By Mallory
At the college I attend, we have chapel three times a week. One of our recent chapel speakers talked about the struggle of understanding God's existence. In an anecdote he told, two men fishing were in a lake and discussing the existence of God. One of the fishermen pointed out that everyone knows fish exist in the lake even though you don’t see them. And then a fish hopped around in the water and the fishermen were like, “Ooooh, God is real! This actually isn’t a complicated philosophical discussion topic that people have always struggled to understand!” And so, because of this story, you know the “Fish” exists even though you can't always see the “Fish” or it you don’t necessarily see it every time you look for it (Get it? Get it?).
Okay, that’s not quite how the speaker told it, it but maybe you can tell how I felt about this charming tale from The Complete Collection of Unfunny and/or Trite Sermon Illustrations. So I was sitting there wondering, is THIS the best proof of God’s existence we have? A little fishing anecdote? Sure, we don't see fish swimming in the lake but, yes, we’ve all seen fish. And no one has ever seen God. So for anyone who spends time actually putting thought into the existence of God and why they do or don’t believe in Him (and hopefully we’ve all spent some thought on this one), an anecdote doesn’t really cut it anymore. And this question bugged me for weeks after that chapel session.
So is God there? When you’re hurting, when you don’t see him, when you’re experiencing doubt, when times are tough, when your family and friends suffer? I'll be honest - I've spent quite some time wondering if God is real, especially this past year (my second year in college.) There have been times where I look around and I don't see God... when the water is still and you can't see anything underneath it, if we’re playing with the analogy.
And there’s a more intellectually and theologically sound argument for the existence of God than the example I’m about to give you from my own experience. But I feel like I need to give it anyway.
After thinking on this fish anecdote for a while, I realized I HAVE seen His goodness; in big ways and small. I know He is faithful to me, that He sees all the pain and is merciful to me. In hindsight I see God blessing every aspect of my life and the lives of others. I know I’ve had days when I would have just fallen apart without God watching over me.
Here are a few examples of God’s blessings in my life:
1) Loving friends - For a really, really long time, I struggled because I felt that I didn’t have truly close friends. I prayed about it for years and years, and now I know God has provided me some of the best friends I’ll ever have in my friends and roommates at school. They have been such a blessing from God in my life!
2) My mom - because she prays all the time for pretty much everyone and everything she can think of. I see God working in her life so clearly.
3) The college I go to has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. Looking back, I’m amazed at the path that led me here - but that’s a story for another day.
What I’m saying is this: I know God is real because I look back on my life and see where His hand has blessed me and led me in the right direction. And this gives me faith that He’s still around doing it. This is embarrassingly easy for me to forget. After He has blessed my life so much, I still spend time wondering if He is really there at all. But I know I just need to look back and see how He has worked in my life.
Where have you seen God in your life?