You may have experienced a time when you were looking for something, but could not find it. In the end, of course, you found it in a place (often quite an obvious place) that you had just not let yourself believe it would be in. I find this phenomenom fascinating because it shows an interesting contradiction, in that we are searching for something, yet at the same time are closed off or blinded to searching for it in the place where it clearly exists. It is this blind confidence in what we think, that hinders us from finding what we are looking for.
God's love, forgiveness or grace is not something that you will find in the past, or in the future. It is available right here and right now, at this very moment. When you believe that it is something that is yet to come, something you do not have access to right now, or when you believe that it is something you once had but have since lost, you completely miss out on it. God is Love, God is present, Love is present, and within that present moment, His grace and forgiveness are to be found. All it takes to find it is a willingness to let go of our own understanding, to experience God, his love, his forgiveness, his grace, and to become like little children, 'born again', ready to receive the free gift of God.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'because you say you can see, you are blind'. This thought further clarifies the point I was making above about searching for a lost item. It shows the deeper spiritual lesson, of how our thoughts, ideas, biases etc, can blind us to the truth.
When Jesus said 'Ask, Seek, Knock', he was encouraging us to hunger and thirst after truth, and he promised that if we ask we will 'receive', if we seek, we will 'find', and if we knock 'the door will be opened'. These three actions imply a desire to find or understand something we do not already have or know. We must begin this journey by letting go of all that we 'think' we know, in order to receive what God wants to give us. Not as Nicodemus who came to Jesus and and still leaned on his own understanding, an attitude which blinded him to the truth Jesus was trying to share with him.
All of this does not mean that we don't learn, or build upon past truths or experience. The Bible talks about learning 'truth upon truth, line upon line, precept upon precept'. (Isaiah 28:10) We just need to be willing to let go of our limited understanding of truth long enough to find more truth. All that is true in our past experience will come back with it. It is our unwillingness to let go of what we know -- our past experiences or revelations -- that stops us from receiving more. When we let go of all the old wine we have known, then we will be ready to receive new wine.
So to sum up, as the Psalm says 'lean not on your own understanding, but acknowledge God in all your ways and He will make your path straight'. Everything we need is freely given by God right here and now, we just need to accept it. Let us choose to become little children again for 'unless you become as a little child you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven'. The Kingdom is not just some place that will be on earth in the future or someplace you go to when you die. It is right here and now, hidden from most of us simply because 'the Kingdom of God is within you'. Eternity is now. We can experience the 'resurrection and the life' even in this life. What you are waiting for has already come!
