Living with Tozer's God

BlogPost #8: Living with Tozer's God

"Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me,

'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me

all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children." Deut 4:10 NASU

I. Right Thinking About God...and the NewTown Massacre

I had just about finished this post when the news about the tragedy in Newtown, CT hit the news. The correlation was so strong, I wanted to go back and incorporate this terrible incident because it goes to the core of what is wrong in America today. The Apostle Paul said it best,

15 "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,

16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,

17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN."

18 "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."

Rom 3:15-18 NASU

Former Governor Mike Huckabee attracted attention shortly after the story broke on the news when he attributed the ultimate source of the tragedy to the 'systematic removal of God from our schools'. Of course, the mainstream media would normally attack a comment like this, but this was a little different. If Huckabee has said this was some sort of 'judgment' from God, he would have been roundly castigated! But, that's not what he said, so they were at a little bit of a loss. I would like to amplify what I believe the Governor is saying (forgive me governor, if I put words in your mouth that you do not intend.)

What should we learn from this tragedy? What I believe God is saying through this tragedy is quite simple. He is saying, 'This is what the world looks like when you exclude Me! Evil reigns, vileness is unchecked, senseless tragedies abound and lawlessness and foolishness is exalted. If this is what you want, I will allow it. If not, then you need to learn a new word, 'Repent'.'

Assuming we eventually get the message, how would we 'turn this mess around. The children of Israel provide a great example. The verse from Deut. 4:10 cited above summarizes the key elements. After 40 long years in the wilderness, the children of Israel are about to go into the 'Promised Land'...more accurately, a new generation is about to enter the Promised Land. Moses is speaking to those who were too young to be judged like the stubborn, unbelieving generation that died in the wilderness, but they were old enough to remember that awesome day when God spoke to them at Mt. Horeb.

Why does it say that God assembled the people? What did God want them to learn? It says plainly that His purpose was that they might learn to fear Him! This principle is, as I hope we have seen, fundamental to knowing God. That's why Tozer chose Prov. 9:10 as his theme verse, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...'. If you don't get this right, you will never truly know God. Why? Because this is where right thinking about God begins.

The Basic Flaw

One thing we have to be perfectly clear about at the start is this: All Our Thoughts About God are Wrong! It nothing personal. It's simply where we all start. Why? As Gov. Huckabee noted, 'Our problem is not a gun problem, it's a sin problem'. How refreshing is that! And it's true. It's the fruit of the poisoned tree; our sinful natures carry with them an inborn predisposition to distrust and rebel against God. Why? We choose to believe the lies about God rather than the truth He has revealed. There are always consequences to believing lies. Ultimately, in spite of all He has done and provided us with, we doubt God's essential goodness...especially when we consider how little we deserve His goodness.

Regardless of the reason, the main point is that we start with wrong thoughts about God, about who He is, what He is like and what our relationship to Him is meant to be. What's worse, we have no ability 'fix' the problem ourselves. Here's a sobering thought: IF God does not reveal Himself to us, we will never find Him, much less find out the truth about Him. We give out Nobel prizes every year to people who really don't do much more than discover some new secret about the way God has put this universe together. While that's exciting, you would think that discovering God Himself might be considered the ultimate prize, but it just ain't so. If this isn't proof that there's something flawed in us, I don't know what it will take!

Is He or isn't He, that IS the question.

The truth is, many today don't know why the question of whether God exists is important. As we'll see, incredibly, this is the most important question of our time. So, let's quickly lay the groundwork for this, so we can see what has happened to our culture.

It's always important to note the 'firsts' in Scripture; the first time someone is introduced, the first time something is revealed...these texts are usually foundational to a right understanding of what they mean. What is the 'first' revelation we have of God in scripture? As virtually all of us know, Gen. 1:1 tells us that 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'. These few words tell us a lot about God.

It tells us that God already existed. He began the 'beginning'. He was the reason there was a 'beginning'! Without Him there is no beginning. At least this is what the Bible teaches.

And what did He do? He created the heavens and the earth. We know also that this work of 'creation' was done out of nothing. Why? Since it was the 'beginning', there was nothing for Him to use to help build the universe. He created it by bringing His own thoughts, desires, plans and purposes into existence...and He did it with words...with divine commands. He 'spoke' them into existence. Does anyone else do this? Can they? Is He unique?

Why did He do it this way? Could He have done it differently? Possibly. One thing is clear, He did it this way so that we could see something of His majesty, glory and power. Why? So that we might, as Moses wrote, 'learn to fear Him'. Isn't this what God is saying to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah?

"Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD. 'Do you not tremble in My presence" For I

have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.  
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it." Jer 5:22 NASU

This is the beginning of the purpose of creation; that we might know the awesome power, the sovereign power of the God of the universe. It is meant to bring us something of the same awe and reverence which that little band of disciples felt the night Jesus commanded the winds of a terrible storm to 'Hush, be still. And what was the disciples reaction? Just what ours should be. "They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?'". They certainly asked the right question!

But, does anyone ask that question today? Most of the world scoffs at the idea today...and therein lies our problem.

Connecting the dots........to Newtown

We can talk all we want about the power of God and the need of 'fearing God', but the reality of our culture today is that it's considered irrelevant...a vestige of a history we've 'progressed' past. Our modern, post-Christian culture is 'enlightened', except for those few 'stuck in the past'.

Though most people do not seem to be able to connect the dots, this is exactly what the teaching of evolution in our schools has produced. We have a whole generation of young people who have been educated into ignorance because they have been coerced into classrooms which teach them an alternative theory...of what? Creation.

But, I am not really concerned about the so-called science of evolution. Though it's still officially a theory, it's taught as fact. Make no mistake, our young people are taught (and many believe) that science has overwhelmingly proven that evolution is true. The pressure to accept this teaching as 'settled science' is enormous! And that means that creation is not true. Both can not be true.

But, does this really matter to anyone? Does it really affect our daily lives?

Truthfully, nobody really cares about the science of evolution unless they're paid to care (i.e. teachers and scientists). The science of evolution really doesn't affect us on a daily basis. But, the philosophy of evolution is wreaking havoc on our culture. How? It's quite simple.

If the fundamental premise of a 'big bang' beginning is the truth about the source of our existence, then 'In the beginning, God did (NOT) create the heavens and the earth', they just happened as a result of time and chance. Please follow this, it's vitally important. This means that there can be no ultimate, transcendent meaning or purpose for our lives...or those of our children. As true evolutionists believe, we are really just an accident.

Why does this 'belief system' amount to a moral calamity? Because a whole generation of our young people have grown up, programmed to believe that evolution is truth. Most don't have a clue what the science teaches, but they clearly understand that No Creation = No God.

They get that! They get that if there really is no God, there is no moral foundation or moral authority to which we are accountable. The only logical conclusion is that there is no real meaning or purpose for our lives...and no eternal future to be concerned about.

Today, we are living in a society where the ramifications of the moral philosophy of evolution are coming to fruition right before our eyes. We wonder in amazement how a young person could just 'snap' and produce a Columbine or a Newtown massacre. The answers are right in front of us. 

When a young person embraces this mindset, when they get to a certain point in life where real adversity and overwhelming challenges flood their lives, when they conclude that 'life' has just (randomly) 'dealt them a bad hand' and they see no way out, the logic of their thinking is that just to 'end it' makes perfect sense. After all, 'I was just an accident anyway'. To choose to end their lives is really just an admission that 'I was unlucky'. The odds just didn't work out for them. If they're really angry or bitter about it, they won't mind taking a few others with them on the way out.

Mark it down, consciously or not, the value of a life is dramatically reduced in the eyes of people who embrace the moral philosophy of evolution. It allows us (actually leaves us no alternative) but to define and determine for ourselves what the 'moral' boundaries are for right and wrong, good and evil. Yes, some may argue that that's why we have 'laws'. But, don't forget, most of these laws are the vestiges of a day when men believed there was a God and, therefore, there was an ultimate moral authority and accountability. In other words, there was a reason to 'fear God'. Many believe that day is past. They may be in for a rude awakening.

Right Thinking about God is essential to knowing God. Evolution concludes there is No God. The Bible declares, it's the fool who says 'there is No God'''. For the sake of our children, we might just want to re-think the wisdom of not 'honoring God as God'!