HATH
GOD SAID?
“It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” –Matthew
4:4
Has God ever spoken to you? Ever hear that still, small
voice like Elijah did? How can you know if it was the voice of God? After all,
the Bible warns us of false prophets.
Luke tells us how Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature.”
Even so, he was 30 years old before He began His ministry and then only after
being baptized by the Spirit of God. We learn that immediately after His
baptism, Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Think
about this. After forty days without food, when tempted to prove who He was by
turning stones into bread, He replied with the words above. In each of the
three temptations, he overcame Satan’s devices with the words, “It is
written...” Shouldn’t that be an example and lesson for believers?
Question: Where and how did Jesus get all His
knowledge of what had been written in scripture? I suggest he gained it the
same way we learn anything---by searching and testing, the difference between
Him and us being His Godly disposition from birth. True, we were born in sin,
separated from God, but, if like Jesus, we have been miraculously born of God,
our spirit should reflect the same disposition to seek and please our Father, a
desire to know what He is like, how He works and our relationship to Him. We
might ask how true this is in our lives.
These days we see everyone putting a spin on truth. There’s
your truth, my truth, no truth, you name it. How do you measure truth? Jesus
said, “I am the way, the life, and the truth.” But what does that mean? Pilate
at Jesus’ trial stood looking Him in the eye and asked, “What is truth?” Jesus,
when praying for his disciples asked, “Sanctify [set apart] them in thy truth;
thy word is truth.”
Obviously the truth that Jesus refers to escapes the
understanding of many. It is not the truth we come by naturally---reading,
writing and arithmetic, the sciences, the arts, and all. These, of course, are
beneficial and to be sought after as the common grace of God. But this
particular truth is only discerned spiritually by believing what God has
declared in scripture. It is beyond our natural senses
to grasp. It is the revelation God has made of Himself, of who He is, what He
has done, how He works, the disclosure of who we are and of our eternal destiny
based on our attitude toward Him.
But as it is written,
Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. –II Corinthians
2:9-10
The downside of the matter showing our complete helplessness
to learn of God by our own smart follows in the same passage:
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
– I Corinthians 2:14
The answer for anyone interested in how to unlock the truth
of God is found in the Letter to the Hebrews:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
–Hebrews 11:6
With such a straightforward answer at hand, wouldn’t you
think there would be a mad rush by all to follow the advice in Hebrews? After
all, we’re invited to come to know the One who made us, who can assure us of
Heaven. Who wants to die, not knowing what’s next?
They say ignorance is bliss. Yes, you can be full of
bliss---while in the path of an
onrushing truck! The Bible associates sin with ignorance. It describes sin as
lawlessness, a blindness to God that results in our going our own way in
opposition to His advice. Surely, that’s the epitome of ignorance. It’s just
plain dumb. Certainly there is ignorance that we can’t help. When you don’t
know something, you don’t know you don’t know. That’s not a sin in itself;
we’re just born that way, and God understands the condition we inherited from
Adam. However, while it may be argued that ignorance is no sin, willful
ignorance certainly is. To deliberately ignore God, to refuse to face His word,
THAT is SIN. The Bible says we’re born spiritually DEAD, that we have no capacity
to know or understand God. The trouble is we don’t know how helpless we are.
While we will admit to God’s existence, we are ignorant of
His nature, creating idols in our minds of what we will have God to be.
Ignoring, rejecting, or compromising His standards, we invent our own god.
Countless options are open---we may ignore God completely or become fanatically
religious; we may exhibit criminal behavior or pride ourselves on our
righteousness. Whatever course we choose, it focuses on our own self effort and
understanding. The end result is either guilt from falling short or false
pride, perhaps a mixture of both. We miss the purpose of what God has designed
us to be---joint heirs with Christ for all eternity. We fail to know God as He
has expressed Himself in Christ---no certain confidence in His love and power
to keep us, no real peace in our spirits, no joy over the hope of meeting Him
one day. This must be our condition until by His grace, His spirit works in our
lives to show us our need and His answer. Hey, then, it’s decision time! It’s
the time to make the one decision that will determine where we spend eternity,
in the company of His presence or alone in a sphere designed for the Devil.
It’s a decision having practical consequences now. For if by faith we choose to
follow Christ, our lives take on a new dimension---a resting in His love rather
than trying to earn it, a true love for Him and others, a desire to obey Him
and a growing understanding of what it means to have life more abundantly.
Let me share my own testimony to illustrate how this can
come about, though surely every person’s case will be unique. With no help from
me, I assure you, God brought me into circumstances and an inner conviction of
my own moral need and helplessness.
Leaving nothing to chance, God also sent a man on the scene who took a
spiritual interest in me---the only one ever to do so, apart from my
mother. Such timing! My friend proved
to be especially equipped to provide some answers I needed. For instance, intellectually,
I was hung up on evolution. As a rock collector and student of geology, he
introduced me to creationism and showed me a rational alternative. Though he was
gradually winning me over, I still drug in my heels. Then, one day the clincher
happened. I accused my friend of
smoking, which in my eyes a Christian couldn’t do, since I felt Christians had
to be perfect. I’ll never forget his words:
“Larry, I don’t know how God can love a sinner like
me, but I know he does and that I’m going to heaven.”
No effort to excuse himself. Just these simple words, yet so
profound. I recognized that I had encountered truth, which caused me to ask,
“How can anyone know that?” His answer: “Just pick up the Bible, Larry; you’ll
find it. Well, I did pick it up, and I did find out. I started searching the
Bible, and I found the truth, so that today I can echo my friend’s words to
others.
However, If I were to stop here it would be most misleading.
As I began reading the Bible, I really had more questions than answers. So much
seemed incomprehensible; yet even so, I was drawn to it, and gradually it began
to make some sense. Since that time some 40 years ago, I’ve had to revise my
convictions time and again, having fought many a spiritual battle to comprehend
God’s word and see Him prove it out in my life.
My
search for God, I am sure, has been His search for me. God is indeed the author and the finisher of our faith, always one step
ahead of us, always directing the steps of God's chosen ones who acknowledge
Him.
Contrary to what some preach, God’s aim is not to make us
rich but to make us godly. His way is totally against our natural bent. Where
we strive to be strong and victorious by our efforts, He often brings us to a place
of despair and failure, so that our trust is directed to Him and not ourselves.
We find the trials of life are God’s means of proving out his promises. As we
grow in our relationship and understanding of Christ, we begin to see these
trials are “exams” to show us where we’re at and to demonstrate His faithfulness.
No trials, no spiritual progress. As James says:
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But
let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing. --James
1:2-4
I recount my personal testimony to drive home by example
that if we earnestly begin our search in honesty and faith, God will complete
it. Our greatest obstacle is our own delusion of independence, thinking so much
depends on us. Really, everything depends on Him. What do you have that you
haven’t received? Who is in control of your circumstances? Who is making your
life possible, giving you air to breath, enabling your heart to beat? Yes, we
have a limited amount of freedom---comparable to a goldfish in its bowl, so far
as God’s purposes are concerned.
All this is not to say we just sit back in our rocking chair
and do nothing. Taking up our cross at the start of the day should actually free
us for action by getting self out of the way. Whatever activity we engage in,
whether little or much, easy or difficult, should be accompanied by a relaxed
confidence that God is doing the work. Do we always attain this? Of course, we
don't, but we should look at it as a realistic goal that God wants us to enjoy.
Have a great day, folks! God has promised that He is able to make every single
thing contribute to conforming us to the likeness of His son.
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