I guess it is age that makes me think the way I do but I seem to be taking God a bit more seriously than I used to. I was taught about God in my youth and studied about Him in college and became a minister as a young adult. I have taught many people about God and thought a great deal about God through the years. But it seems in recent months I have become even more serious about God and what this life is all about.

Three years ago I turned 60 and that has had an appropriately sobering effect. I realize there are more years behind me than ahead of me. I can do nothing about this. It is a fact. And I am not the first person to have to deal with this nor will I be the last. This is all very clarifying. You focus on what is most essential. God and the purpose for which we exist at all are the most essential when you come right down to it.

When I read Job I find a man who came face to face with God in the moment of a very dark trial. He said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes”. (Job 42:5-6). None of us want to go through an ordeal anywhere like Job did endured. But I think we might want to to come to a deeper understanding of who God is and how He works in the details of a life. Now the only way I have found we can do that is by some effort - some spiritual effort.

Prayer is one. Talking to God about the details of our life is one important way. Prayer, it has been said, is nothing more than pulling up a chair, sitting down and having a talk with God. It is not difficult once we do it. God wants to hear from us and begin a work in our lives that brings us to the glory of His divine realm. Prayer is the lifeline that begins to draw us to Him in a relationship.

Studying the written word of God, the Bible, is another key spiritual discipline. Reading the Bible on a regular basis and letting the “water of the word” wash over our mind should be a daily routine. Letting God talk to us through the Bible’s inspired pages sets the mind and reminds us there is a Supreme Being at work in the cosmos. We all need a reminder of this reality.

I would suggest that a person all learn something about how big the universe is. Learn about the nature of the physical world we inhabit. We live on a pale blue dot of an orb set in the dark expanse of space. What science is learning about the expanding and unfolding universe is astounding. Most have not bothered to pick up a book and learn what has been discovered about the immense universe. It builds faith to do this. You don’t need to worry about losing faith. This earth and life upon it is a precious fact. It is not by chance life is here on this place and at this time. There is much to learn.

Coming to know God requires a serious approach. You don’t need to be older to start this inquiry. But you can start today. Make it a lifetime inquiry.