Seeking God

   We were created with an innate desire to know God.  We are intended to have a deep personal relationship with our Lord.  Adam and Eve had such a relationship until pride and temptation took it from them.  At Satan’s urging they desired to become like God, knowing and determining good and evil for themselves.  They lost the blessing that we all seek; a fuller knowledge of God and His will for us.

   Today we still desire to better know God and seek for a return to the perfect relationship shared with Him by our first parents.  Yet we are unable to achieve this goal due to original sin.  We therefore struggle to know our God.  As much as we try we aren’t always certain of our relationship with Him.  Saint Augustine said that our hearts will not rest until they rest in God.  We were created to achieve that rest but are unable to do so in a sinful world.

   There are those who go from church to church in their efforts to find God, seeking one that “suits” them.  Others go to great lengths to better know God by seeking solitude and separation from society.  Sadly there are also those who give up and try to live their lives without God.  In each case there is the desire to know Him.  Even those who give up still have that urging within them even though they may not recognize or acknowledge it.

   Jesus gave us the answer to this dilemma when He told the apostles, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth,” (John 14: 16).  The Holy Spirit was promised to all who believe.  He is the means to better know our Lord and God.  The Spirit will show us the truth.

   When we seek God we need only to look for the Holy Spirit within ourselves.  He is there and will help us find God.  The Spirit will pray for us when we don’t know how to pray; He will guide us in God's ways.  Through the Holy Spirit we can begin to regain the deep personal relationship with God that has been lost to us by sin.  If we look to Him and trust in Him, the Holy Spirit will show us the way home so that we may truly rest in God.