The Patriarch Jacob had a dream where he found God, as angels scurried up and down a Ladder to Heaven. What does one find if one finds God? Almost three thousand years ago, King Solomon wrote God’s answer in his Book on Proverbs. “I love those who love Me, and those who search for Me shall find Me. For one who finds Me has found life.”
Can God find you before you find Him? Yes, He found Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, and gave him the task of initiating monotheism. He found Moses and told him to lead the ancient Israelites out of Egyptian slavery and then bring them to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Jacob, Solomon, Abraham, and Moses were imperfect human beings like we all are; however, with gentle commands and nudging from God, they began their separate journeys on the Spiritual Ladder. They clung to Heaven as they grappled with everyday problems that confronted them in biblical times.
What did King Solomon mean about finding life? Solomon was describing a feeling of inner security knowing that God is with you. This emergence of positive feelings starts with igniting a Divine spark of spirituality, which God purposely hid inside you so that you could experience the joy of discovering it on your own.
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As the spark grows into a flame, your security also grows and you feel an inner warming glow and realize that you no longer belong entirely to yourself. Life takes on a different meaning, a spiritual meaning, as you now also belong to God and He to you, in something akin to a loving marriage.
From this point forth, you may feel alone but you never are, as God is always with you. If you ever have felt that you are leading a meaningless life, like a bump on a log, you won’t any longer if you ignite your flame of pure spirit, and once lit you stay the course and continue to march toward spirituality.
Spirituality is like God’s Burning Bush shown to Moses who was in awe because the Bush was a miracle and was not consumed by the fire. If you attain spirituality, you will be more precious than gold in God’s “Eyes.” Spirituality will change you for the eternity and will become the foundation for happiness in your life.
In my humble opinion, religion does not offer salvation. Spirituality does. Religion can if it is part of your spirituality. As the Prophet Isaiah spoke for God, “These people draw near with their mouth, they honor Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me.” A religious person without spirituality is self-righteous and not righteous. A spiritual person has truth and honesty and goodness in his heart.
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How does one ignite the spark to begin the climb up the spiritual ladder? One way that continues to work for me is to simply take short solitary walks and talk out loud to God. Ask Him for strength, for help, or whatever you need. Try this every day for three months and see if God has answered any of your requests. Notice any small changes in your life. If He has answered even one of your wishes, God has seen something worthy in you now or He sees potential in you in the future. Congratulations, you have begun your spiritual journey.
If nothing has happened after three months, then God has examined the crevices of your mind and seen into your heart and isn’t particularly happy with who you are as a person and the moral decisions you have made in your life. Some of that may justly be attributable to your dysfunctional or secular upbringing; however, you still have the power to change yourself and improve your character. We all start at different points in time affected by our pasts, but the hand we are dealt should not stop us.
It’s time to put a plan into action. First and foremost, read the Ten Commandments and do your best to follow them. God doesn’t expect perfection. He only expects that we will walk toward perfection. After all He made us imperfect as King David states in the Book of Psalms, “And He realized that we are but flesh.” Even small improvements will be noticed Above.
Despite arguments to the contrary, the Ten Commandments are spiritual and not religious. They stand alone on their own and can
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be separated out from the religion of Judaism. They embrace the fundamental civility of humankind, or at least they should to each of us. Nobody has the right to hurt you, whether it be physical, emotional or mental abuse, and you have no right to hurt them.
Empower yourself. Be charitable. If you do not help the pauper when he cries out to you, God will not hear you when you cry out to Him. If you cannot afford giving money, then offer mercy and kindness through your words and show compassion. Do a kind deed every other day even if you don’t want to, and even if it’s only a smile to a stranger in need. Try to be as sincere in your heart as you can possibly be as God values truth more than anything else. Don’t cheat or steal in business or in life and be honest with yourself about your moral actions. Treat others with respect and be grateful for what you have. We often look elsewhere while we have what we are searching for right in our own backyard.
Take baby steps and do some or all of the above. After a couple of months working on improvement of your character, try the walks again and talk to God. In fact, never stop talking to Him. You may notice that something feels different inside and that it is flowing outward from you as an intangible, invisible, magical force.
The power of the force lies in bestowing humility and goodness on all who choose to make the climb up Jacob’s Ladder. As you ascend higher and higher, you become a kindred spirit and
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beacon of hope for all those within and outside your inner circle of family and friends.
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