Have you ever wondered why God designed us (humans) the way He did? Not sure if you have ever thought about it, but humans were designed with a direct desire to be connected to something. I would even call it...a desire to worship something. This is is one of the reasons people can become so passionate about certain things. The problem is, when God did design us like this, HE was the thing that we designed to connect with, to worship, to be passionate about. It was His desire the have this with us. For His creation to connect with and have a total need for Him. And the moment sin came into the picture our desires started to go into different directions. When it was just Adam and Eve (before sin) we see that Adam's main desire what to spend time with God. They would meet and walk together in the garden.....Can you even imagine that. It's so easy to say "how amazing would that have been" even though we have the same opportunity to spend time with God each day. Yes, sin has made it to where we can't physically walk with God like Adam could, but we still have the ability to connect with Him as much as we so desire. He is always there waiting for us.
It's quite easy to look in any direction in today's world and ask yourself "what is going on these days?". Its seems like there is heartache, fighting, divorce, crime, division and just basic carnality everywhere you look. We not only live in a fallen world, but we live in a fallen and blind world. A world that sees we have a problem, but is just to blind and deceived to admit what the problem is. From the time sin entered this world generation after generation has strayed further and further from one thing...God's presence! The "chase" for things other than God started even as far back as Cane in the story of Cane and Able. We see Cane, a man allowing sin to get the best of him, being told by God in Genesis 4:7 "...sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it". But Cane didn't rule over it, he allowed it to rule over him...and he killed his brother. So starts in Cane a generation of people who would be further away from God than even he was. This is something that has continued all throughout history. People pulling away from God's presence and then wondering why things just continue to get worse.
Like I stated earlier, we were designed to long for something, but we have forgotten that the "something" is God's presence. So we have replaced Him with greed, power, money, popularity....or as we like to put it in the U.S......the chase for the "American Dream". That has just become a catch phrase for "go out and get what you want....at all costs". That was not the American dream with America was founded. Having the freedom to include and appreciate God's presence in ALL things was what America was "supposed" to be about. But when I think back to the start of this country it reminds me very much of the garden of Eden. Sure it was all good for a while, but then we began to need "things" more than God....and things quickly began to fall apart. So here we are now with a very damaged country full of hurt, lost and damaged people. And we wonder why things continue to get worse. Plain and simple....it is because we have shut out God's presence and taken the very desire He put in us and used it to worship a million other things. We let selfishness, lust, greed and so much more enter into a place that was meant for God...our hearts! And along with that has come open doors for the enemy to enter into our lives and wreak havoc.
We must get back to chasing after God's presence above all else. Not making God's presence somewhere on our list of things we might get to today....but chasing after it above all else. It is then that we will see lives start to look different. It is then that true leaders will rise up to steer our country in a different direction. It is then that the desire to worship something will be used correctly again!
Jesus came to repair what sin had done to us....to this world...so that we can go before the throne of grace once again. (Hebrews 4:16) Let us not take that for granted! Seek God's presence and allow Him and only Him to have the place in your heart that He designed. He knows how to fill your heart with all things you need to make you feel complete. Complete in Him...not this world.
God, Thank You for making your presence known to us. Thank You for pursuing us even in the midst of our sin. Holy Spirit convict our hearts and show us the things that we have replaced the need for God's presence with and help us turn our hearts back to Him. Forgive us God for the things that we have allowed to take your place, and thank You for give us so many chances to draw back near to You. In Jesus name, Amen
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