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| On the Road to Damascus |
“The Lord your God is with you. He will take great delight in you; he will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing” Zephaniah 3:17
The search for God is vividly described in Psalms 69:2-3,
'I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the flood engulfs me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for God.'
Many understand the sensations of hunger and thirst as basic needs of the body. Others, however, hunger and thirst not for food and water but desire emotional, intellectual and spiritual nourishment. Still others crave for moments of spiritual ecstasy as vividly portrayed in the sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini of St Teresa of Avila in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
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| Ecstasy of St Teresa of Avila |
St Teresa described this experience, "I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."
Neuroscientists studied the ecstasy of a religious experience, through studying the excitation of different parts of the brain during deep meditation. An article in the New Scientist entitled ‘In Search of God’ described scientific experiments by Andrew Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili during which eight meditation practitioners underwent brain imaging. These neuroscientists noted a relative deactivation of the parietal lobe that regulate attention and self awareness but the limbic system which regulate emotions became activated. Apparently the same findings will occur for Tibetan monks as for Franciscan nuns, indicating that whatever the religious beliefs, there is a common pathway in the brain for the ‘touching God experience.’
Skeptics have used these findings to argue that God has no real existence, that the presence of God is actually just a result of chemical induction of brain functions. On the other hand, one can argue that God made and designed us so that we would have the neuro-ability for this interaction. Blaise Pascal said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator made known through Jesus.”
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| The Cliffs of Solva, Wales |
The hunger and thirst for a special relationship with God is a natural yearning because we are created in God’s image. The wonderful news is that while we search, God reaches out to establish a warm and personal relationship with us.
“The Lord your God is with you. He will take great delight in you; he will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
St Paul, thought that he knew God. He was so adamant and bigoted in his belief that he strenuously persecuted the Christians. However, while steeped in this activity of searching out Christians to persecute, Christ found Paul instead. It was a spectacular and vivid visitation on that road to Damascus. Later, Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi about this unsurpassing find
'But whatever gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ.' Phil 3: 7-8
Jesus offers to all of us the same privilege of a relationship with God. He admits us into this special relationship on the condition of our faith and belief in Him. For the religious mystics amongst us, we can indeed delve into the realm of the limbic system activation when we meditate. But be it as it may, this experience profound or ordinary, only occurs by the grace of God; a gift we receive which we do not deserve.
The prophet Isaiah wrote,
Come, all you who are thirsty, Come to the waters. Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.' Isaiah 55:1,6
And Jesus said come to the waters
Stand by my side
I know you are thirsty you won't be denied
I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried
And I strove to remind You
That for those tears I died
You said You'd come and share all my sorrow
You said You'd be there for all my tomorrow
I came so close to sending You away
But just as you've promised
You came there to stay
I just had to pray
Your goodness so great I can't understand
And dear Lord I know that all this was planned
I know you're here now and always will be
And Your love loosed my chains
And in You I'm free
But Jesus why me
Jesus I gave You my heart and my soul
I know that without God I'd never be whole
Saviour You opened all the right doors
And I thank you and praise You
From earth's humble shores
Take me I'm yours.
Jesus said,
'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'
Lionel
