KNOW THE WAYS OF GOD
Scripture portion - Psalms 103:7
“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel”
Note: This is a message for every body including atheists (those who don’t believe in the existence of God), and those who are in search of the true God, and also for those who know the true God. I feel that this message is better read than preached. So please print out this message, make copies of it and distribute them.
The Bible is the story of how the One True Living God made Himself known to the greatest of all His creation, the human race. God is an infinite being. He is incomprehensible. Man may never fully understand God. But since God himself is trying to make man know about Himself, we can be sure that there is some ability within us (given by God) to know something if not everything about Him. Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Almighty Creator desires to reveal Himself to us?! We are weak. Our knowledge is limited. We don’t know completely about ourselves or the earth on which we are living in. We don’t understand this universe. Great scientists are struggling to gain some knowledge. They hope to comprehend the incomprehensible. But, here is God, who is all–knowing and all-powerful, trying greatly to make us know about Him! This should lead us to praise Him and glorify Him with all our hearts full of gratitude. How helpless we are in knowing our Creator, without Himself willing to reveal to us! How foolish they are, those who think that they can try and find whether God exists or not! O man, what can you do to find God if He decides to hide Himself from you? If there really exists a God, then it is God who should decide whether or not to reveal Himself, and not man to prove whether God exists or not. It would be foolish for man to do so. If God exists and man wants to prove God’s existence, it will be the height of pride and arrogance of man. Who are you to prove God’s existence? Are you going to do a research and find God and say to God “O God! All these years I took great pains, researched carefully and found out that you exist. I certify that you exist. Here is the certificate confirming your existence. Take it”?! Even though nobody said like that, this is exactly what God thinks of those who try to prove His existence. Don’t ever try to prove that God exists. It would be a great insult to God.
Think of a child trying to prove that his parents exist. That child should be completely mad to attempt such a foolish act. It would be a great sorrow and insult to the parents for their children to say to them, “We confirm that you are our parents. We found it after doing D.N.A tests. Now, we acknowledge your authority as parents over us.” This should never happen. It is good that you believe there exists a God. But it is not good for you to prove His existence.
What if God does not exist at all?! For the time being, we shall assume that God does not exist (Lord of my heart! Please forgive me). So, you believe that God does not exist and you want to prove that. I ask you brother, is it really needed to prove that God does not exist, if He really does not exist. If God really does not exist, then there will be no punishment for any sin. (I hope you agree with my statement). Since God does not exist and there will be no punishment for any sin, you can sin as much as you like. You are completely free to commit the worst of sins, because there is no God to throw you into hell. All scientists believe that the ultimate destiny of human beings is destruction. According to scientists human race is going to become extinct in the far away future. Since you believe that there is no God, there is no hope that human race will continue. By the way, you know that the devil will never save you from becoming extinct, if at all it exists, because devil is supposed to be evil and always trying to destroy human beings according to all religions. If God himself does not exist, then devil can never exist. So, there surely will be an end to human drama on this earth (and also of the aliens if they exist!). (It is surprising for me how people believe in the existence of alien beings but not in the existence of God. Forgive my foolishness.) All our knowledge will cease to exist forever. All our hard–earned wisdom will disappear. There will be nobody to praise our glory and fame. There will be nobody to praise your holiness or condemn your filthiness. There will be no one to commend or praise you for “proving the truth” that God does not exist. You were “right”, but what is the use? There will be no one to punish anyone for their sins. The worst and most brutal sins will not receive punishment. Since it will be so, we can safely conclude that even the “sin” of believing that there exists a God will also not be punished. Since this is the “future reality”, is it logical for you to spend your time proving that God does not exist? You may be wise in believing that God doesn’t exist. Those who believe in God’s existence may be foolish. But, why do you show concern for their foolishness? Why do you want them to know the “truth”? Any way, they are not going to be punished for their foolishness. They are enjoying their life as they want and you enjoy your life as you want. Because, you have only a little time before you completely and forever disappear from this universe. Do not waste your valuable time. Let them live as they like. They are not going to lose or gain anything. But if you spend your time proving that God does not exist, you will lose whatever little time you have in this life to enjoy before permanently vanishing away from this universe. Be wise. Enjoy your life.
My main intention in bringing you the above discussion is to show you that it is utterly futile and meaningless, both to prove that God exists and also that God does not exist. If God exists, then it is not wise for you to prove that God exists. If God does not exist, then it is not wise for you to prove that God does not exist. The whole concept of “proving” is wrong, meaningless and futile when it comes to God. I hope it is clear to you.
Now then, what should be our approach to God? How should we deal with the things concerning God? What can we do? The only thing we can do as human beings, concerning the things of God is to believe. If there exists a God, then just believe that He exists, and do nothing more, like, proving His existence. If there does not exist a God, then just believe that He does not exist and do nothing more, like, proving that He does not exist. Belief is the ultimate thing. Whenever we think about God, it ultimately boils down to belief - Nothing more, nothing less. God is not like a mathematical formula to be proved. Don’t try to prove the existence or non-existence of God. Just believe in His existence or non-existence.
As for me, I believe that God exists and I never tried to prove his existence nor I have any intention to prove His existence. It seems to me that it is better (and logical) for you to believe in the existence of God than to believe in the non–existence of God. Because, if my belief that God exists, is true, then I will go to heaven and all those who believe that God does not exist will go to hell. On the contrary, if my belief that God exists is not true, then since there is no God, there will be no harm for me, and all those who already believed in the “truth” of the non-existence of God will not be in any better position than me. They won’t gain anything, and I won’t lose anything. So, without feeling shy or fear, I proclaim that I believe in the existence of God.
So, from now on, my message will be for those who want to believe that God exists. If you still want to believe that God does not exist, then you can stop reading right now.
More than any other existing book in this world, the Holy Bible talks about belief in God. No other book emphasizes belief in God more than the Holy Bible. In Hebrews 11:6 it is written,
“He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”
Here the Bible clearly talks about believing in the existence of God. If you want to come to God then believe that He exists. Don’t try to prove that He exists. Your belief is enough for you to attain Eternal Life. It is good that you believe in the existence of God. Since you believe in His existence as I do, I want to shift your concentration to the words, which I had written at the beginning of this message. You may remember that I said God wants to make Himself known to human beings and that we should be very grateful for that and praise Him and Glorify Him with all our hearts. To Know God, we should approach Him with great reverence, humility, fear, and gratitude, since we cannot by ourselves know God unless God himself decides to reveal to us.
God has His own ways to make Himself known to us. We can see in the Bible how God revealed Himself to us. Even though God revealed Himself clearly, we are still not able to understand Him properly. Like we discussed earlier, there are two kinds of people: the ones who believe in the existence of God and the ones who believe in the non-existence of God. Those who believe in the existence of God can further be divided into two categories: 1) Those who believe in the One True Living God and 2) Those who believe false Gods.
So now, the question arises: Who is the true God? One God or many? Now I am not going to prove to you who the true God is, and whether there is one God or many gods. As I said earlier “proving” is a futile concept concerning the things of God. Only belief will work. Proofs will not work. Regarding the things concerning God, belief should convince you and not proof. The true God will give proof, but before proof should come belief. It is Lord Jesus who said, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed (John 20.29)”. No one else had said these words. Lord Jesus knew fully well that, concerning the things of God, belief is better than proof.
Since I am a person who believes in the existence of God, the next thing that comes to my mind as soon as I think of God is my sins. If you are a believer in the existence of God, then, whenever you think of God, immediately you will be reminded of your sins. This is my experience and I believe that it is also the experience of every one believing in the existence of God. The Bible says that Lord Jesus came into this world to take away the sins of this world. The first time I heard about it, I believed it. I believed that Jesus shed His blood for my sins. I believe what the Bible says, that no other sacrifice of human beings is holy for God to forgive our sins. Animal sacrifices or money or rituals or any other thing cannot take away our sins. Lord Jesus is the Holy Son of God. He was born of a virgin without sin. He lived a sinless life and offered up Himself as a Holy sacrifice on the cross to God Almighty for the forgiveness of our sins. I believe all this to be true. I cannot prove to you what I have been saying. And also, as I said earlier, proving is not the right way to approach God. No other religion or teachings had given my conscience the rest and purity I sought for. Only after believing that Lord Jesus is the Son of God and that He shed His Blood and died for my sins, on the cross, did I experience that my conscience is not judging me. I also heard that Jesus rose from the dead with a glorified body. And I believed it since the first time I heard it. The confidence and joy I get out of this belief is beyond description. Again, I tell you, I can’t prove all these things. But I believe. I have experienced holiness in Lord Jesus, which I could not find anywhere else. His Love, righteousness and power are what gave me a meaning to my existence. All my questions such as, “Who Am I?”, “Why Am I here?”, “What is the purpose of my Life?”, have all been answered since I believed in Lord Jesus. The Lord never asked, “Offer me that sacrifice”, “Give me that” etc. Instead He said “I offered up myself as a sacrifice for your sins”. He promises Eternal Life to all those who believe in Him. If you have not yet believed in Lord Jesus and what the Bible says He said and did, then I encourage you to believe. Then, I can assure you that you will experience the glorious things, which I have been experiencing since I believed.
If you believe in Lord Jesus just like me, then you can read further. Now, we have come to the scripture portion which we have chosen for this message: “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel (Psalms 103:9)”. At the beginning of this message, I said that God wants to make Himself known to human beings. The above verse that you have just read shows this truth. In this verse we see that God made Moses the prophet to know His ways and also that He made the sons of Israel to know His acts. We can further observe in this verse that God is using two things to make Himself known to his people: 1) His ways, 2) His acts. Here we have a lesson. God intends to make Himself known to His people by His ways and His acts. Before giving you further explanation about this, I want to tell you one thing. God is passionate about making Himself known to you. How passionate are you to know God? God is giving great importance to revealing Himself to you. If you don’t give utmost importance to knowing God, then you are insulting Him. Giving utmost importance means, considering it to be the most important thing in your life. You may have many interests, worries, and goals in your life. But, if you give more importance to know God than to your interests, worries, and goals, then you will surely come to know God. Knowing God is the most joyful experience for a human being. If you have this kind of passion, then you can know God through His ways and His acts.
We cannot know God directly. Only when He performs His acts or when He leads us in a particular way can we know something about Him. I assume that you are a saved person since you have read until this point. Since you are a saved person, it doesn’t mean that you know everything about God. We do come to know something about His love, holiness, and power at the time of our new birth in Lord Jesus .But, that doesn’t mean that we know Him fully. You will know more and more about God gradually as He leads you personally in His ways and performs His acts in your life. By the acts which He performs and by the ways in which He leads you in your life, you should perceive God’s Character. Firstly, we shall see how we can know God through His acts and then see how we can know Him through his ways.
God does not appear to you suddenly in great Glory and say to you, “Behold! See my glory. I am God. Worship me.”! Even though, there had been instances in which, God did reveal Himself in such manner, we should say that it is very rare. That is not the general pattern in which God had been revealing Himself to people. God had ordained that people should come to learn and know about Him by seeing His acts.
God performed miraculous acts in Egypt through Moses for the redemption of the Israelites. Even in the wilderness, God performed His miraculous acts so that the children of Israel might know Him. God had performed many signs and wonders and all of Israel saw those mighty works of God. All the children of Israel came to know that the God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was a real and living God and that He was powerful. Each time they saw a miracle being performed by Moses, they praised God. The miracles performed in Egypt were so extraordinary that, I am sure the Israelites might have become over-joyed. They believed in the God of Abraham. The day they came out of Egypt, they sang praises to the Mighty God. But, once they left Egypt, we can notice that their belief in God was not a lasting one. Their faith was temporary and occasional. They doubted God at the Red sea. But God gave them a great deliverance at Red sea, and they immediately sang praises! One moment they were believers and the other moment they were unbelievers. Even when they were in the wilderness, their faith was coming and going. They were like that, all the forty years until all of them, except a couple of men (Joshua and Caleb) perished. When they didn’t get water, they grumbled. When they didn’t get meat, they grumbled. But each time, God had performed His miraculous acts in front of their eyes for all of them to see. They saw Red sea divided into two. They saw water coming out of the rock. They saw meat and manna raining from above. They saw the mountain of Sinai filled with fire and smoke and heard great sounds. They saw and took notice of all His acts. But, still they were not able to put lasting faith in God.
Even today, when we look around, we see that God is intervening in the lives of many people who do not know Him at all. God is performing miracles and wonderful sings in their lives. We see people keeping faith in Lord Jesus when something miraculous happens in their lives. But when trouble comes, they step away from their faith. They doubt whether Lord Jesus is God. The same thing happened with the Israelites who came out of Egypt, and it is happening again now. People are failing to keep everlasting faith in the One True Living God in spite of seeing great and extraordinary miracles happening in their lives. But, not all of them are like that. Even though all the Israelites failed to keep everlasting faith in God and know Him, we see that Moses was able to keep his faith till the end and know God. While everybody else failed to know God, Moses alone was able to do that. Why? What was the difference between Moses and all other lakhs of Israelites? Didn’t Moses see the same miracles which all the other Israelites saw? Didn’t Moses travel through the wilderness for 40 years just as they did? Didn’t Moses face the troubles in the wilderness just like them? Yes. Moses had similar experiences like those of the Israelites. But still Moses was able to know God while all the other Israelites failed. What could be the difference between Moses and the Israelites? Israelites saw the acts of God .Moses also saw the acts of God. But, Moses was able to see something which all the Israelites failed to see. Moses was able to know something which all the Israelites failed to know. We can find that in the scripture verse which has been given at the beginning of this message. We shall look at it once again.
Psalm 10.3:7 “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel”
We have the answer in the above verse. Moses was able to know the ways of God. All the Israelites were able to know the acts of God, but only Moses was able to know His ways. It is one thing to see and know the acts of God, but, it is completely a different thing to see and know the ways of God. It is possible for a man to see the acts of God for all of his life, never knowing the ways of God. But a man who can look into the ways of God can hope to know God truly and fully.
If you truly desire to know God, then you have to start seeking His ways diligently. Though the Bible says that the ways of God are unfathomable (beyond understanding) (Rom 11:33), still we have to seek His ways. We may never fully understand God. This is what I have said right at the beginning of this message. But, this fact should not discourage us from seeking His ways. This is because it is better for us to understand something about His ways rather than nothing. Even a little knowledge about God will be a great spiritual blessing for us. Those who look only at the acts of God cannot know even a little about God. All great men of God in the Bible are those who knew the ways of God. Many people in the Bible tried to follow God. But they failed because they were only able to see the acts of God. The ones who saw the ways of God became great believes and servants of God.
So, what actually does it mean to know the ways of God? Knowing the ways of God, means, understanding the mind of God. We should be able to recognize the thoughts and intentions of God, who is our heavenly Father. It is possible for us to know the outward actions of a man, without understanding his inward thoughts and intentions. This is especially true in case of parents and children. Children frequently misunderstand their parents. They see the outward action of their parents. They want to watch television, but parents do not allow them! They want to eat everything they see on the road, but parents do not allow them! They want to buy certain things, but parents do not allow them! They do not want to take the bitter medicine, but parents insist upon them! They don’t want to wake up early in the morning, but parents insist upon them! They don’t want to read their Bibles, but parents insist upon them. So they think, “How unloving and inconsiderate are my parents! How hard is their heart!” They don’t understand the mind of their parents.
Think about Cain and Abel. Both of them knew that God requires a sacrifice. They both knew that God sends his fire and burns the sacrifice which they offer. They both knew that God acts in that way, i.e., they both knew the act of God. But, what happened? Only the offering of Abel was accepted by God, and that of Cain’s was rejected! Why? This is because Abel knew the ways of God, while Cain did not know. Cain only knew that God wants a sacrifice, but Abel not only knew that God wants a sacrifice but also knew why God wants a sacrifice. This is what I mean by knowing the ways of God. The sacrifices which we offer God show Him how much we love Him and value Him. Abel knew that, anything which He is going to offer as a sacrifice shows to God, how much he loves and values God. So, Abel was able to offer a precious sacrifice. He offered the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. The fact that Abel offered the firstlings and of their fat portions, shows that he loves and values God. Abel knew the ways of God. But, what about Cain? He did not know that the sacrifice which he was going to offer God showed his love and value towards God. He just knew that God wants a sacrifice and so he offered the fruit of the ground. If you observe the Bible carefully, you can see that regarding the offering of Abel it is said that he brought the firstlings and that they were filled with fat. That means he brought the most precious of his flock. But if you read about the offering of Cain you can find that no such descriptions are given about it. There it had been just written, “Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:3). It is not mentioned whether that fruit was the first fruit or whether it is the best fruit. It was possible that the offering Cain brought was not the best of the crop. It might have had some defects in it! Cain did like this because he did not know why God wanted a sacrifice. Cain did not know the ways of the Lord.
In the same way, Moses knew the ways of God, while all the Israelites only knew the acts of God. The Israelites always wanted to see the acts of God. They just wanted the acts and nothing else. They did not try to find the ways of God. But Moses was different. He knew why God was taking them through the wilderness. He knew that God wants them to depend upon Him completely and to live by faith. The Israelites did not know it. Most of the times, we can know more about God while He is doing nothing, than while He is doing something. We have to be still and meditate upon the acts of God so that we can know the ways which are behind His acts. When we do that, we can become strong in our faith and live a life serving God and leading many people to Him, like Moses, David, Samuel, and Paul. May God give you the understanding to know the ways behind His acts. May God give you the heart to know Him through His ways.
“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel”
