I have to admit, I’ve never been successful in solving Rubik’s Cube. I tried for a while, but 40 years on, I have to admit failure.
The clever little invention, just celebrated its 40th anniversary. For those who may have missed it, Rubik’s Cube is a three-dimensional combination puzzle with six different colours. The idea is to twist the cube until you have just one colour on each of the six sides.
As simple as it may seem, the cube became the world’s top selling puzzle game.
In 2009 Britain’s Daily Mail reported that 45 year old Graham Parker had solved the puzzle after 26 years of trying, that involved more than 27,400 hours of work.
He thought it was worth it.
There are lots of puzzles that we come across in life – philosophical questions, like where does life come from? Why do good people suffer? How can we achieve peace in the world? Sometimes, like my approach to Rubik’s Cube , we’ll put those questions to one side and agree that they’re puzzles we don’t need to pursue.
Sometimes like Graham Parker who worked at Rubik’s Cube for 26 years until he solved the puzzle, there are people who will doggedly pursue these deep philosophical questions, until they feel satisfied that they have come up with some kind of solution.
One day Jesus disciples asked him how they should pray, and after suggesting some of the principles of prayer, he told a story. He said, suppose you had a friend, and you went to him at midnight and said, an old friend has turned up after a long journey, and I haven’t got any food for him. Now your friend says, go away, it’s midnight; we’re all in bed. But you’re really desperate, and you don’t want to let down your other friend who has come to visit, so you keep on knocking on the door and asking for help. Finally, out of desperation your friend gives you some bread, just to keep you quiet.
Jesus used that story to explain one of the aspects of prayer. He said, ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
How desperate are you to get to the bottom of some of the problems in your life? Not just philosophical questions, but issues that really disturb you: How can I find peace? What happens to me after I die? What’s the purpose of life?
We look in all sorts of places for answers to these puzzling questions? Sometimes we find ourselves caught up in addictive behaviours simply because we want solutions and we can’t find them. I want to say that the answers to many of the deep puzzles of life can be found in Jesus.
And like the man who knocked at his friend’s door at midnight and kept on knocking and calling out until his friend heard him, we need to be persistent in asking Jesus for help.
When you pray for solutions, don’t stop at a simple request. Jesus effectively said, keep on asking and it will be given to you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.
Jesus knows about your puzzles and he’s waiting to hear from you.
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