Obvious or oblivious?

 

 

While searching for a word in one of those word search puzzles, I often wonder if they left it out. But when I find the word, it is so obviously there that I wondered how I missed it. Another person might find it sooner because what seems obvious to some is not plain or even noticed by others.

This is true in spiritual matters also, except that some things are OBVIOUS, plain to everyone. For instance, this passage speaks of God’s wrath against those who suppress obvious truth, then says,

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19–20)

If this were not from God’s Word, I would shake my head. It seems to me that most people are oblivious to what seems obvious to me, yet God says all human beings can know certain things about Him, suppressed and muddied as these things are by various other theories to explain how and why they exist.

What else is obvious about God? It is not the identity of Christ as God in human flesh; this truth needs to be revealed. It is also not that God is wise and sovereignly rules over all, for people curse Him rather than trust Him. It is not that He does miracles, for many are dismissed as coincidental.

According to the Bible, a significant answer to what God is like should be obvious by the behavior of those who follow Him. 1 John 3:10 says, “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

This has been muddied also, partly by excuses for unrighteous behavior and partly by a failure to practice spiritual disciplines that keep believers close to God and in a godly lifestyle.

One writer says we obviously, need reminding that knowing God has challenges, but knowing ourselves also has challenges. This becomes obvious when we do something awful and are surprised by it. Yet the Bible says:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

“Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” (Psalm 19:12).

Someone once said to me, “It must be easier to be a Christian as you get older.” Obviously, he was younger and had no idea what older people experience. He didn’t realize how oblivious we are to the depth of our sinfulness and how God persists even to the very end to reveal our sin and sanctify our souls.

Humanity is also oblivious to the will of God. Jesus’ brothers assumed he would want fame and public recognition and would go to Jerusalem to gain it at the feast. They were wrong, as were the crowds who assumed that Jesus was a deceiver, or the religious leaders who assumed He could not read their minds and know  their plot to kill Him. To them, it seemed obvious that Jesus’ message must be false since only the ‘ignorant’ took it seriously — but that was wrong too.

Sincere belief in what appears to be obvious is no excuse for not searching for truth. Our belief system should rest on what God says, not on the opinions of others, social media, critics, pundits and soothsayers.

Galatians 3:10–12 points out the obvious by saying it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ ” Is this obvious to all? Hardly.

Yet sin can be obvious. Galatians 5:19–21 lists some of it: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

And 1 Timothy 5:24–25 adds this, “The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.” The evidence that sin is obvious is described later concerning those who “oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all . . . .”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. While not all is obvious, keeping my focus on the Lord makes seeing truth about Him easier, clearer. Besides, “When the day of the Lord arrives, the work I have (or have not) done for the Lord will be shown for what it is” so it seems obvious to discover and do His will rather than be oblivious and ashamed on that day.

 

Taking hold of His closeness . . .

 

Sleep apnea comes in two forms. One is associated with snoring, the other with the brain not telling the lungs to breathe, and it can happen even when awake. This means making a conscious choice to do something that is normally done unconsciously — breathe!

This sleep disorder reminds me of how I sometimes fail to remember that God is NEAR, always. When I forget, I need to make a conscious choice to be aware, to draw near to Him. He hasn’t gone away, but my attention is somewhere else.

This is typical. In the OT, God’s people were told many times to draw near but they failed. Did they forget that He called them to come near with clean hearts? For instance, Aaron’s two sons tried it but with sinful hearts and they died. People who offered blemished sacrifices were told not to come near, as were outsiders. Being near God has rules.

At the same time, God’s people were unique. Even though God is in all places, His relationship with Israel and the laws He gave them resulted in this understanding:

Deuteronomy 4:6–7. Keep (the laws) and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

They also were told that these commandments were not too hard or far off, but reassured that, “The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

Yet like the breathing issue, the people needed to make a choice just as God had chosen them. Psalm 73:28 explains: “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Other passages say that “His salvation is near to those who fear him” and “near to those who acknowledge His commandments are true” and “near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

This reveals their problems and they are sometimes mine. Isaiah 55:6–9 speaks to me as the prophet did to them:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

They were also told about a day that is coming. The OT prophets declared, “For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations” and “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” and “The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast . . . .”

The NT picks up on the “day of the Lord” theme with Jesus saying things like, “When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates” and “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

This is a fearful event for some, but for those whose sin is forgiven and are redeemed, there is confidence.

Ephesians 2:13. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Hebrews 7:19. “(For the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.”

Hebrews 7:25. “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Because of Jesus, I can “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with my heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience . . . holding fast the confession of my hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” — meaning that I can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

He is near yet that nearness isn’t sensed or enjoyed, nor is the nearness of the ‘day of the Lord’ anticipated unless I do as James 4:8 says: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” I can be as near to God as I choose to be.