Pastor’s Thoughts – 08-31-2025

The Bible is truth and that means it is totally reliable in everything it tells us. Our responsibility is to believe it, to trust it, and that is true even if we cannot fully understand or reconcile portions of it. There is a difference between accepting something as not only true, but good, while at the same time maybe not fully understanding or comprehending it. We can do this with issues in the Bible because we know it is God’s holy word. It always presents us with the truth of God which we know is something we, who have our limitations, can only go so far in our ability to comprehend. We must leave the areas we cannot know with God, and trust as a child to a parent to guide us when we cannot understand the purpose. One of the most extensive biblical conversations expressing this breech between the infinite working of God and man’s inability to reason God’s ways or His justice is found in the book of Job. God allowed Satan to ruin Job in every manner while giving Job no explanation. From this, Job along with his friends, sought to reason out why God put Job in such a disastrous and miserable state. At the end of all their limited and wrong reasoning, God spoke to Job which is recorded in four chapters where God asks Job questions about creation and the decisions that God makes in running the universe. Job is so overwhelmed by God’s questions, he later calls them, “Things too wonderful for me” (Job 42:3). I think that sums up our limited ability to reason the infinite gulf between our finite reasoning, especially on the most significant matters of relationship to God, and the purposes and wisdom of God.

A prime example of this is related to God’s will and man’s will. We know the Bible expresses our condition because of our sinful nature as so corrupt that we are incapable of seeking God (Rom. 3:11). Theologians call it, “total depravity” or, “total inability.” It is expressed in Ephesians 2:1 as, “Being dead in our trespasses and sins.” If we are dead spiritually, we have no ability or desire of our will to seek God, yet the Bible repeatedly commands us to seek Him. Here is a taste from Scripture of these wise commands. “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Ps. 34:10). Our Lord says in His Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Paul preached to pagans at Athens, “God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27). One of my favorite evangelistic verses is, “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” (Isa. 55:6-7). There is also the promise God made to Israel, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).

Seeking God is a matter of a persons will and God’s will. We read from Scripture the words from Christ, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). Is it true that no person of themself can seek the Lord? Yes, that is true! Is it also true that we are commanded to seek the Lord? Yes, we are! How then do we go about reconciling this in our minds? We cannot! We know that both realities are in the Scripture and God being God says both are real and He warns us in the strongest terms to seek Him. This is a case of leaving our understanding with God, believing and knowing that His sovereignty and our actions are both true regardless of our limited perception. God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor 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” (Isa. 55:8–9). Tozer said, “The believing man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and whispers, ‘God.’” We naturally have too high a view of ourselves while at the same time too low a view of God. God will be God, and how thankful we are that He is a loving, merciful, and sovereign always doing what is right. J.I. Packer, when addressing this subject said, “Man is a responsible moral agent, though he is divinely controlled; man is divinely controlled, though he is also a responsible moral agent.” Rather than worrying ourselves and attempting to sort out what we cannot sort out, we need to rejoice in our God and trust Him. We need to love Him for who He is, and yes, at the same time seek Him without worrying over the nature of our seeking. We can be confident of this promise, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Seeking our God is not a onetime or casual endeavor. We are to abide with Him always which means we are to continually seek Him in prayer for knowledge and wisdom, and with praise and thankfulness. When we do, we know that we love Him because He first loved us.