The light of God’s promises
Q: The world is in a serious state of darkness with little hope of seeing a ray of sunshine in the future. Many friends tell me they pray to God for better days but they struggle to get answers, making them more depressed, driving them to seek other resources of happiness. I try to speak to them of the light of God’s promises and that God even speaks to us through nature. Can all people communicate with God and receive answers about their struggles in this life? - G.S.
A: For the spiritually dead, there is no communication with God. Millions of people long for a world of joy, light, harmony, and peace; instead, they are engulfed in a world of pessimism, darkness, discord, and turmoil. They search for happiness, but it eludes them, just as a sunbeam or a shaft of light eludes a child who tries to catch it.
Many give up and give in to pessimism. Often their despondent attitude leads to a circle of cocktail parties or bars where they obliterate the reality of their world with the unreality of alcohol. Sometimes they are led to drugs or an all-consuming pursuit of a hobby or a sport. All these are symptoms of the great escapist disease caused by an insidious infection called sin.
Many people want to dissect God under their own microscopes. After establishing their own methods of analysis, they come to no conclusions. God remains the great cosmic silence, unknown and unseeing. However, God does communicate with those who are willing to obey Him. He penetrates the dark silence with free, life-giving discoveries in nature, the human conscience, Scripture, and the Person of Jesus Christ.
No one has assurance of peace and happiness, until he or she has put their trust and faith in Him (see Proverbs 3:5-6). God does hear the prayer of a soul that humbly repents.