Where?

You have a pressing religious question, a pressing question of life and meaning. Where do you go? Past the Pantheon with its stunning sculpture and oracles. Past the Roman philosophers gathering in their white and red robes. Past the teachers trained in the Socratic method and versed in Ovid. Down a little alleyway. Secretively duck in. Here, in a little group of slaves and outcasts of the guilds, here: “What is the meaning of life?” And those who can’t read, those who are in hiding know. This little group of Christians indwelt by the Spirit of wisdom.

You have a pressing question on how to forgive, chained by unforgiveness, bearing the shackles of bitterness. Where do you go? Past the Ivy League schools of psychology, the glassy-paned counseling offices. Past Judge Judy rattling on the flat screens. You check past the security guard, are escorted past barb wires, alarms, security and down into the cell of a prisoner—his hard heart melted by being forgiven, his eyes welled up with love for those who hurt him. The prisoner who knows the Lord of forgiveness and forgives as he is forgiven (Col. 3:13).

You have a pressing question about freedom. Where do you go? Past the theories of Derrida and Foucault and the postmodern cry for freedom. Past the protestors on the streets. Leave the country of liberty. Across the ocean to an enclosed cell, no light, rats scurrying, no toilet, water and a few pieces of rice to a persecuted Christian imprisoned for their faith. The Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of light, is in that dark hole, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (1 Cor. 3:18).

God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise. Oh Father, I am humbled. I so often have knowledge. I’ve studied. But I have so much to learn from the ex-addict, the mother standing in faith, the once-beaten-and-bruised but now strong, my brothers and sisters from different walks. Father, grant me a humble spirit to always see past the glitter to the real. Let me learn. Let me see you where you shine forth, no matter the vessel. Blessed are they, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

And you--to those struggling with the daily, the questions, not-having-it-all-together, falling in-between the cracks sometimes, without answers--the Spirit of glory is on the weak. The Spirit of wisdom is on the searching. The Spirit's filling on the hungry. For yours is the kingdom.

“At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Mt. 11:25-26, ESV).