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Luke 5:1 "While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret."

 

Why don't we press upon God to hear His word anymore? Yes, it was novel to these Jews, so I can understand their curiosity. But to be following Jesus around, pressing upon Him, seeking Him out, and wanting to keep Him from leaving them (Luke 4:42), there was something more than just curiosity there. The word of God was affecting the hearts of these people. It was awakening the truth in them, and they longed to hear more. It should affect us the same way!

 

The world is confused and backwards, it was for these Jews and it is for us. Jesus' words are a light in the darkness, they lead us from confusion into truth. If we go to Mass and read the Bible, His words will speak to our hearts. I think maybe God's word became too familiar to us, we thought we had heard and understood it all, having two thousand years of history behind us, and we lost our sense of wonder that God was speaking to us, substituting our human understanding for what He was revealing of Himself.

 

If there is one thing that doing this journal has taught me it is that no one has God figured out, nor will they ever! Only the Son knows the Father. God's ways are not our ways, but He has sent His Son to us to reveal Himself to us, as much as we are ready for ("I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." John 16:12). Every word that Jesus spoke is a window into the mind of God, into the nature of reality. We should be pressing in closer to hear and understand.

 

God's word will guide us through difficult times and lead us to eternal happiness. No newspaper or blog we read with our morning coffee can even come close to doing for us what the Bible can do. So why not replace our morning read with God's word, and our morning news-watching with Mass? Let's press upon Him, and let His word guide us through every day!