It is a Fact. The Lord Lives!
Meditation for the week of July 17, 2011
Psalms 18:46 The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
King David’s God was personal, living and real. He spoke to the Lord and the Lord spoke to Him. In his life and in his decisions, the LORD was as real as his friends and family. He didn’t need anyone to prove to him that God existed because He knew that He did. He must have become fully aware of the LORD’s presence and glory while keeping sheep and studying creation. He believed that the heavens were God’s handiwork and that they reflected His glory (Psalm 19:1). God was not an abstract God, He was a very real living presence in His life.
David never saw the Lord Jesus. He did not see the back side of Jehovah as Moses had done. Yet, he enjoyed the presence of the LORD in His life. Neither have we seen the Lord Jesus, but we have a word picture describing Him in the four Gospels. We too should be enjoying the same kind of relationship with the Lord that David enjoyed . Peter reminds us, “Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).”
What could keep us from enjoying this kind of relationship? Unbelief sure would. It is the crowing sin of the sinner. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Over and over God says that “He is.” Not only is He the provider of life, He is Life itself (John 11:25), Why would people who have breath that was given to them, not believe in the giver of that breath? Surely this is the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Yet there is a multitude of people who believe that they just happened to happen, and that they came from nowhere and are going nowhere. They do not believe that the Lord lives!
Going through life separated from the God who created us because of sin and unbelief is like trying to swim against the current in a river. It can be done, but it is a lot easier to swim with the current. Scientists who work from the premise that there is no God, which they cannot prove, are working from a sandy foundation. They may find out things about God’s creation, but they will never fully understand it’s secrets. People who live their life denying that there is a God often live as though they are not constrained by what they think are the old fashioned moral principles of the Bible. However, these moral principles have been the order in every successful society whether they have been obeyed because of conscience or whether they have been written down and made a part of the laws of the land.
The real value of living the way David did though is that it gives meaning to life as well as giving real confidence in the day of death. To die and find out that God is real and that heaven and hell is real is going to be a great shock to the unbeliever. To know John 3:16 in life and to believe it, gives us a Savior to enjoy now and prepares us for a home in heaven for ever. To know John 3:16 and to reject the Son of God’s love will be a painful memory that will haunt all those who end up in the eternal burnings. Those who do this will know that they could have been saved but foolishly rejected the giver of life.
I am glad that my God lives. The Lord assures His disciples in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also.” I believe that promise also includes those of us who are saved today. I believe that it includes me.
Bruce Collins