Consider Him by Joseph Zoller
When considered thoughtfully, a single question of three words will profoundly challenge your life. “Is God real?”
No, this is not a trick question. The obvious answer, of course, is “yes.” The challenge comes when you begin to consider how it applies to you personally. You make the claim that God is real, but is He truly real to you? Does your life demonstrate that your God is real? Is His grace evidenced in your life? I think more often than not, Christians (I foremost amongst them) fall into the trap of living as if God does not exist at all. I find myself living a life of practical atheism, forgetting the God that created me and redeemed me with the precious blood of His own Son.
If God is not real to me, what is? I live my life in accord to what I believe to be real. My actions demonstrate my reality. For instance, I might be unable to sleep after watching The War of the Worlds, while you might go to bed without thinking twice about the possibility of aliens invading our planet overnight. You see, what I saw in the movie was more real to me than it was to you, and it adversely affected my peace of mind. We act based on our perception of reality.
Why then – when it comes to the God that I claim is real – do I so often totally ignore that reality? I submit that it is because my view of God is far too shallow. I fail to see God for who He is, and I fill my gaze with the shabby clutter of this material realm. Consider Job’s words after coming face to face with God’s glory:
- “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2-3, 5-6)
Like Job, I think that I am easily satisfied with simply hearing of God with my ears. But do I see God? I’m convinced that if i see God for who He truly is, if i make Him my ultimate reality, than my response will be the same as Job’s. “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” The prophet Isaiah had a similar response in chapter 6 after seeing the holiness of God. He said, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Am I likewise undone when I consider my God?
If I get my eyes off of this deceptive corporeal world long enough to consider the glorious reality of my God, my life will be changed dramatically. Consider Him. He created all we can see, He is altogether holy, His power is unfathomable, and His nature is constant and unchanging. Yet this awesomely transcendent God loves me? He cares for me? Let the truth of this sink in. The God who made me loved me enough to redeem me with His own blood! Hello! How on earth can I ever think that my life is my own to live? How can you?
What am I apart from God’s grace? Who am I but a sinner in need of salvation?
The penetrating answer to these questions leaves me stripped of all human sense of worth and sufficiency. I am nothing. God is everything.
Do I live in light of this reality? Am I reminded of it every day of my life? Lord forgive me! Too often do I make this world more real to me than my Savior’s blood.
So what about you? Will you see God, or are you content to simply hear? Job saw God and his view totally transformed his life. Will you do the same? Consider God. Consider yourself. Let God strip you down to the naked essence of your very being, because that is all you are. Throw yourself on your face before your Maker, and cast all your self-sufficiency at His feet. Let Him break you. Let Him mold you. Let Him fit you for His use.
Is God real to you? Does the reality of who He is and what He’s done for you affect the way you live?
Don’t be an atheist. Let God become what is truly real in your life.
