Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” For many years I considered that the first sin was the sin of pride. I was wrong, pride was the second sin. To be fair it was a close finish, and often it still is when the first and second sins appear. We define the sin of pride as thinking more of one’s self than one ought. Pride raises us up above our proper station, blinds us to our own weaknesses, flaws, and faults, and entitles us to many rights and privileges. So, it is easy to see how pride becomes the catalyst for a whole multitude of sins. Yet, in order for pride to take hold something else must first give way. We have to have room enough to expand our own ego, we have to make space to glorify ourselves. Thus, God must become less so we can become more. It is the total reversal of John 3:30, and it is called ungodliness: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” As Jerry Bridges points out in his book called Respectable Sins, we associate ungodliness with spectacular wickedness, but all it really means is neglect of the reality of God.
God is There For You
That is what Adam and Eve did when tempted by the Serpent. They forgot not only what God said, but also who He was. They forgot that God was fully aware of the situation and fully available to them in it. Having overlooked so much, they had plenty of space free to expand their self-image and think equality with God was a thing to be grasped.
It sounds perfectly absurd when you say it out loud, but the scenario plays out many times each day. It happens to me, it happens to you, and it ends up hurting us just as it did Adam and Eve. Man without God is like a small child without parental supervision helpless and hopeless against the dangers of the world.
That analogy is ultimately absurd as is the very notion of existence apart from God, which is the reason denying God must inevitably end in suffering. You see, denying God is denying the most fundamental reality, and that makes all the rest of our thinking futile. Starting with the wrong premise our reason can do nothing but lead us to wrong conclusions.
And this is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom as the writer of Proverbs says. To truly fear the Lord, we must truly know the Lord, and to do that, we must seriously invest ourselves in getting to know Him. The first step in that process is to acknowledge that he is who He says He is, and not who we wish Him to be. That is to say, there is a singular truth of God that is utterly unaffected by our personal notions.
Perhaps that seems harsh to you. Perhaps you are going through something right now and you need God to be a loving and gentle Father. Well, He is a loving and gentle Father, but not because that is what you need right now. He is also a fearsome, almighty, and just God of wrath, and even though we do not like it, it is still an essential truth for us to understand and appreciate.
It is not my intent to be harsh, but to be truthful. Why? Although the whole truth can hurt it is also the only thing that can help. Anything but the truth is delusion, an idea without substance that cannot persist.
The truth of God’s holy wrath against sins is an incentive against sinning, which is helpful in so as much as sin is ultimately self-destructive. God’s holy wrath is also an invitation to great rejoicing because that wraith is satisfied in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ by which grace is offered to be received in faith. No matter what my condition or yours today, the grace of Christ has today spared us from damnation.
Furthermore, as Paul teaches in Romans 8, if God has given us Christ what good thing shall He withhold? If He loved us so much, how shall we doubt His love towards us? Do you see beloved how one terrible aspect of the Lord of Armies when well considered blesses us with the awesome of assurances?
Ah, but we are short-sighted beings; prone to lose the awesome truths of theology in the troubles of our daily grinds. Saving grace is such a great good that we scarcely keep hold of it in our thoughts, and so find ourselves undone over spilled milk.
We act out feeling justified by the ills we have suffered, trying to defend ourselves, to secure our positions. Perhaps that milk meant a great deal to us. Perhaps it was our only fleeting comfort in an agonizing existence. Perhaps it was the last carton of milk we were able to afford even, and after drinking we were prepared to die as the poor widow and her child when asked to entertain Elijah. Alas! Even this final wish was denied us without explanation.
Is it absurd? In one sense yes, it is just as absurd as we claimed earlier; but on a different level, it is not so absurd. For want of nail; a nail in a sure place to hold our faith by which we perceive the reality of things unseen, and have the assurance of things hoped for. See Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
We must have more faith, that is not an inditement, but an invitation. Not an invitation to work, but to rest. You see having faith is like sitting in a chair, you trust it without much to do, and you put your whole weight on it assured it will hold, even if this particular chair is unknown to you. God has made himself known to us, and has given us both assurances and examples of His faithful care in every arena of life finances, relationships, sickness, career, children, aging, dreams, education, everything to the hairs on your head is covered by God’s faithfulness.
Where we really suffer is when we are faithless.
So, if today you are tempted whether God has really said, take the time to refresh your memory. Phone a friend if you like. Talk to your pastor: he would love to help you know God better. Talk to God himself: He always loves to hear us call to Him for help. Do not trust feelings, or sensations; but know the truth and it will set you free. God is there.
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