Isaiah 37:16
“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between
the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.”
As a general rule, I don’t think the church believes in the
God of the Bible. If we did, shouldn’t the world look different? If we really
did believe in the Lord of hosts, should we be panicked at the thought of war?
We read about the God who holds the whole world together by the power of His
voice but as soon as something in our life seems to fall apart we throw a
tantrum. We trust Him to keep earth spinning but refuse to trust Him to have
total authority in our lives. For example, I’ll go to bed tonight without
bolting my bed to the floor and strapping myself down to my mattress. I’ll do
this confidently trusting that the Lord will continue to keep the universe
perfectly spinning so that gravity doesn’t completely change over night.
Nothing in me ever doubts that God is the best one to do this. But, when it
comes time to do Kids Club and that one kid whose hard to love shows up I
rarely remember to ask God how to show this kid the love of Christ. I live as
if He can’t possibly know how to handle the smaller details of life. Written
out it sounds so foolish but everyone has this basic testimony at some point in
their lives. As soon as the problem gets close to our heart we stop trusting
and start acting in our own strength. This leads to the next problem which is
that we don’t give Him the praise He deserves because He isn’t living through
us. When we do it in our own strength, we get the glory. He dwells between
angels who give Him glory continually but even that is not enough to convince
our rebellious hearts to bow down in adoration. God is supposed to reign on the
throne of our hearts unchallenged but all too often I’ve allowed people,
dreams, desires, etc., to take His place as rightful King. Though He
undoubtedly deserves all of my devotion, if He is not wanted He will not force
Himself onto the throne. Robotic devotion is never something the Lord desires,
our hearts have to be willingly handed over or they will remain trapped by the
world forever. He is God alone. Not buddha, Muhammad, the iPhone 7plus, or any
other idol made by hands. If this God is the one in whom we have out our trust,
what does this change? Saying that you believe in Jesus Christ should be the
most loaded statement you can possibly make. In that decision should be your
life and being. I’m not saying this as someone who has figured it out but I do
know that knowing God changes everything. And if He hasn’t radically changed
your life, then you don’t believe in the God of the Bible.
