The Who, What, When, Where and How of God.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is; and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
When I first started the
study of this particular verse, I always paused at the second portion of this
verse and said “what.” As to say, for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is what? To ask the question what is God? Or to say what is God to me? Then
as I began to study the first portion, the question began to develop into Who
is God? Then it progressed into When is God, Where is God and How is God? In my
seeking to answer the first question, God revealed to me that he is more than a
“what”, but a when, where, who, and how. God wants to reveal to us his many
facets and demeanors. He wants us to know him in more than one capacity. At
least, in so much that we can understand him. His word says that his ways are
not our ways, and that he is above our own understanding. I mean, this is a God
who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us. (Ephesians 3:20) Now, I can have a
pretty grand imagination, or what I think about. God exceeds that. So,
hopefully, I can portray who, what, when, where and how God is according to
what he may reveal to me. And I’m sure that there is a lot more than what I may
write.
Now, being the literal
person that I am, I began to study more on the second portion of this verse and
something stuck out to me like a monolith. The word says, “for he that cometh
to God must believe that he is.” I took careful notice of the word cometh. God
was telling me to look up that word and tell me what it means. I really looked
at it and said, “He who goes to God.” Then He said, “No, it says he who
cometh.” A light as bright as the sun shown on me and gave me a hunger to know
what God was showing me. So I looked up the words “to go” and “to come”. To
“Go” is to move or proceed to or from something; or to become. It is an action
in which the individual or object does based on its own will or volition. To
“Come” is to arrive or appear as a result. An action that is done in response
to a preceding action, this is not done by own our volition, but in response to
someone else’s. So when I look at this verse and see “for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is:” I see that it’s a response to a prompting. Pastor has
said it over and over again, we did not decide to go to God, God decided to
come and get us. Looking at that portion of the verse makes me see it as for he
that responds to the calling of God.
When I first believed in
God and his salvation for me, I have always heard it said that I must decide to
come to God. I accept Him. In the book of Genesis 3, we all know it so well, it
talks of the fall of man from God. The most interesting thing in that whole
scripture is found in verses 8-10.
Genesis 3:8-10, “And when
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said
unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I
was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Man
has sinned. We have made the mistake. We have disobeyed. We have broken the
trust and fellowship with God. And yet, it is God who is seeking and calling
after us. From the very beginning, God has been seeking us for fellowship with
him. We, in no time, have made the initiative. Paul expressed it best in Romans
3:10-11 when he said, “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” We do
not go to him because we feel its time. We do not say within ourselves, “O.K.
I’ve sinned long enough; I’ll go to God for salvation.” Now, yes, some of us
have prayed to God; but what did we pray for? What did we seek after? We sought
for an escape from our situation; help from our trouble, money for the rent, to
live because we over did it with the drugs or alcohol; but we never just sought
God. Jesus even made it clear that we did not even choose him in light of our
salvation. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that
ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” (John
15:16) We answered a calling and grace on our lives. Now here is the good part,
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the
father, but by me.” (John 14:6) No one answers the calling of God unless it is
done through Jesus Christ. Go figure! He is the Lamb, Jehovah-salvation, and
the Son of God who died for us. However, check this out, Jesus also said, “no
man can come to me, except the father draw him: and I will raise him up at the
last day.”(John 6:44) So we can not go to God on our own volition, in fact, we
have to go through Christ to get to Him; yet, we can not go to Christ on our
own volition except God draw us to go to him. Either way, we respond to God’s
initiative in our lives. Either way, it is God who sought after us. Thank God
that we answered yes. So, I look at this verse and I read it as, “for he who
responds to the calling of God must believe that he is;”
-Min
Mike Jones
Pew 2 Pulpit Ministries
Thoughts from the Pew
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