The Bible says that since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Therefore after all is said and done, no one can claim ignorance of the existence of God, not even the one who professes to be the strongest atheist. The knowledge of God is not restricted to any particular culture or people group, so it really does not matter where you were born. If you respond to God’s tugging on your heart, He will show you the way to Him, i.e. through Jesus Christ. We see this in the life of Cornelius (Acts chapters 10 &11), who responded to the fear of God but with no knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore God sent Peter to him so that he would declare to him “words by which he and his household would be saved” i.e. the knowledge of Jesus Christ (see Acts 11:14). For there is no partiality with God; He accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right (Acts 10:34-35).
Although God has made the knowledge of Himself available, how we see and experience Him largely depends on us. The revelation of God to our hearts, i.e. our perception, understanding and experience of Him has a direct dependence on our everyday dealings: what we give ourselves to be and to do. For the Scripture says “With the kind You show Yourself kind (faithful, merciful), with the blameless You show Yourself blameless; with the pure You show Yourself pure, and with the perverted You show Yourself astute (shrewd; one who contends with)” -2 Samuel 22:26-27.
If you are going to be one who knows and walks in the depths of God’s kindness, mercies and faithfulness, you must be one who is given to being kind, faithful and merciful unto others. Similarly if you are going to be one who knows and sees the purity of God, i.e. His holiness, then you must be one who is pure and holy, for without holiness no one can see God (Hebrews 12:14). But if we choose to walk in wickedness, perversion and pride, then we set ourselves to be among those who behold the severity of God (see Romans 11:22) – For God resists and is opposed to the proud (James 4:6). It will be far better to have the devil and all his demons after you than to have God opposing you.
As we are told in Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. This Scripture is frequently used to show how we can have our needs met, but we can also see through the Scriptures that our very revelation and experience of God depends on this also. Chose ye therefore to walk in love and integrity that ye may know the fullness of who God is – He is love, and He is holy (1 John 4:8; 1 Peter 1:16).
Kwadwo Omari
(c) 2015