The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Nothing But Evidence"
"I see no evidence for this God you call to my attention, Sir" said the British gentleman, directing a dismissive smile to a believer.
The believer smiled in response. "Actually, Sir, in every day of your life, you have seen nothing but evidence for this God who continually calls Himself to your attention."
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Romans 1:20).
From the most minute sub-atomic particle to the largest star, the universe teems with the presence and revelation of God. He constitutes the great fact of our existence, and the One in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). He shines as the brightest of all lights, and the single reality most evident in all creation and most revealed to every human being. "Nothing but evidence" indeed, as the Apostle John affirmed, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).
Alas, however, apart from the gracious working of God to open our eyes, we are all plagued by a native blindness regarding the great fact. "All we like sheep are gone astray. We have turned every one to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Our Heavenly Father works to illuminate our hearts and minds, both before we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and certainly after salvation when given spiritual sensibilities and sensitivities that enable us to see. For unbelievers, all are "without excuse" because the blindness is willfully spiritual and moral (Romans 1:20).. The issue is not that one cannot see, but rather, that one will not see. The Apostle Paul states of all that the things of God are "clearly seen." However, the heart of the lost person refuses to process and interpret the reality that lies ever before his perceptions, leaving Him in a chosen blindness that imperils his heart in both time and eternity. "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts" (Psalm 10:4).
For the believer, the new birth and entrance of the Holy Spirit into our hearts enables us to see in both conceptual and spiritual terms. We gaze upon a beautiful sunset and understand at least to some measure the God-formed physical realties that cause its appearance and motion in the heavens. Even more, however, we see through the things that are made unto the glory of God, realizing that all creation exists for God's eternal purpose to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 3:11). The setting sun bears witness to the Son that died, even as every sunrise bears witness to the Son that arose. Evidence greeted us upon conception in our mother's womb, and will continue forevermore as the infinite and sublime Creator bears ongoing witness to His "wonders without number" (Job 9:10).
One hopes the British gentleman will open the eyes of his heart to the truth and reality that saturates his very existence. One also hopes that I will open my own heart far wider to receive the light that shines so brightly, but which can only be processed to the most limited of degrees in this present lifetime. We can see some. We can see more. But we can never see all. Regarding the Infinite and Eternal in whom we live, move, and have our being, this will always be true. That which is "clearly seen" can never be completely seen. No more thrilling thought can fill our hearts and minds with the certain hope that no matter how much we have seen the evidence, its confirmation continues and always will.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
(Romans 11:33-36)
Weekly Memory Verse
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
(I Peter 4:10)
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