropriate time to teach any student. They want to learn. They are geared for it. A person who seeks God early is a person who wants to learn.

Finding God is easier for the unindoctrinated…

The earlier a person seeks, the less they have to unlearn to find God. It could be that a person has been given untruths for many years. Every untruth must be dealt with and be replaced with the truth of the Bible. It’s like a blackboard in a classroom that displays an erroneous formula. To display a proper formula, the blackboard must be cleaned off first. Then, the proper formula can be displayed. The blackboard will be confused if the erroneous formula is not erased first.

To unindoctrinate means to erase what one has been indoctrinated with so that one can think clearly and objectively.

Finding God is more accessible for the young.

The young have not had time to be led astray. They are like empty vessels looking to be filled. They are learning anything to satisfy their curiosity and shape their personality. When exposed to teaching about God, It is easier for them to find Him. They will adopt His morality. A foundation will be built into them that they can draw on when they are older.

It’s easier to find God when you need Him most.

Isaiah 55:6…… Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:

Everybody needs help at one time or another. Sometimes, they are in serious trouble and need a lot of help. Even professed non-believers in God will call Him for the help they need when they are in serious trouble. No matter how much you try to deny that God exists, deep within the soul of man, there is an inherent understanding that God is there.

It is no coincidence that people call out to God when they are in serious trouble.

 

All Bible quotations are taken from the King James Authorized Version.

1. https://www.chrispavone.com/biography/ ↩︎
2. DIL´IĠENTLY, adv. With steady application and care, with industry or assiduity, not carelessly, not negligently.  Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God. Deut. 6:17 ↩︎
3. 1960.  ἐπιμελῶς ĕpimĕlōs, ep-ee-mel-oce´; adv. from a der. of 1959; carefully:—diligently. ↩︎
4. Hebrews 11:6…… 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ↩︎
5. Seth Dahl; A writer and worldwide speaker known for wisdom communicated through transferable joy; https://sethdahl.com/about ↩︎
6. The Reeve’s Tale (c.1476), one of the stories in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. ↩︎
7. Stephen Webb (born February 25, 1963) is a physicist and author of numerous popular science and math books and academic publications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Webb_(scientist) ↩︎
8. PG 8; Measuring the Universe by Stephen Webb ↩︎
9. Jeremiah 23:24…… 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. ↩︎
10. Omnipresent, present or having an effect everywhere at the same time:; Cambridge Dictionary; https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/omnipresent#google_vignette ↩︎
11. Job 34:21…… 21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, And he seeth all his goings. ↩︎
12. An idiom meaning:  Unwilling to change one’s habits, behaviors, opinions, etc. ↩︎