Hungering for God

I suppose it is a very obvious statement to make, but life is not always perfect. In fact, this side of eternity it will probably never be perfect. We will have some very good days, but we will still encounter challenging stuff. And though I can grasp that from reading history, hearing people sharing some of their life stories, or even to a small degree, from my own life experience, the challenges of life are often very hard for us. Life can cause us to have to wrestle with issues and ideas. Sometimes that wrestling involves our ideas of God, or even with God Himself.

I believe that the Beatitudes listed by Jesus in Matthew 5:3-10 are descriptors of followers of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus I am to hunger and thirst for righteousness according to Matthew 5:6. Part of what that means is I am to hunger and thirst for God. But how can I hunger and thirst for God when I wrestle with life and I am not always able to see God’s hand in it?

I mentioned in church yesterday that for me, when I am struggling I with hungering for God, I run to the cross. Often, I cannot make sense of life. But to be honest, I am not sure that I can fully make sense of the cross.  Yet that does not stop the cross from communicating some incredible things to me about God and about God’s character and His love. I think the cross has helped a lot of people keep hungering for God, even when life doesn’t fully make sense. Charles Spurgeon said over 100 years ago, “If I cannot trace His hand, I can always trust His heart.” Raymond Edman, a former president of Wheaton College said, “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.”

Hungering for God in an imperfect world is not easy. But going to the cross helps me keep hungering. The cross tells me about God’s heart and it is a profound statement of God’s goodness that brings light even when things are dark.