The movie The Wizard of Oz is the kind of film that stays with you. I remember as a child thinking it was beautiful, moving and terrifying all at the same time. I loved when Dorothy went Technicolor. I hated the Wicked Witch. I was constantly in fear Dorothy and Toto would never get home. I was mystified when the great and mighty wizard turned out to be a soft-spoken man behind a curtain. When he is revealed it is shocking: He is just a man!!!
Like Dorothy, I have skipped across a lovely path seeking a wizard. Many times I have heard there is someone who can help me. People sing of Him. I have heard tales of all He has done. He is someone with answers to my melancholy dreams, with hope for my dark fears, and He can do miracles. Many times I have sought after Him with hope and fear in my heart.
Every time, I seem to end up standing in front of a curtain.
Through the years, I have pulled back curtain after curtain. Always, behind that curtain there is more than I could even hope to find. I am never disappointed. I am never stunned by lack of majesty. And always, I find myself farther and farther down a golden path that leads to another curtain and I am given a choice. Will I seek Him again?
I now know that He is a King, not a wizard. He is love and mercy, grace, truth and justice. When He looks at us He sees our past, our present and His plans for our future. We can hide nothing from Him. He reads and understands our hearts in a moment. And most of all, He loves us. He enjoys us. We are his inheritance, His children, His pearl of great price.
However, God has given us a great power to choose. Walk forward on the path and choose Him, or choose to become distracted with flying monkeys and singing Munchkins. There is much to see and do in this Technicolor world. But it may all really be more like a dream than we realize. The real, the true life is behind the next curtain, just down the path a bit further.
This is why we were created. To seek Him and to glorify Him. Anything less than that will always leave us wistfully wondering who we are and why we exist. To be known by God and to become like Him is more than a trip over the rainbow; it is finding home.
And we all know, there is no place like home.