It’s a funny thing but when you are in love you notice everything. Each detail takes on special importance. You have a heightened sensitivity and there is significance in even the smallest of acts. We all yearn for that state because, let’s face it, there is no greater joy!

Love notices; love pays attention. When someone takes an interest in us we feel tremendous value. It wakes up something inside of us. You cannot pretend to be serious about a relationship if you never pay attention to that person.

Yet, when it comes to God it seems we are all struck by a severe case of spiritual ADHD. Our inability to pay attention means that we miss so much. We just don’t notice.

I was struck with this fact when I read a message by Rev. Sun Myung Moon:

“God is streaming into the very cells of your body. How can you not feel close to Him, knowing that He will be with you 24 hours a day, just as long as you live for the sake of others? We must know that God is not a concept; He is not anything less than love itself.”

Even though I do not feel God’s presence in my life 24 hours a day, I do believe that God exists. Perhaps, you do too. Some may say that’s not true. But how do we know for sure what is true and what is not? Where do we find the evidence?

Seeing Beyond What We See

I saw something online yesterday – a schoolgirl was protesting to the school board because her teacher had dismissed her belief in God as a non-rational argument. The Bible wasn’t seen as a credible source. Ironically, there is a lot in science, which is always accepted as rationale, which nevertheless requires a great deal of belief from the average person.

For example, calculations have long recognized that the earth is round but for the average person sitting in their living room this is little more than a concept, as they cannot directly observe the earth is round with the naked eye. However, by reading scientific books, no-one doubts this concept. Without direct experience we are just relying on the experience of others. It wasn’t until people went into space and took pictures that we could fully experience the “roundness” of the earth more directly.

Science has given us a lot of tools to perceive even invisible things in the natural world. Take for example, the Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM), which is predicted to open a new era in scientific research. One scientist name Herring said, “This enables us to see the unseen world.” The images are at 20 million times human sight. That’s incredible!

To experience God you have to pay attention

The question still remains, how do we develop our acuity to perceive the spiritual world or God? The first thing that you need to do is quieten the noise around you and pay attention. Think about it this way, if you threw a stone into a pond that was calm you would see a ripple effect. The stone would cause a series of little waves but if the water was choppy you wouldn’t be able to see the ripples. You would not experience the effect of the single pebble. Most of the time, the water of our lives is so choppy that even when God tries to come into our lives we do not notice. There is too much going on to hear that “Still, small voice.”

A prerequisite to experiencing God is to be still so that you can perceive his voice. There is an interesting passage in Psalm 131:

“I have calmed and quieted my soul. Like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child with his mother is my soul within me.”

This is such an unusual analogy. If you think about an un-weaned child, a hungry, screaming infant comes to mind. An important part of development is learning to calm yourself. The weaned child has learned some self-regulation and can wait with patience. The weaned child has learned to trust that their mother will come in due course. Weaning opens up the possibility of a whole new relationship between mother and child.

I thought about this and realized that much of the time we are like that un-weaned child, screaming at our circumstance and unable to relate with our Heavenly Parent. A lot of the time, we cannot hear the voice of God because of our own anxiety. Alternatively, we are so busy rebelling against our circumstance or complaining at the unfairness of our situation that we cannot perceive whether God is with us.

Evidence of God is in the goodness of people’s hearts

This is why testimonies are important. They are like the ripples on a calm lake. In the ripples of the stories we do indeed see the presence of the Divine. We pay attention for a moment and experience evidence of a sort that we can’t deny. Sometimes those ripples cause transformations of the heart that are as incredible as any scientific breakthrough.

Today, we are fortunate to hear Chris’ testimony. He spent nine years in a refugee camp. In such circumstances, in the midst of incredible difficulty it would be really easy to miss God’s voice. The waves of resentment, pain and suffering could have shut out any possibility of meeting God. But this is where Chris deepened his faith.

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