Learning the Image of God

Why do we pray? Is it for personal reasons? Is it because we feel we are commanded to pray? Or do we want to get to know God a little better?

There are many reasons to pray, just as there are many ways. But one thing is certain, sincerity in prayer will lead one away from the ordinary and into presence. Anthony Esolen says that our prayer should call us out of ourselves.To be called out requires stepping into the unknown. It means taking prayer not simple as a connection to God, but as our imagination learning to recognize the image of God.

As in all things Divine, we are constantly revising our concepts. Bernard Bro says that all too often our prayer is addressed to an abstract, deformed image, to a God as the representative of an idea and a law, much more than to the ineffable Person who, through his love, has allied his destiny with ours...

Prayer should be about getting our image of God right. How do we know when it is right? I think it comes when we understand God in the manner of Isaiah 43:20-21 who writes: I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people I formed for myself, that they  might announce my praise. Isaiah's image of God is one who cares for us in the situation that we are in, not as one who takes us out of it. God doesn't take us out of the desert of our lives; he gives us our necessities. In essence, God doesn't change our situation. He is there to provide as we journey thought the desert, the wasteland.

Getting the image right means knowing the God who allows us the struggle, but steadies our feet; who leads us through the Valley of Darkness but doesn't leave us alone; who broods over our chaotic souls without taking the chaos away. Because God is bigger than all of that.

Who is God for You?

In the old testament we hear of the great sin of idolatry, making gods out of stones or jewels or whatever fashion came in handy. Yet for all of us, the God we worship or adore is made out of our perceived concepts. It's all we can do. I think the real secret in finding God is that our perceived concepts come closer and closer to the reality. 

Who is God to you? How does that concept influence your life and more importantly, the way you live?  Those are the questions we need to ask ourselves. And this is the purpose of scripture-to give us glimpses of that God to inform our own image.

"I AM" God said to Moses. Meaning God is alive here and now. "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus asked his disciples. Meaning Jesus respects our notions of him even as he helps us come to a better understanding.

We need time to comprehend, to study Jesus, to learn the great I AM. That is why you cannot have a spiritual life without silence, prayer, meditation. That is why externals are only so useful, and internals are indispensable. That's why no matter how long we seek, we still have more to find.