Seeing is Believing

   Truth is powerful, and the scriptures tell us as much.  Speaking truth is powerful; the scriptures tell us this, too.  I believe in "speaking life" by speaking the truths about God and who He is, and that spiritually this is powerful and edifying.  However, I also know that you can hear about who God is and what He does only so much.  To really know the He is who He says He is, and that He does what He says He does, you have to experience it.  It's one thing to hear it said that God is trustworthy, but you will never know it until you've had to trust Him in something.  It's all well and good to know that the Bible says He heals, but you simply won't believe it until He has healed you.

   This is the open invitation of God: get to know Me.  God doesn't want us to stop at hearing Truth, He wants us to walk with Him and experience it.  The difference is relationship.  You could hear all about what a great person someone is, but until you know them and have a relationship it's all hearsay.  It's not different with God because HE IS ALIVE and HE IS REAL.  God is not a concept to be mulled over, or a philosophy to be adopted, He is a living spirit, made physical in Jesus, and He will be as intimate a relation as a lover if you will draw close to Him.

   The irony is that with God seeing is believing, and He is invisible since He is spirit.  It's true that He was made incarnate in Jesus Christ, but, as the scripture makes clear, we who live after Jesus ascended to not get to see physically see him.

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

   When I say "seeing is believing," I'm not refuting what Jesus says, that belief in him is possible without seeing.  Rather I am saying that "seeing" God do what He has said He will do imparts to us true knowledge (i.e. belief) in who He is.  When we step out in faith and find out that God is really there and really will take care of us, we see His promises realized.  We see His character made manifest and our faith is consequently built up.

   You do not intimately discover the reality of God without risk.  There are many stories of great risk and great faith in the Bible which show us that this is true.  Think of Gideon attacking Israel's enemies with only torches and trumpets.  Or David standing in the shadow of Goliath.  Remember the Israelites walking between walls of waters, or Abraham with his knife raised to strike his only and promised son.  These people had great faith, but just like you and I they weren't positive God would come through until the moment He came through.  And it's not God's fault if we don't think He will come through, it's ours.  It's the fault of our Flesh, that part of us that always wants to be God and make everything work.

   This is also the open invitation of God: let Me work things together for your good.  As a friend of mine recently said, we are the ones getting in our way.  Get out of your own way and let God do what He has said He will do, then you will know that He really can be trusted.