Finding Hope in Hunger

One thing I prayed for before leaving for India was that God would open my eyes to the things He wanted me to see there.  I don't mean all the cool monuments and such, but to really see India, to see how He is at work in that country and to see the needs of the people.  I wanted my heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.

I suppose I should preface this by saying that I believe that the knowledge of God that comes through Christ is the only way to be redeemed and saved.  I'm sure there are many people who will read this that believe there are a multitude of ways to heaven, but I think God is pretty clear in His Word about how we can have eternal life.  In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well."  Jesus doesn't say he is one way or one truth.  He says he's the way and the truth.  I don't believe this verse is open to interpretation.

That being said, I will tell you that in India we visited a few Hindu temples, places where I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness.  In the temples there were statues of gods and goddesses set up, and people would come and bow down to them.  The first commandment is "You shall have no other Gods before me."  (Deuteronomy 5:7)  God is very clear that He alone is worthy of our praise and worship, and seeing the kind of idol worship happening in the temples was almost painful.

I could see in the peoples' eyes their hunger to know God, and their hunger to worship, yet their worship of the mute idols in front of them was vastly misdirected.   People pray to mere statues in hopes of finding salvation.  They pray to created things rather than the Creator.  It truly broke my heart.  I think though, that this was exactly what I had prayed God would open my eyes to see.  I caught a glimpse of the great need for the gospel in India, and if anything, it strengthened my desire to become a missionary overseas.  There is a Truth much greater than any man-made idol, and I want to be able to share that Truth with people who are desperate for it.  And yes, I think people are desperate for Jesus, even if they don't know His name.  They are desperate for the One who can save them.  Desperate for Living Water which will truly satisfy their every need.

So even while witnessing the empty idol worship of the Hindu temples, God gave me hope that His name will yet be exalted.  "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9)  Among the worshipers in those temples are ones whom God is calling into his wonderful light.  It is so encouraging to me to rest on the promise of God that we do not hunger in vain.  When we hunger after the Living God, we find Him in Jesus.