We live in a culture that has drifted far from the idea of faith in God. In fact, it seems we gave up God decades ago for the idea of “settled science.” We do not believe that there is a God who can make his words known to us.
Recently I read Russian historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s conclusion after studying the Russian Revolution that swallowed up sixty million people: he explains, it happened because “men had forgotten God; that’s why it all happened.”
Adrift from God
Today, we live with ills that are characteristic of a culture which has moved far way from God. Just look around you. We see an upsurge of psychological disorders brought on by the stress of rapid change and loss of security.
We wear ourselves out trying to live our lives with the increased pace of life, loss of trustworthy moral leaders, barrage of inconsistent worldviews, confusing voices of media, threats of terrorism, economic unpredictability and now the strange new viruses.
In addition, many people who lost their partners through divorce, disease, or death are struggling hard to find new meaning and purpose for their lives in the midst of our whirling world.
Even though our technological successes are tremendous, evidence shows we are slowly being destroyed. Who or what can we blame?
Socialism of any type leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death. — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Here’s another quote I found during my university studies:
Without God to aspire to, people are forever condemned to the incompleteness of their own existence. What is important is humanity’s belief in God’s existence, for without that belief, their inherent need for wholeness is denied (Christopher Monte & Robert Sollod).
Waking up
Despite all these problems, we live in unprecedentedly exciting times. In 1986, world-class astrophysicists concluded that there is no way our universe came into existence apart from some “unfathomable Mind.”
But many people don’t know this yet, so they are lost without a sense of stability and meaning that only our Creator God can give them.
However, some of us are waking up. We realize something is not right in our secular culture, and are beginning to seek what is true, and to honestly grapple with the big question of God’s existence—and if he is there, is he is willing to help us.
In the Bible, we are told to wake up, so apparently this is something we can do:
- Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph 5:14).
- Wake up from your drunken stupor … do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame (1 Cor 15:34).
- Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die (Rev 3:2).
What does it mean to wake up
In my own experience, waking up is about becoming more conscious, more aware of myself—my thoughts, emotions, needs—and also more aware of God and his presence. Waking up involves becoming a seeker of truth.
It requires us to become more curious and to ask more questions. At one point in my life, I made a decision to question everything I believed. If it was true, it would hold up to my questions. Mindlessness is our enemy!
But know this: waking up can be painful, because seeing truth is painful! For some, it is easier to live in a world of illusions, magical thinking, religious ideals, and remain half-asleep, rather than face the truth about what’s happening in their world or their own failures, guilt, and powerlessness.
Call upon God
Good news! My experience is that God can be found. He wants us to seek for him, to recognize his voice, and do what he says. I think he is waiting to see who will wake up, who will call on him, and who listen to what he is saying.
Long ago, the prophet Jeremiah told us what to do:
Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3.)