Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

Have you ever felt like you’re seeking God but you can’t seem to find Him? Sometimes I find myself thinking, “Where is God in my life?” and “Why doesn’t He make His presence known?” I search and I struggle looking for God; trying to feel His presence. At times, it feels like the more I search and struggle, the harder it is for me to find Him; almost like those woven finger traps that I’d play with as a kid. The harder I pulled to get my fingers out, the tighter it would get and the more stuck I would become. But when I would relax, I could gently pull my fingers out without too much of a problem. For me, it’s often when I relax and stop struggling in my search that I find God.

But while I continue to search, I feel like I’m living the country song, “Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places."

Image credit: stevepb, pixabay, CCO public domain

However, my struggles to find God aren’t rooted in His absence in my life. Instead, my inability to find God is more about my poor sight and flawed search criteria. It reminds me of a search engine. You know, like Google or Yahoo. The results you get depend upon the quality of your search criteria. If you’re looking for gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes and you type “Thanksgiving recipes” into the search, you’re not going to get what you want. Or, if you type” gluten-free recipes” you’re probably not going to get what you’re looking for either. You may get part of what you’re looking for but not all of what you’re looking for.

So, if I’m looking for God in my life and I’m only willing to search “signs, wonders, and miracles” I may not find Him because that’s only one way that He can make His presence known to me. If I focus my search on “private revelation,” again I may not find anything because that may not be the way that God is revealing Himself to me. But if I open my search to include all the ways that God can reveal Himself to me: through His Word in Scripture, the movement of the Holy Spirit in my life, Signs and Wonders, the wise counsel of the communion of Saints (in heaven and on earth), the circumstances of my life, and my God-given reason; I will begin to see Him and not my idea of what He is or how He should communicate Himself to me.

So, my challenge is to relax and open my search to include all of God (which is a heck of a lot!) and not limit myself to my idea of what God is.

What about you? Do you find yourself looking for God is all the wrong places?