Encountering Jesus in His Sanctuary and in Mystery

This week in Jesus is Better Than You Imagined, we read chapters 2 and 3 that helped us focus on encountering Jesus in His Sanctuary and encountering Jesus in Mystery.  Let's face it, until we actually encounter Jesus for ourselves, this thing we call Christianity can feel pretty empty.

But, can we really encounter Jesus Christ?

Page 41 reflects on God teaching Jonah the lesson that "(we) cannot escape God."  Psalm 139: 7-12 declares:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Friends, do you try to constrain God? Geographically? Chronologically? Theologically?  Intellectually? (p.42)

These constraints only limit our relationship with Him and our ability to experience Him.  A couple springs ago, I was in a beautiful season of experiencing God in His sanctuary.  I regularly ran outside, sometimes listening to worship music and other times to the quiet sounds of nature.  One particular day, I glanced to the trees and stopped still to turn back and stare at this incredible turkey vulture with wings spread out wide.  For me, in that moment and season, God was showing up to tell me how incredibly powerful He is and incredibly taken care of I am.

But, what if I only went to that place each time I wanted to experience God?  What if I limited Him geographically doubting I could hear from Him during work or in the mundane of the grocery store?  I may then miss all the other times God is trying to show up and allow me to experience Him. 

In chapter 3, Merrit goes on to describe the mystery that sometimes is our God.  He confesses, "I often struggle to sit in life's messiest moments, to trust God for what He's given me or allowed to flood my life." (p.49)  He goes on to quote Soren Kierkegaard who wrote in his journal, 

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"There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys.  They cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked out the sum for themselves."

​And so, the question is, Are you seeking to experience God for yourself?  

"He is mysterious, which is to say He can be known but not comprehended, experienced but never fully explained." (p.51)  We each are invited to experience God. And yet, "humans have resisted such an interaction with God since humanity's dawning moments." (p. 56) God offered to Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of life... but they wanted the knowledge and answers more than the experience God offered. 
Why is this our tendency?  Do you resist?

​This week, challenge yourself with these questions.  Is Jesus really better than you imagined?  We'd love to hear your responses or what you took from the reading this week!  Comment below.