CHAPTER 2. IS GOD REALLY THERE?

CHAPTER TWO 

IS GOD REALLY THERE? 

Often we question God why we are going through a particular trial. We may even doubt God’s love for us because we don’t understand His reasons. Is God being unfair, almost as though He should be allowing someone else to go through the trial? Why me, what have I done to deserve this, as we accuse God? Do we suppose that the Sovereign Lord of all creation is totally oblivious to our plight and that He has no idea how we are feeling in our times of despair?

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a fellow feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liabilities to the assaults of temptation, but One who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning”. (Heb. 4 verse 15)

We do have a high priest who understands all our pains and sufferings and identifies with us in them. We need to guard our hearts against complaining and murmuring when we are faced with various trials and tests, remember they come to test our quality and to perfect us. We may be able to put on a front before our brethren, but when we encounter trials, they reveal exactly what is in our hearts. What we reveal in our tribulations is what we really are inside and that is what God is after, for God looks at the inner being of a man. 

“Guard and keep your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life”.  (Proverbs 4 verse 23)

Is God really there in our difficult times, when everything seems to be going wrong and we can’t seem to take anymore? Absolutely so, know for certain in your own heart and mind with a settled peace, that He is not like us mere mortals, who may forsake each other at the drop of a hat. I pray that God may grant to us out of His deep love for us, a revelation of the depth of that love which transcends anything imaginable.

In our walk with God, we do encounter difficult times. Hardships are part and parcel of our sojourn here on this earth. There is an enemy that seeks to destroy us and tries to gain our allegiance with devious means. There are times when you want to throw your arms up in defeat and cry out to God because in frustration and despondency you feel as though God has forsaken you or He is simply just not there. There are processes that we go through, not all at once lest we be consumed, but little by little until we know how to respond in humility instead of react in anger. God’s dealings with us are as an all wise Father who knows how to train up His children in the right way.

We are so accustomed to living in a fantasy world, that in the real world we are taken off guard by the goings on of a world system that is steeped in rebellion, sin and, that is antagonistic of God. Don’t be deceived, the system of this world will no sooner chew you up and spit you out than make you feel all comfortable and at home. When all is said and done and the lines are drawn, there is a stark contrast between light and darkness. They are worlds apart and they have as their life, two totally different sources. If the world is embracing the church and the church the world then we have missed it and something is grievously wrong. Our life comes from another source, other than the spirit of this world, we are from heaven, our birthright is from heaven, that is to say from God whose way is opposed to this world system.

At the end of these times there are going to be clashes of light and darkness and there are going to be casualties. Just how intimate our relationship with the Author of Life is, will determine the outcome of our future. Our future is secure only insofar as we continue to trust Him for our very life. If you have never considered intimacy with God something to be sought after jealously and vigilantly, then think again. Now is the time to get your act together and draw near to Him with all your heart and soul. If there is anything you glean from this writing then let it be this, God must be your supreme pursuit and desire because only in Him there is safety. Anything else will not suffice. All other sources of strength are but temporal and fleeting away and so when all things will be shaken and they will, only that which is built upon the solid foundation, namely the Messiah will endure.

The stark reality facing all of us is this, thirty years ago we could dream about our future and get married, settle down have children watch them grow up and probably see our grandchildren, now we haven’t the vaguest idea where we are going to be tomorrow. That is because we are living at the time of the end and nothing is as it ‘used to be’. Does all this sound so unfair? It depends upon where our heart is. If our affections and mode of life, even as believers, centre on worldly premise then, we are most miserable and to be pitied. However, if God is the centre of our life and our firm foundation then we cannot be moved by the dictates of the world system.

“For those who are according to the flesh and controlled by its unholy desires, set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh. But those who are according to the Spirit and (controlled by the desires) of the Spirit, set their minds on and seek those things, which gratify the Spirit. Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death – death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the mind of the (Holy) Spirit is life and soul- peace (both now and forever). That is because the mind of the flesh – with its carnal thoughts and purposes – is hostile to God; for it does not submit itself to God’s law, indeed it cannot. So then those who are living the life of the flesh – catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature – cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him”.(Romans 8 verses 5 – 8)

This has everything to do with our conduct now, in these end times in particular, knowing that the end is near, what manner of persons ought we to be? There is a danger of us being drawn into coldness of heart because of increased lawlessness, the more we focus on the pleasure and gratification of the carnal nature, the more we become entrenched in the mind of the flesh which is enmity with God.

“I mean, brethren, the appointed time has been winding up and it has grown very short. From now on, let even those who have wives be as if they had none, And those who weep and mourn as though they were not weeping and mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess anything, and those who deal with this world – over using the enjoyments of this life – let them live as though they were not absorbed by it, and as if they had no dealings with it. For the outward form of this world – the present world order is passing away”.  (1 Corinthians 7 verses 29 – 31)

If you have ears to hear, then listen. If you have drifted away from following after the Lord, perhaps because of the pleasures of sin or if you have stumbled along the way, then repent and return with all your heart to the Lord. If you are growing cold because things are not going your way and it seems that God is no longer with you, then repent and cry out to God with all your heart and return to Him, who will embrace you in the depths of His love; come to your senses and return to the Lord before you are ensnared any further. Don’t believe the lies of satan any more, he is the deceiver of the brethren. He wants us to throw a pity party and stay in it. He wants us to feel sorry for ourselves and woe is me with all the sorrowful rest. Know this, there are other brethren around the world who are suffering greater turmoil than we are, believers who laying down their lives for the sake of the gospel and counting it a joy to do so. We have to look beyond ourselves; this whole end time event is not just about you or me, it involves the entire body of the Messiah. Being members of one body, we need to develop relationships that go beyond anything superficial, casual and temporary. Believers are going to be thrust together in these end times like no other time before. For some it will be a matter of choice because they see the times that we are living in and for others it will be forced upon them because they have been wilfully ignorant. This present world order is passing away and that very quickly. Are we ready for that which lies ahead?