seek

Got Questions?

| Marie Griffith

This installment of Monday School is inspired by a man named Nicodemus. I think I love Nicodemus.

The only information we have on him is in the Gospel of John. He was a Pharisee, which means he was a scholar who studied the Law and was intentional in the keeping of it. He was also a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews. He was highly regarded by the people and, obviously, an influential man.

One night he went to Jesus. John doesn’t give us any insight into why Nicodemus went to Jesus at night. Maybe he doesn’t want the other Pharisees to know. Maybe this was the only time he could speak to Jesus alone. We’re just not sure. But we do know Nicodemus respected Jesus because he called him Rabbi. Nicodemus acknowledged the fact that Jesus was a teacher from God. Then Jesus confronted him with a truth he didn’t understand.

Nicodemus knew a lot, but he didn’t know it all. He did what anyone who wants to know and understand would do. He asked Jesus a question. Then he asked more questions.

Someone I love is doubting what she thought she knew. She’s asking hard questions and I don’t always know the answers.

Her struggle would be unnerving except I know that God knows what is needed to make her faith real and strong. Coming to truly see, treasure, and trust Jesus Christ almost always begins in a crisis, one filled with questions.

I tell her to ask all the questions she needs to. Ask God. Ask me. Ask those she trusts to tell her the truth. Go to the Word with a desire to learn. Tell Jesus what she’s thinking and what she’s doubting.

Because she wants and needs it to be real. And don’t we all?

The last thing we learn of Nicodemus is that he, with Joseph of Arimathea, prepared Jesus’ body for burial. “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.         John 19:39-40

Nicodemus was brave and humble enough to ask the questions that night in the dark. Then he was brave and humble enough to prepare his friend’s body for the grave.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8

My prayer for those I love is the same one I pray for myself:

God, may we seek you wholedeartedly. Give us a wholehearted devotion to You and cause us to love you with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds and all our strength.  

 

Quest

Image | | Marie Griffith
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Photo by Ty Griffith

We all know what it’s like to look for something. Sometimes the thing we’re looking for is lost. We had it….but lost it……so we search for it. Like keys or a receipt or your wallet.

Sometimes the thing we’re looking for isn’t a thing at all. It’s a feeling. Or answers. Or a memory or truth.

I’ve heard of people trying to find themselves. I think they mean they’re trying to figure out who they are and where they fit into this big world and maybe they’re trying to make sense of it all.

We’ve all searched. We all have a sense of longing……..for something we can’t quite name.

So we travel the world and see all there is to see.

We seek adventure and hike the highest peaks and explore deep waters and jump out of airplanes.

We get the PhD from the best university.

We build a career that lets us make plenty of money so we can drive the best cars and dine at the finest restaurants and have an extra house at the beach.

We buy the trendiest outfits, dye our hair, get implants and tattoos, have our stomachs stapled and noses reshaped.

We marry that guy or that girl and when it doesn’t work out we move on to the next one that’s supposed to make us happy.

When those things don’t work we self-medicate to numb the ache.

Different thrill. New place. Bigger house. More stuff.

But the search continues because none of those things, not one of them, eases the ache inside.

The longing remains.

C.S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord….  Jeremiah 29:11-14a  (NIV)

Caper