Five More Reasons God Takes The First Steps

by Dr. Henderson Ward

No one, in his right mind, will ever be able to accuse God of being unreasonable. True, the word unreasonable can be bandied about, it can be in some cases nothing more than one's subjective opinion, but rational people can determine when something is reasonable.

God created this world, put us here to live and set the standards that he wishes us to live by and observe. It is reasonable, therefore, that if we digress from his standards that He seeks to bring us back to the path of righteousness.

God, if He wanted to, could apply his laws without mercy; every wicked deed punished to the limit, and he would still be reasonable.

The Sovereign God cannot but be just and reasonable, for his very nature speaks to such, and his will that "none should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) means that He will move heaven and earth to clear a path so that He can offer each fallen soul his salvation.

Obstacles are strewn all across people's path, but God is not asleep, and will do whatever it takes to reach us. Here are five more reasons God intervenes, and takes the first steps in the redemptive process.

1. Our absolute love of darkness and fear of light. This is like an alcoholic, brutalized and scarred by alcohol, yet clinging to the accursed drink as if his life depends on it. This is one of life's quirky ironies in that the very thing preventing us from attaining true enlightenment, we regard as the core of our existence. We know the reason for this because the Bible tells us this, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The plain truth is that we have so cultivated and adopted darkness and all its evil associations that we regard light as the enemy to be feared, and to be resisted by all means at our disposal. It is, to some extent, like some subterranean worms that have lived so long in the bowels of the earth, in the deep darkness, that they have lost entirely the faculty of sight.

2. The silence of The Holy Scriptures. The Bible tells us many things, and everything that is necessary for salvation, but it does not tell us everything we want to know. This is like a dear friend showing us around his house for the first time and choosing not to show us a certain room. Even if we knew of the existence of that room we would be wise to respect his wish not to show us that room at this time. With God, we should be even more respectful, for the Bible says this, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29:29) There are lots of things God has not revealed to us and it is pure presumptuousness and prideful arrogance to demand that he does so. To defy God's silence on these matters some have even ventured to speculate, and some have gone even further, and teach their conjectures as if they are Bible doctrine.

3. Our partial knowledge of The Holy Scriptures. This is like being faced with an intricate jigsaw puzzle and having pieces missing, or trying to decipher an ancient manuscript and great swathes of the text are missing; lacunae as it is known. It is a very brave or very foolish person who would affirm that he has a perfect knowledge of the Bible. Even the Apostle Paul, who spent time with all the apostles and saw Jesus personally, said this, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." (1 Corinthians 13:9-10) The truth is, that at times we are not seeing what God is showing us, much less understanding the text, and in humility we plead like David, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18)

4. Our primitive state of science and technology. It is very easy to be puffed up with our contemporary cutting-edge science and state-of-the-art technology, but should the world exists for, let us say, another six thousand years they would then look back at our science and technology and see them as pathetic and terribly laughable. God knows, and time will surely declare, that this generation that thinks it know it all is undergoing a dearth of true knowledge of historic proportion. If we were remotely as knowledgeable as we ought, we would be making routine intergalactic journeys by thought propulsion, mapping the flight paths of supernatural entities, performing remote internal surgery by brain waves, taking a ride to the edge of the universe and watching and reporting live on its expansion, and such like, and the list goes on. And all of this would not even be called "advanced" in God's eyes.

5. The creation and cultivation of the faith phobia. This is in large measure the result of atheist hostility and the pseudo-intellectuals wannabe who seek notoriety by attacking the community of faith, and publishing self serving books and articles. These people demonize and ostracize the very medium we need to access spiritual enlightenment. Many of our scholars and in academia and the professions now think it's "hip" and fraternal to heap derision on those who still have faith in the Almighty, and some see this attitude as helpful for advancing their careers. Alas, what it does is exclude them from receiving deep revelations of the Almighty; and the concomitant graces one normally gets so freely and abundantly.

God could, in good conscience, set harsh conditions for us to be reconciled to him, because it was us that went astray, we were the guilty ones, and like the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32, God could justifiably leave us to come to our senses, and make our way to him.

That would run the risk of all of us being lost, because unaided, we cannot make it to Almighty God, because the god of this world has blinded our eyes.

Instead, God came to us, will continue in mercy to come to us, and puts us on the spot in words like these, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

We are reminded how God takes the initiative, how he comes seeking us, so that we can have no excuses if we end up before him in the White Throne Judgment.

In Luke chapter 15, we are given three fine examples of God seeking the lost in three instances typical of the times. In the last one, we hear of the prodigal son mentioned above, but in the first we hear of the lost sheep and the second of the lost coin.

In the parable of the lost sheep, Luke 15: 3-7, we see a sheep, leaving the safety of the fold and going astray. The Bible makes it clear that we are all like sheep, going our own way, heedless of the dangers and getting hopelessly tangled up; and easy prey for any passing predator. Sheep are the most heedless animals, with a poor sense of direction and virtually no defense. The shepherd leaves the flock and go searching for that lost sheep until he finds it. Such is God's initiative towards us. We are destined to be found by God, and the path towards him is clearly visible. The rest is up to us.

The parable of the lost coin, Luke 15: 8-10, is an emblem of a sinner apart from God, lost in the iniquities of the world, and unable to emerge unaided. The longer a coin is lost, the more difficult it is to be found, because as time goes by it accumulates more and more dust, it loses it's luster, it may get worn by wear and tear, and lose its value.

God is gracious, and takes the first steps in finding us, because he knows how entangled we are by the inadequacies of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of the heart. But God does not overrule our free will, he will not save us against our wishes, he has given us the power of choice, hence the responsibility is on us to, "choose you this day whom ye will serve" as put to the Israelites in Joshua 24:15.

God will always take the first steps, but the first steps do not constitute the whole process, neither do they save you. God is not far from any of us, the only thing left to be done, the one thing that matters most we need to reach out and embrace God through Jesus Christ

Enough said.

Books by this author you may wish to read.

THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book) Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI

STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book) Volume 1 You must first identify him http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS

BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book) http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9

Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2016

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS