“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, ….what is man that You are mindful of him? Psalm 8:3,4
Dear Ones:
How is it possible that man, small and insignificant, in comparison with “…the moon and the stars, which You (God) has ordained,” stand up and blatantly say that there is no God? First of all, for the fool who believes this, one must answer the question: “What is man?” And why would one trust “man” or “men” when it is a question of eternity, of life and death? If man is infinitely small, his godless thoughts are even smaller. He declares himself a creator and believer of the truth, and yet he cannot fulfill his own destiny. After all the years of his existence upon this earth, his “goodness” has not been able to stop the killing, stealing, and destroying. Why? Because he is of a nature and disposition, not to mention, limitations in every aspect of his being, which keep him from rising to any level that approaches God in His goodness and mercy. So, why do men not believe in God?
The first reason is that they are born dead. When God pronounced to Adam that in the day he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam DIED. This was not a physical death…that would follow, but a death to God and the things of God. However, God would not leave him alone. He would ever be working through the creation, and the revelation by the Spirit of God to the heart of man, so that man might truly rise out of his sinful, selfish night of spiritual depravity, to KNOW God. One of the most remarkable truths that David expresses in Psalm 8 is that, though man is so small and insignificant in the context of all creation, God did make him “…a little lower than the angels…and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” (v.5) God did set His love upon man, and has done, and will do, all that is necessary for the salvation of man.
The second reason that men do not believe is found in the answer to Paul’s question: “And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14) Without a knowledge of the truth about God, specifically in Christ, there will be no faith. God gives faith in conjunction with the truth. The Lord through the prophet Hosea said, “…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (4:6) If a person is to be saved, and by this, I mean being totally forgiven of his sins, having received Christ by His Spirit into the heart, and having become a new creation in Christ, he or she must be willing to believe the truth. Thus, we are faced with the everlasting reality that, according to Jesus’ own words, “I AM THE TRUTH…” (Jn. 14:6)
Dear Father, give us to never be unbelieving, but full of faith, for You have revealed the EVERLASTING TRUTH through and in Christ. Your call is for us to believe You, trust You, and commit all to You, for You have made us, and Christ has died to redeem us, all of us, from the prison and power of sin. We praise and thank You for Your great love which You have set upon us, everyday revealing to us Your glory in creation, and on the cross. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad