Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

The song title, “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places,” reminds me of how often I’ve looked for God in all the wrong places. Today’s Good News reveals how even when Jesus is in our midst we tend to not recognize him. The people of Nazareth couldn’t accept the fact that someone like the Messiah could come from among them – they looked at Jesus as a mere carpenter and nothing else.

God manifests himself in humility, obedience and even weakness. It was St. Paul who said that in our weakness is when we are strong. God is found when we obey and have faith in what He is telling us. How strong is your faith? Do you tend to give up on Him when your prayers (in your mind) seem to go unanswered? How do you know that they have not been answered? Maybe not getting what you prayed for is the answer. This is generally proven to ourselves much later.

Could it be that the answer has been given to you by one of God’s angels and you have brushed it off thinking (in your mind) that this person couldn’t be right. Isn’t that what Naaman did when Elisha sent a messenger in his place. Just because the answer given did not come directly from Elisha, Naaman chose not to believe it; as a matter of fact he became angry and went away.

Sometimes our thinking takes us to places so far away from God that we get discouraged. You’re not alone. St. Augustine said that, “He was searching for God outside of him, but He was inside.”