Letters From Grandpa #350

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 350

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter with deal with Ps. 103:13-14. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust”. This is good news! God, our Father, completely understand us. He knows exactly how to rescue the godly out of temptation and to deliver the unrighteous unto judgement (2 Pet. 2:9). His perfect knowledge eliminates the possibility of mistakes.

I am told that a newborn baby has only two fears: the fear of loud noise and the fear of falling. Our most important fear, of course, is learned. Our most important fear is the fear of the Lord! Remember! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). Parents discover that kneeling down to make eye contact sometimes helps to communicate with a small child. God, of course, knows this better than we do. So He came down to our level in the person of Jesus Christ. The point is, God understands us perfectly! Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are. He understands exactly how we are formed! He knows precisely how to shape our lives and to keep us from falling. If you will trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, He will direct your path (Prov. 3:5-6). Further, since He understands us completely, He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Cor. 10:13).

God’s supernatural knowledge, of course, gives Him an advantage over earthly parents. While our earthly parents may misunderstand our motives, God never does. He completely understands our every “motive” and our every “thought”. David said to Solomon: “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts . . . ” (1 Chron. 28:9). It is foolish to try and hide from God for truly, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

While our most brilliant scientists cannot even number the galaxies, God has numbered every star. Further, He has even given every star a name (Ps. 147:4). Surely, God knows your name. Moreover, like your earthy father, He loves you and wants to train you to work with Him. That’s why God taught Adam to dress and keep the garden. God could have easily done this all by Himself, but He wanted Adam to be His partner. As you know, taxonomy is a branch of science that names and classifies organisms. So when God told Adam to name all the world’s birds, animals, and beasts He was introducing him into the world of science (Gen. 2:19-20).

Paul recognized our partnership with God and wrote: “We are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9). Like a loving Father, God patiently involves “us” in what He is doing. He does this with complete knowledge of our weaknesses. Therefore, when God commands us to do something that we do not understand, He provides evidence to make the task understandable. Since God completely understands us, He always takes the time to patiently provide evidence to make His commands rational.

Take Moses, for example. Moses killed an Egyptian and fled as a fugitive to the land of Midian where he worked as a shepherd for 40 years. When God called Moses back to Egypt to liberate his Hebrew brethren, God knew the task would seem irrational. Since God understood this, He lovingly provided Moses with miraculous “signs” to make the task believable (Ex. 4:1-31). Faith rests on

evidence! Based on the reality of these signs and wonders, Moses obeyed God, and went back to Egypt. This decision of Moses was rational because it was based on evidence. The rest, of course, is history. (See Exodus chapters 2 – 15)

Or consider the example of Gideon. Gideon was not a great warrior and he came from the weakest clan in Manasseh. Furthermore, he was the least in his family. Yet God called Gideon to deliver His people from the Midianites. The task was so great that Gideon asked for a sign (Jud. 6:17). God understood Gideon’s skepticism and therefore provided him with so much evidence that the only rational thing for him to do was to obey. As we have said before, the rest is history (See Judges 6 – 7).

The Apostle Thomas was a twin (Jn. 20:24). As a twin he had apparently been mistaken many times for his brother. Therefore when someone said that Jesus was raised from the dead Thomas said: “Unless I see he marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” (Jn. 20:25). Jesus completely understood Thomas and did not condemn him for doubting. Instead. He appeared to Thomas and said: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (Jn. 20:27).

Even though every one of us is different, God still knows exactly how much evidence we need in order to make our faith and obedience rational. THE QUESTION IS, IF GOD PROVIDES YOU WITH THE EVIDENCE YOU NEED, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH HIS COMMANDS?

The enemies of Jesus said: “Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him” (Matt. 27:42). THEY WERE LYING! When the Roman guards reported to these men that an angel came down from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat on it, the chief priests and elders still didn’t obey God. Instead they bribed the soldiers with a large sum of money and told them to say that His disciples came during the night and stole away His body while they were sleeping (Matt. 27:3-15). PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE EVIL MEN DID NOT LOVE THE TRUTH! THEY READILY REJECTED THE TRUTH AND REPLACED IT WITH A LIE! THERE IS SOMETHING SATANIC AND SINISTER ABOUT REJECTING THE TRUTH AND REPLACING IT WITH A LIE!

Recognizing that God made you and knows how you are formed, please ask yourself: •

Do you believe in God?

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If not, what evidence would it take to convince you to believe in God?

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If God provides you with that evidence, then what will you do?

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Even the demons believe and tremble, but they still don’t obey God (Ja. 2:19).

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If you have sufficient evidence to believe in God, would you obey Him?

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There are some dire warnings in the Scriptures regarding those who do not love the truth (2 Thess. 2:5-12).

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Don’t be like the demons who do not love the truth!

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Please love the truth, search diligently for the truth like a treasure, and follow the truth wherever it leads.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce