When it comes to religion, everyone just naturally has a personal view, which serves to expand his or her own experience. Religion is a prognostic perception of ideals and values within one’s own understanding of his/her own environment. What a person believes to be true will influence his/her perception of his/her surrounding order. It there are no standing set of rules then happenstance prevails, it’s how well you are engaged that sorts possibility from illusion. That which one engages in becomes his/her experience. It’s what a person accepts as reality that becomes their truths. Sometimes, a false illusion can become a truth of the mind. Then what, if anything, can you count on?
Solomon from the Old Testament hit it on the head. Everything really is vanity. No matter what you do in the world, it’s as the wind through the trees. No matter how hard you work, the sun comes up and goes down the same from one day to the next. Life is as a wisp of smoke a shadow passing in the noonday’s sun. The rain falls on the just and the unjust in equal proportions. One man sees plight, the other sees abundance but all is equal it’s the awareness or viewpoint that is different. God presents abundance in all things, providing, consulting, and assuring survival. It’s how we embrace the conditions of the material world and our motivational intent that completes our experience. All man has is his own actions which carries on to satisfy his inner self - So as man becomes self driven he strives to satisfy his inner ego. All of his material encounters serves to nourish this inner ego objective; relationships, environment, self expression, everything.
There is no discrimination in God, it rains the same on the just as the unjust, sickness, strife, love are the same today as yesterday and will be until Jesus returns. Is God impersonal? Heaven forbid, He fills our every need, and responds to our request, yet we sit in silence and never even say, “thank you”. God is as personal as we allow Him to be. It is man who initiates and cultivates the relationship. God is willing and ready; He only awaits man’s call.
So then what? What of man, that God takes notice? What of Jesus Christ that He gave it all, to rescue man from himself? The kicker is, He provides grace so we may share in His rest for an eternity. Share His rest in His creation and be at peace forever. We don't have the vision to see that far in advance. It’s hard to understand what eternity is because material man cannot experience it, he can only be immersed in it. Only God knows eternity, for He is the beginning and the end the Alfa and Omega the owner of all, even time itself. That, which has no end, has no completion or finality is beyond our capacity to understand. And, justly so, for us to understand eternity; we would have to be as God. Eternity originates and completes in God. Because God justifies all, there is no beginning or end . . . only consciousness.
Psalms 8:4-6 4 What is man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him?
5 And causest him to lack a little of Godhead, And with honour and majesty compassest him. 6 Thou dost cause him to rule Over the works of Thy hands, All Thou hast placed under his feet.
In man’s instance, he can only take part in it. Man cannot see the beginning or contemplate the end, he is introduced to the fundamental nature of life as it becomes part of his encountered events. In man’s finite body eternity is only a concept and never could be anything else. But to the soul/spirit it is a consciousness of reality, because Spirit derives from an eternal source, it is forever in process. Like rivers within a Ocean, waters flow within water, never ceasing, never beginning.
From childhood I have marveled at my Lord’s creation. The order of it all . . . its’ many secrets, evolving nature and beauty of the seasons. How amazing is its’ ability to renew and provide; my God how wonderful and fascinating you are! As I grow older I have become more ingrained into the reality of the natural world, through spiritual revelation. My senses have become more acute and I can see things others seemed to overlook. Yes, their blindness aggravates me yet makes me sad at their loss.
Now, I duly understand the relationship Native Americans had with God’s creation. At one with all, all with one, creation blending into a single harmony. Each particle, each segment, each event of creation interlinks with other particles, segments and events like a chain with unbreakable links. All is relevant within God’s creation. Each action perpetuates another action because all things interact each with the other. Wow, I had better carry on, I just about broke into a sermon.
As my perceptions change, everything became more intensely radiant, colors were sharper and brighter, sounds were crisper with higher resonance, the sky became a soothing blue canapé overhead, and the blackness of a night sky now sparkled with diamonds. Slowly, I became aware of an underlying presence that was the essence of nature. At first, the creation itself seemed to beckon me like the Siren’s song of mythology. In my clouded state, I thought it was the spirit of the natural world calling me, whispering promises, embracing me as it soothed my soul and enveloped my being . . . Like a lover calls out to his hearts desire.
Then an evidence of an underlying spiritual presence crept into my mind, I became overwhelmed with excitement at the possibilities. The very core of my being was challenged and then stirred as I envisioned the world as a spiritual manifestation and I became an integral part of it.
Now I crave release from the material world so I may yield in reverence and surrender to this calling of fulfillment in His love. My soul pants on, in passionate delight as the running deer thirst for water. A thirst, nourished yet never fulfilled, intense yet soothing, content yet always seeking, pleasing yet forever striving, and most of all yielding yet ferocious. I seek that which penetrates the heart and justifies the soul in a unique union of spirit. My God, My God, where art thou who wrings my heart of love and admiration. Who brings my soul into fulfillment as Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
I have truly experienced the essence of God as I looked solely into his divine face. I felt the assurance of His presence as I sat, silently in the desolation of the Desert – I was enthralled at the sound of Him in a bubbly stream after a springtime rain as it cascaded down the mountain slopes. I heard His gentle call in the whispering rustle of leaves as He touched my face . . . invisible, yet present as He gracefully danced past in a colorful autumn forest. It was the mighty murmuring of a turbulent river flowing toward the sea that brought my senses to mind, moreover, He was there, as I gazed over the deep blue-green lakes and the warmth of a seashore’s crystal white sands.
Yes, I see Him even now as I observe God in the depths of a night sky as the stars sparkle in His magnificence, it is then that my soul melts in His presence. I can’t help but feel His being there in the warmth of the day’s sun. Even now He gently caresses my cheek and touches me as He whispers to my soul; calling me to submit to His embracing of my senses.
One day, most of all, he was there in the face of our new born son and in the sparkle of his mother’s eyes. I am justly blessed as I stand immersed in God’ presence because He is both the creator as well as the creation. I feel like a fish in the sea, God is as the water, everywhere, and His loving wonderful embrace of hope captivates me . . . at every moment.
Romans 1: 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 clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
One warm summer's night many years ago, I ran into God as I walked along a lonely beach, in Baja California. My mother had passed away a couple of weeks earlier and I had left a job as a produce grower. I had fallen into a deep depression and hope had seemingly left me as I began to contemplate the end. In the deep silence of the night as the sea lapped gently at the beach, and the stars sparkled brightly in a black sky; it was then that I began to understand the true meaning of life.
The encounter was not a thundering episode of Hollywood proportions, there was no lightning from the sky and the earth did not shake. A bush did not burn or the sea did not part. It was like a gentle yet forceful presence and subtle caress. I felt a warm gentle breeze pass over me and then, there it was, a presence, unseen, silent, but like the breeze it embraced my total being. It was like being coddled in my mother’s arms, I had a feeling of warmth and security inside. It is the unseen things of God that control our environment and the Universe. Isn’t it after all, the unseen God that is the mystery we all seek?
A feeling of affection, encouragement and peacefulness came over me that I now awaken to each morning and will continue throughout my years. He grows in intensity within me, and I feel more alive and privileged in His blessings with each passing day. The sun rises and the sun sets each day because there is an assurance that he will be the same today as He was yesterday and he will be tomorrow. The Lord is faithful and true and because of that, I know He will always be there, by my side, in thick and thin, even when I make a fool out of myself and do less than I should. He comforts my soul and in hard times, reminds me of what’s to come. I have total confidence that there will be order in the universe and I, am part of it.
He surrounds me with His arms and His bliss is with me at every moment, as He always will be. When I fuss and fret at nothing, He tells me to be quiet and as patient as Christ was and is even now.
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Donald Yates is an accomplished writer and public speaker. Donald lives in Tennessee with his wife of forty-six years, a granddaughter and four dogs.
