All these things...

"Seek first His kingdom and all these things will be given to you as well." -- Matthew 6::33

I read a friend's blog posting yesterday where he spoke of how confusing the Bible can be. So many people interpret the Bible differently...looking at the exact same passage in the exact same translation, two people can say that God meant two completely different things. I admit that this troubles me sometimes as well. Some use the Bible as a weapon to judge others. Some use the Bible to promote their own agendas. And then some read the Bible to try to make sense out of a seemingly senseless world.

I read and study the Bible because I want to make sense out of a senseless world and I want to try to connect with the God I believe in. I do believe in an all-powerful God who is capable of sending his words through flawed human beings so we can sommunicate and better understand him. I still struggle to understand the words of the Bible, and my friend is right, it can be very confusing. But there is something in me that is drawn to those words...drawn to the hope that is written in them.

All these things...If you read the verses before the verse above, you will see that we are told not to worry...we don't need to worry about what we will eat, what we will drink or what we will wear. If we seek God FIRST in our lives, our needs will be taken care of.

All these things...we are more complicated than the birds and flowers...we have souls that have special needs of their own. God knows what our needs are, and he wants to meet those needs. But he wants us to search for him...he wants us to read his word and seek understanding...he wants us to put him FIRST. I have trouble with this, and I believe most of the world does too. It is too easy to forget the God we can't see.

Wouldn't it be easier for us if we could see God and REALLY talk with him? I mean, if he made his appearance known to us, and we could see him, hear him, touch him, we would KNOW he was there. We COULD have a relationship with him because he would be right there in front of us. But it would be TOO easy. If he was standing right in front of us, we wouldn't have to go searching for him. We wouldn't have to have faith. Sometimes it's the journey that is more important that the destination. God wants us to go on the journey of our life, seaching for him all the way.

Yes, the Bible can be confusing. But if we continue to seek God, and seek understanding, God WILL give us "all these things." Our needs will be met and we will find the hope and strength to go on in this senseless world. Use God's word as a tool to help you search for God and his purpose for this world. Don't use the Bible as a weapon against those who are different. When there is something within God's word that confuses you, pray for understanding. If your heart's in the right place, God will know and will give you the understanding you seek. You might not understand it all, but you will understand what you NEED to.