When my second daughter was two she loved to run away and hide from me in a store. She thought it was a fun game but with a mama that had a to-do list and a fear of child abduction, it was the worst. There once was a time when she hid from me and I couldn’t find her. I was looking all over and called her name but she was nowhere to be found.
My mind began to race. Typically, she would come out right away when I called. I began to believe it was a fact that someone had taken her. Maybe she was enticed by a puppy or was promised to be brought to mommy if they followed the stranger.
I had images of her getting into child trafficking or crying chained to basement stairs waiting for her mommy to come to find her.
I was frantic in my search. I was looking for the truth about what happened to my precious child. I was anxious to keep her close to me and save her from potential harm. I desired to be with her again.
My soul was searching. Searching for what it wanted to find.
And thankfully, I found her. What seemed like forever was probably, in reality, two minutes. She was hiding in the center of a circular rack of clothes and only came out of it around the third time I went by. She was not aware of any danger. She was not in distress. She thought we were playing a game.
And for her, it was a game. But for the searching soul, it was not.
Just as finding her was not a game for me, neither is life for those who are living it. There are no extra lives or do-overs. There is no magic potion to give us powers or secret codes that can help us cheat to succeed.
We are given one life to live. And each soul during its life begins to search for something, the truth. What is our purpose in life? Where do we come from? What am I supposed to do? What will happen to me after I die?
If you have ever wondered these questions, then guess what? You are a searching soul. You are looking for something but you don’t know what. And to be honest, you’re probably not sure if you’ll believe it if you find it. Maybe you won’t even realize that you found the truth that you were searching for.
Do not believe the lie that we all have “our own truths.” Everyone’s truth about one topic may be different and opposing “truths” cannot be fact. If it is not fact then it is fiction and fiction is not real. Thus, showing that there can only be one truth to be real.
But how can we know it is real? Let me show you the truth that God gives us, the one who created the world that we live in and our life. The truth that can set you free from a bondage you didn’t know you were in.
Let me show you the path for the searching soul.
The Initial Pang
Each person is at a different stage of life mentally and spiritually.
Some are partying it up and living for the weekend, not caring about what happens in their future. There is no thought for tomorrow, there is no concern for today, and there is a simple desire for immediate pleasure. This soul is not searching for truth. They might be searching for affection, acceptance, or happiness, but it is not a search for the truth.
Some are perfectly content with where they are. They have no desire to change and see no reason why they should need their lives to be different. They have a great family, a perfect career, and are in good health and financially stable. Their life is great. They don’t need to search for something. I mean, why mess with perfection, right?
Some are too busy. They are living at such a fast pace that they can’t stop for even a second to think. They must do, do, do or they will get behind and fail. They are not in the right mindset to notice more than their day-to-day problems. They are putting too much on their plate to think of anything extra. Unless these people slow down and take a moment here and there, their health will suffer and will be forced to slow down. But they are not searching, they are merely surviving. A mind must first slow down and then a body will follow.
Then there is the arrogant soul. They are so secure in their power and their superiority that you can never tell them that they are wrong. They will not listen, and they will not change their mind unless it is their idea. They cannot see past their haughtiness to realize that there is more to life than their conceited knowledge, talents, and success. These people don’t search, they believe they have created the thing that needs to be searched for, so why would they need to search for anything else?
However, don’t believe that these types of people can never become searching souls, they can. But it will be hard. It might take an act of God, but it can be done.
A soul that is searching can be of any age, gender, nationality, religion, or political standing. They are someone who looks at life and wonders if this is it. They feel they are missing something. That their soul is not whole. They can’t explain it but it is a nagging feeling that they need to find something. They have to search for something to satisfy this pang of emptiness.
“We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.” Isaiah 59:9b-10
They are blind to the world. They don’t even know what it is that they are searching for. They don’t know what they need to satisfy their soul.
It is a constant pang that shoots through their heart and causes them to look every which way. They are waiting for the truth to come to them. And it will. It always does to those who look.
For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalm 107:9
God knows what we are searching for. He knows what we need. And He will give it to those who ask of Him. It is not a secret He is trying to hide. But will the searching soul accept the truth?
The Constant Search
Lamentations 3:25 says that God will be good to those that wait for Him and to those that seek Him. If you are seeking the truth, without knowing it, you are seeking God. He will be good to you and show you the truth, hopefully, you will be ready to receive it.
How do I know this? How can you trust that what I am saying is the truth?
Because the truth that I have found and chosen to believe in has satisfied my soul. It has given me goodness and joy. It has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me, sorry hubby and kids, and it has completely changed my life for the better. I would never tell you a lie. God is what I was searching for and it is He that can give you peace.
There are many distractions that people believe will satisfy their souls. If only they would add a certain thing to their life or do a certain task then they can be fulfilled and end their search.
Some think a spouse or lover will complete them. Some think a perfect career will give them peace. Some believe children or pets will bring an abundance of joy. Some believe being devoted to a political group or religion can increase the value of their life. It is all empty. It is all falling short without God.
God says that those who are searching for the truth will find it.
God is the truth. His Word is the truth given to us to be able to read and meditate on. The truth is a relationship and fellowship with the God that created you.
It is not an identity with a cult. It is not a code of conduct that I must conform to. It is God that we want. And He answers all of the questions we asked previously. They can be found in the Bible, God’s word, which explains who He is, our past, and the values He gives for us to prosper.
- Where do we come from?
From God’s handiwork. He formed us with His own hands. He made us who we are and He is proud of His workmanship and He loves us dearly. He knew us before we were in our mother’s womb. When we were conceived we were given the breath of life. We became one of God’s miracles. He not only gave us a soul but He also had a plan and a purpose for our life.
(Isaiah 44:2; 24)(Jeremiah 1:5)(Isaiah 49:1)(Psalm 139:13-15)(Genesis 2:7)(Colossians 1:16)
- What is our purpose in life?
To be with God in every sense. To be part of His family. To look for His will in all areas of life. To realize who God is and to fear Him, not because He can hurt us, but because He is worthy of our deep respect. To try to be like Him, not in authority and perfection, but in love and righteousness. To not see the material goods and pleasures of this world as the thing to search for and gain in abundance but to realize they are nothing but emptiness. You will always want more, it will never be enough. And someday it will turn to ash, to dust. You will die and it will be a wasted life that you have lived. Your worldly purpose did not satisfy, nor did it give you what you were searching for.
(Ecclesiastes 12:13)(Exodus 9:16)(Philippians 2:12-13)(2 Timothy 1:8-9)(Romans 12:2)(Mark 8:36)
- What am I supposed to do?
See life for what it is, a moment in time that will quickly disappear as a vapor. Look at your soul and be honest about who you are and what you could be. See the wickedness that lies inside. Don’t be satisfied with staying the way you are. Desire to be better. We weren’t created to be full of sin, it tainted us from a life envious of God. Look at those around you, are they satisfied? Do they have the answers that you are searching for? Is their peace real or temporary? Do they have hope? Do they have joy? If not, then they haven’t found the truth and they cannot help you find it. Talk to God. Ask Him to show you what it is you desire. Be looking for His answer and be open to hearing it.
‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Jeremiah 33:3
(I Peter 2)(James 4:14)(Proverbs 27:19)(Romans 8:6)(Matthew 15:16-19)(Ephesians 5:15-16)(Psalm 23) (Jeremiah 6:16)
- What will happen to me after I die?
With God in your heart and spirit, your body will die but your spirit will live. Without God, your body will die and your spirit will die also. The one who has found God, accepted the truth and lived a life for God will be with Him forevermore. They will go to a true utopia in Heaven where they will enjoy the rest of their eternity. Those that die a second time will have nothing but misery and pain. They will be in a place that does not have God and their bodies, spirits and souls will be forever tormented. They had the time to search. They had the ability to ask for the truth. If they didn’t want to find it, God wasn’t going to force them to hear it. Although, to many He shows mercy and causes them to hear. Yet, they made their choice. They lived for what they wanted and God gave them the desires of their heart, a life without Him.
(John 3)(Luke 16:19-31)(Matthew 25:46)(John 3:36)
The Unpopular Truth
The truth is quite simple. The answer you are searching for is right in front of you.
Truth #1: We are not God.
We are not the one who holds the future. We are not the one that controls the world around us. We are not the ones that determine what is morally good or wickedly corrupt. We cannot change a person’s heart nor save a person from themselves and others.
We are not our own. We do not have power. We are not God.
Why the truth is rejected.
This is where many people turn away from God and reject His truths. They don’t want to be under Him. They don’t want to live their life based on what someone else tells them to do. They want to be their own boss. They want to create a life that they have deemed as “right” but it is “right in their own eyes.”
“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Proverbs 26:12
Or they might reject God because He doesn’t validate their already beloved beliefs and culture. They hear Bible verses that contradict what they see as truth. What they see as justice. They cannot see God as truth because they have already embraced their own set of truth principles and they will not believe that they might be wrong. To them, it is God that is wrong.
For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ Matthew 13:15
Another reason is that they have seen a person that has claimed to be a “Christian” and they were nothing like God (this could be about a person, parent, church, deacon, or pastor). They falsely identified themselves. They were a follower of God in name only but their heart was far from Him. They took His name but they were not His children. They did not show His characteristics in their life. They did not read His words. They did not have fellowship with God or His other believers. They were living their life based on their ambitions. They were not different from the rest of the world, in fact, they might have behaved worse than the darkest sinner. When the searching soul saw this person that claimed to be a follower of God and their manner of life was so abhorrent, the fake follower caused the one searching to believe that they were truly portraying their God. And if their God was that horrible, they wanted nothing to do with Him.
“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being [a]abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” Titus 1:16
Truth #2: We were created by God to be His companions and to love one another.
We were created to want to be with God, to talk to Him, to praise His name, and ask Him for what we needed and wanted. We were not created to be selfish and do our own thing. We were made to have a life filled with God. We were meant to live a life that pleased Him.
But, what pleases God?
He is pleased with good, not evil. He is pleased with those who love the rest of His creation. One that sees the world through His eyes.
God says that love is the chief thing to get in life. It is the core of a Christian. It is the closest we will ever get to perfection. If you do not have love then you do not have God in your heart. If a person loves another then even if that person sins greatly against them, multiple times, we can still keep on loving them. That love is God. Without love, we are nothing and everything we do is nothing.
God defines love as:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. I Corinthians 13:4-8
The world has its version of what love is, but this is God’s. And God is the one who created love so His definition is the truth. His truth is absolute, just as His love is certain.
(Colossians 3:14)(I John 4:8)(I Peter 4:8)(I Corinthians 13:1-3)
What displeases God?
- The love of money, not money itself, but when one loves it they will do all sorts of evil.
- The love of the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
- The sin that comes out of the heart- evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
- In the Bible, it says there are six things that God despises-A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.
(I Timothy 6:10)(I John 2:15-17)(Mark 7:20-23)(Proverbs 6:16-19)
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10
Love keeps us from doing the things that God hates. God is pleased when we love and we learn how to love by looking to God, the maker of love.
The Choice Is Yours
So now searching soul, you know the answer. You know the truth that you have been searching for. It is the time when you have to make a choice.
Will you become a mocker? Will you hear God’s truth and reject it? Will you laugh at it and say it is false? Will you dismiss it as unbelievable and ludicrous?
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7
Will you become a faker? Will you say that you believe in God and His truths but live your life however you please? Will you be lukewarm in your faith? Will you have one foot in the world and one foot in your faith? Let me warn you, God has no room for people who are not hot in their passion for their God. God doesn’t need wishy-washy. He needs to be convicted, convinced, and pure of heart.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Revelations 3:16
Will you become a believer? God doesn’t need your submission. He doesn’t need your acceptance. He wants you to believe in Him because it will complete your life. It will satisfy the ache of your soul and the pang of emptiness that is caused when our hearts are without Him.
He wants to give you what you desire. He wants to show you the love you deserve. He wants to be a part of your life.
Do not be ashamed of Him. Do not fear those who hate Him. Do not let the sins of another cause you to turn away from something amazing. Seek out God. Seek out the truth. You will never be disappointed.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm 145:18-19
