Monday, January 6, 2014

"God At Hand"


     From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible proclaims the involvement of God in all things and in all people.

    "By Him, all things consist" (Colossians 1:17).
    "In Him, we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
    "He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25).
    "God... worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:2;11).

     As I prepared to write this, a friend sent communications from a young man who presently rejects the great fact of his existence, namely, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The lines express deep sadness, bitterness, and rage, just as we might expect from a heart that refuses to see the essence of its life and being.  Deep inner turmoil ensues when we rage against reality, kicking against the walls of the Truth in which we "live and move and have our being."  We consist by God, He provides everything necessary for our existence, and we cannot escape His determination to move history, including our own personal version, "after the counsel of His own will."

     Because every breath comes to us as the gift of God, we could justifiably offer conscious expressions of thanksgiving in every moment.  Our Heavenly Father would not have us do this, of course, because our lives require reasoned involvement in so many other responsibilities.  Believers nevertheless live with a subterranean stream of awareness and conviction that our lives and the lives of all others teem with the dynamic hand and heart of God.  Such understanding frequently bubbles to the surface, eliciting remembrance, faith, gratitude, and affirmation that our Lord is the "God at hand" (Jeremiah 23:23).  We also seek to bear witness to those in our world who refuse to see, encouraging and challenging unbelievers to open their hearts to the reality in which they exist.  Indeed, it is sad thing to miss the Obvious in this life, and a far more tragic outcome awaits in the next for those who will not see God at hand.

    For the trusting heart in Christ, no more thrilling and fulfilling thought exists than this Divine involvement in all things.  "The whole earth is full of His glory" declared angels unto Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3).  Even more, the Spirit of God and the Word of God unite to declare the purposeful presence of God.  No blessing graces us apart from the Fount of all blessing.  No challenge confronts us for which the Lord Jesus does not providing His overcoming power.  No need arrives on our doorstep that is not preceded and transcended by Divine supply.  No void in our hearts exists that our Heavenly Father cannot fill to the degree that we joyfully affirm with David, "My cup runneth over!" (Psalm 23:5).  These truths we must believe, and unto this reality we must open the eyes of our heart.  As we do, rather than rage against reality, we rejoice amid resurrection as we discover the teeming life of the risen Christ in all things, or, God at hand.

"The Lord is at hand."
(Philippians 4:5)

Weekly Memory Verse   
    Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
(Jude 1:24-25)
            

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