Glorify the power of God

 
The ending of today’s devotional reading is the beginning of a little more research. It says: “In the divine order, God’s working depends on our cooperation. During His earthly ministry, Jesus could do no mighty works in at least one city because of the people’s unbelief. It was not that He would not, but that He could not. We often think that God will not, when in reality He cannot because of our unbelief.”

I hesitate to agree because this contradicts a bigger picture. Both OT and NT say that no one seeks God. The Bible is clear that apart from grace and God’s mercy, no one would believe and all would have hard hearts against God and no faith. I see it in my own life every time my old nature tries to rise from the dead and listen to my I-wants instead of doing the will of God.

Yes, my part is trusting God, yet even as my trust wavers, God is faithful to accomplish His purposes, even in answering my prayers. The Bible says He is sovereign and omnipotent. What seems impossible to me is easy for Almighty God.

The devotional writer says my part is trusting God to do His part, but I know that even faith is a gift from Him. Some would call that hyper-Calvinism however I have reached the place in my life where I realize my total helplessness and how much I need Jesus for everything I do, even breathing.

My part is saying yes to the faith God gives. A word search for the phrase “would not” gave 144 hits in the ESV. Some of them pose a puzzle. For instance:

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said… But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. (Exodus 8:19; 10:27)

In most cases, the ‘would nots’ were simple: God told His OT people to do something but they would not obey. Yet verses like this suggest that God did not intervene but used their rebellion for His purposes. Here is another example:

If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. (1 Samuel 2:25)

Other verses indicate that it was not God who could not but people who would not and in His grace, He did not force the issue:

For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. (Jeremiah 13:11)

Jesus was able to stop even demons from doing their will, so He had control over their actions:

And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. (Luke 4:41)

Some verses even say that God hardened hearts so that His will would be done:

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” (Romans 11:7–8)

None of the rulers of this age understood this (the secret and hidden wisdom of God), for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Some wonder why God tells us to just trust Him and then tells us to do impossible things. This is leaving out an important truth: we are not called to do the impossible by ourselves. Our power is in Christ who lives in us. Paul understood it. He said: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

PRAY: Jesus, You are fully God and fully man — a union that I cannot understand. And then You say I am a human with You living in me — another union very difficult to understand, but You are teaching me the self-me part is crucified yet I still live, but it is You who lives in me… sort of like a living hand in a dead glove. The world (and I) see the glove, but everything that it does is because of the hand that moves it. For this, I am in awe and fully realize why You are the One to be glorified.

In His Presence

As a new Christian I read several books and articles about the PRESENCE of God. Since He is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere at the same time, why did the Bible talk about seeking His presence? He cannot be gone. Jeremiah 23:24 even asks, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”

After a time, I realized part of the answer is that this involves the favor of God. In the OT, the word used is literally ‘face’ so  God promises Moses that his face will go with him on Israel’s journey to Canaan. In Exodus 33:14, He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Moses recognized this as God’s favor on His people. He makes his face shine on them and turns His face toward them. When He is displeased with them, He sets his face against them, or hides His face, turning it away. He is not gone, but the sense of His pleasure is missing. Moses responded in Exodus 33:15–16 by saying, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

The psalms speak of this in a poetic fashion, knowing God is everywhere but also recognizing that the sense of His presence is vital to their walk with and enjoyment of Him:

Psalm 16:11. “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 51:11. “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”

Psalm 95:2. “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

Psalm 140:13. “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.”

The people of God knew that God is always there, yet that did not mean they were in His favor. In Isaiah 3:8, the prophet said, “For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.” Even today, people shake their fist at the God they know is present — and fleeing is futile, as the story of Jonah illustrates.

The NT quotes the OT concerning ‘presence’ meaning the face and favor of God (Acts 2:28 and 3:20), but also acknowledges the Lord God being with them, such as when Cornelius invited Peter to speak to his household who were all “in the presence of God” waiting to hear him.

1 Timothy 5:21. “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.”

2 Timothy 4:1–2. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Jude 24. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy . . . .”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. For me, the bottom line is recognizing that God is always here with me, and with that awareness, paying attention to His will rather than my own. I don’t want to ever lose the sense of His presence. Of course this is not totally possible in this life as I battle sin and whatever Satan might throw at me. However, there is one thing that helps. It was in a classic book (can’t remember which one) that the author suggested God’s presence is like the air around us. If I stop what I am doing and think about the air and then about God, His presence almost always becomes very real to me. This focus is a big part of what it means to gaze into His glory, and by doing that, Scripture says I will become more and more like Jesus. I cannot evaluate that part, but I can say that knowing the nearness of God changes my attitude and deepens my desire to be like Him and stay close to Him.