The Bible Says

The Problem Is Universal!
by Charlie Grier
 

The Great Quest

by Billy Graham
“At the loneliest moments in your life you have looked at other men and women and wondered if they were seeking -- something they couldn’t describe but knew they wanted and needed. Some of them seemed to have found fulfillment in marriage and family living. Others went off to achieve fame and fortune in other parts of the world. Still others stayed at home and prospered, and looking at them you may have thought: ‘These people are not on the Great Quest. These people have found their way. They knew what they wanted and have been able to grasp it. It is only I who travel this path that leads to nowhere. It is only I who goes asking, seeking, stumbling along on this dark and despairing road that has no guideposts.’”

-- Billy Graham, Peace With God (Word Books c1984) p.20

The Cry of Mankind

“But you are not alone. All mankind are traveling with you, for all are on the same quest. All humanity are seeking the answer to the confusion, the moral sickness, the spiritual emptiness that oppresses the world. All mankind is crying out for guidance, for comfort, for peace.

“We are told that we live in the “age of anxiety.” Historians point out that there have been few times in all history when man has been subject to so much fear and uncertainty. All the familiar props seem to have been swept away. We talk of peace but are confounded by war at every turn. We devise elaborate schemes for security but have not found it. We grasp at every passing straw and even as we clutch it, it disappears.

“For generations we have been running like frightened children, up first one blind alley and then another. Each time we have told ourselves: ‘This path is the right one, this one will take us where we want to go.” But each time we have been wrong.’ ”--unquote

-- Billy Graham, Peace With God (Word Books c1984) p.14

Our Problem Is Not New

As the old-timers would have expressed it, King Solomon, son of David, “Was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” He became so bored living in leisure and luxury, he decided to try out everything the world has to offer. Eventually he was prompted to write the book of Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Old Testament. We are not told the method he chose in writing it. It sounds like the rambling of a discontented teen-ager who had gone out and indulged in a different kind of sin everyday and then written how disappointed and empty he felt after each new experience. His conclusion at the end of the book is simply this:

“Fear God and keep His commandment, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 NKJB).

Commenting on Ecclesiastes 4:8-12, a note in my Bible reads thus: “Loneliness is the painful realization that we lack meaningful relationships. This can lead to feelings of emptiness, melancholy, isolation, or even to despair. Further, a sense of rejection and low self-esteem are often present because we can’t relate or we feel left out and unwanted. Loneliness becomes a vicious, downward spiral. No matter how hard we try to belong, we feel left out.

“Society can contribute to loneliness by making it difficult for some people to maintain identity and meaningful relationships. Constant change tends to make people feel rootless and fragmented. Loneliness becomes more than just a state of mind. It effects the way we view God, other people, and ourselves. Those who recognize an ongoing issue with loneliness are admitting a deep and profound need.

– Billy Graham Training Center Bible. Page 606.

We Live In A Troubled World

Are we making progress? Or, are we going from bad, to Worse? I will not try to answer that question. Think it over in your own mind.

One thing is annoyingly evident there are more unhappy and discontented people in the world today, than at any time in the history of the human race! Some thirty years ago Billy Graham wrote,

“We can build the highest buildings, the fastest planes, and the longest bridges. We have successfully probed the far reaches of space and conquered the unknown. But we still can’t govern ourselves or live together in equality and peace.

“It is man’s depraved and sinful nature that fills him with hate, envy, greed, and jealousy. The curse of sin is upon his body and he is forever haunted with the fear of death. His inventive genius has enabled him to change everything but himself. For man, in spite of the widely acclaimed ‘progress of our times,’ remains just as he was in the beginning.”

-- by Billy Graham, Peace With God (Word Books c1984) p.20-21

IT IS MAN’S NATURE TO BE REBELLOUS

We don’t like to be called “sinners” and call all wrong doing, ‘error’, but the Bible says, “All unrighteousness is sin.” It is easy to say and do the wrong things; and is hard to live up to the Holy standards of the Bible. That is why we need a Savior.

Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth his sin will not prosper: but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”