Monday, June 7: God lives!

The fact that God lives isn’t news to many of us on the planet right now. Yet a majority of the 6 billion people going to and fro all over this earth don’t believe in a God who takes an active part in our lives. Though there are a small percentage of people who claim to be atheists, sadly, that number is growing. While not atheists, there are an abundance of people who consider themselves agnostic. That means they just can’t figure it all out. Most of them want to believe that they are the god of their own lives, but since they have been hard-wired in creation that there is a God, they sense a conflict in their souls.


When I was reading Genesis, I made a mental note of the days of Noah, where the people were evil, but there couldn't have been many atheists. God spoke to Noah many years before the flood, and told Noah to make a boat, for it was going to rain. “Rain, what is that,” said Noah, as up to that time, God had watered the plants from the springs of the earth. Even in those days not so long after Adam had strolled in the Garden of Eden, people were living their lives as if God didn’t exist, didn’t live. Yet if you look at the ages of the first generations, when they died and when they had sons, you find that Lamech, the father of Noah, was 56 when Adam died, nine generations later! Though there were many people alive on the earth around the time of the Flood, there was a survivor whose father knew the first man, a survivor whose father knew a man who walked and talked with God! 


When you read the passage in Deuteronomy discussing the Ten Commandments, you can see that the Jews in the wilderness did not see God, but they certainly heard His voice. That voice scared them.


4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) 
Deuteronomy 5:4-5


23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. 25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.
Deuteronomy 5:23-25

I love verse 24 above. God talks with man and He lives! He wants to talk to each of us now. Each of us has the same 24 hours a day to get it all done. We are busier than we should be and unfortunately, don’t always put that relationship with the Living God as the priority of our lives. I once heard a story that a time management consultant met with a college class. He pulled out a wide-mouthed jar and a handful of large rocks. After fitting all the large rocks in the jar that he could, he asked the class, “Is the jar full?” One student responded, “Yes.” The consultant pulled out some pebbles and poured them into the jar, having demonstrated that the jar was not full. “Is it full now,” he asked. Unsure, no one answered, and he pulled out sand and poured it into the jar, then water to the point where finally, the jar was full. “What’s the lesson,” he asked. The same young man who had answered the original question incorrectly, once again piped in, “You can fit more things in than you think you can.” “I am sorry,” said the consultant, “but that is not the lesson at all. The lesson is that you all have the same amount of room in your jars and you have to put in the big rocks first.”


We as Christians serve the One God, the Living God. Our faith is built on the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ. Isn’t He the biggest Rock, which we need to fit in first? Why do we spend so much time spinning our wheels, worrying about finances, jobs, careers, hobbies, vacations, possessions, even television…the list goes on and on. This life is a proving ground, in which we are called to find that relationship with God! You cannot have closeness in any relationship without much time spent with the other! He gives us an assignment to teach our children and grandchildren about Him. That is our next biggest rock. Is God the priority of your life? Should He be? Just like Adam, we can walk with God and talk with God anytime we desire, as He lives in each of us. He created us just so He could share His love with us, and most of the time, we give Him the moments that are left over at the end of the day…if we even give Him that.


Spend some time with the Lord today! He so wants to share that time with you! Though you can’t see His face, you can feel His presence!