Sunday, May 17, 2009

Towards Us

"Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are towards us; they cannot be recounted unto Thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. [...] I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me...." Ps. 40:5, 17a

"What is man that Thou are mindful of him?" Ps. 8:4a

"...ye...are known of God...." Gal. 4:9

The God of the deist, the aloof and disconnected one, does not exist, and neither does the god of modernity, the unknowable and impersonal nothingness. The living infinite-personal triune God who is there is ever mindful of us, ever concerned, ever caring. Let this good news ring in the ears of the lost: God is there, and He is not indifferent.
Let this good news ring in the ears of the believer as well, for they can be as agnostic as their unbelieving brethren. Many of us would do well to have Heb. 11:6 engraved over every doorway: "God is, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." It is a mind-boggling yet joyous assertion of Christianity that the God of the universe knows us and wants us to know Him. That God desires (however He can "desire") communion with us is the scandal of Christianity. The world will gladly take any other god rather than the one that wants to be involved in their lives, and be livers can be the same. God is either the last thing on their minds, and the realization of His presence feels more like an intrusion than a "wonderful work." We must reassert to others and ourselves the wondrous fact that God's thoughts are "towards us," that He thinks of us, knows us, and wants us to know Him.

-Jon Vowell

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