The Realness of God

I know it's true, but sometimes I forget that it's real

We speak much of living in light of eternity. Here we speak of another important revelation: living in light of the absolute, profound, unchanging, ever-present realness of God.

I know it’s true, but sometimes I forget that it’s real.

God created everything we see by speaking, “Let there be.” And then there was. Everything visible, from things that are not visible, simply by the word of God.

By faith, Noah, “motivated by godly fear,” built an ark, “Then the Lord shut him in.” And in doing so, Noah condemned the world by his faith as God sent a flood to cover the entire earth. “Every creature perished…He wiped out every living thing that was on the face of the earth…only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.” Genesis 7

By faith, Moses stood against Egypt, forsaking their riches, in order to suffer with the people of God. He spoke in unrelenting words, “Let my people go,” watching as God demonstrated His power over all things, even the hardening of a man’s heart, as He promised thus to Moses, “Pharoah will not listen to you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

God continued to display His power for all to see as He drove back the Red Sea on either side, so much so that the sea turned into dry land, “with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.” Even as He led the Israelites through to safety, He was also leading the Egyptians through to stubborn pursuit, collapsing the walls of water upon them, until, “Not even one of them survived.”

This great victory He declared to Moses from the beginning, “I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

By faith, Joshua led the Israelites to march around the fortified walls of Jericho, instructing them not to lift a weapon other than the celebration of praise to a God who can do all things. On the seventh day, the walls fell down, and the Israelites “completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword - every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep and donkey.”

The immovable forces are not just moved by Him, they take their command from Him, “Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

• “And the sun stood still and the moon stopped.” Joshua 10:13

• “And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.” James 5:18

• “Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Matthew 8:26

• “Where were you when I established the earth? Who enclosed the sea behind doors…when I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here? Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place? Job 38

I know it’s true, but sometimes I forget that it’s real.

In no complicated terms, this is faith.

By faith, I declare Him to be not only true but real. Faith is the substance of this hope and the certain evidence of it, and without this faith, “it is impossible to please God.”

What is possible with this faith then?

By this faith, our ancestors:

• Won God’s approval (Hebrews 11:2)

• Subdued kingdoms

• wrought righteousness

• obtained promises

• stopped the mouths of lions

• quenched the violence of fire

• escaped the edge of the sword

• received their dead back to life again

Likewise, by this faith, some, “of whom the world was not worthy” were:

• stoned

• sawed in two

• scourged

• imprisoned

• slain by the sword

By this faith, others wandered in deserts, mountains, and in caves of the earth, confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for “They desired a better place - a heavenly one.”

“Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

Let us, therefore, lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and look forward to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Let us, by faith, live in light of the realness of God.

In love,

Derek

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Much of this letter inspired by Hebrews 11. I encourage you to read it this week.