Long ago God decided to provide solid evidence—in the form of His handiwork, human testimony and fulfilled prophecy—that He is the living, intelligent Creator of the universe. But everyone has a choice. We can face the evidence or ignore it, and some even scoff at it.
God does not hide Himself, as the record of the Creator God’s revelations of Himself to mankind shows. God walked and talked with Adam and Eve. During their close relationship with Him, He gave them specific instructions (Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:2-3), but they chose to disobey and even attempted to hide themselves from Him (Genesis 3:8-10). Later God reasoned with their son Cain about his unreasonable anger (Genesis 4:5-7), but Cain rejected God’s advice and murdered his brother. Instead of being truly sorry for his deed, Cain “went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:8-16).
God also talked with faithful Noah (Genesis 6:13) who followed God’s instructions (Genesis 7:5). The same was true of Abraham to whom God personally appeared and conversed with on several occasions (Genesis 12:1-7; 13:14-15 and 17:1-3). God’s willingness to reveal Himself to Moses and the people of ancient Israel is especially important.: “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). He attempted to establish a close, direct relationship with the Israelites as Moses pointed out: “The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain….I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain” (Deuteronomy 5:4-5).
The Israelites were afraid to hear God’s voice, and requested He reveal Himself to them through His prophet (Exodus 20:18-19). From that time forward God honored their request, and revealed Himself to ancient Israel through His prophets, whom He sent to warn and encourage them to be faithful to Him. But their messages went unheeded and many of those prophets were cruelly martyred. God did not force ancient Israel to obey Him, He offered them a choice: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses,” telling them. “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NIV).
When God brought ancient Israel out of Egypt, He performed many awesome miracles that demonstrated His existence, power and control over the laws of nature. “…that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD'” (Exodus 10:2). The Israelites had proof of God, but it quickly faded from their memory. “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image….They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things….” (Psalm 106:19-21).
The ancient Israelites chose to disregard the way of life and blessings God offered, and nothing has changed today. Mankind has consistently chosen to turn away from God’s revelation, preferring the way that ultimately leads to curses and death (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25). The natural human way of thinking is fundamentally hostile to-ward God (Romans 8:7; Jeremiah 17:9). It was not God’s idea to remove Himself. It was mankind’s choice. We are faced with the same two choices today: Believe God and obey His laws, or disbelieve and disobey. Human nature hasn’t changed. We have God’s exhortation to repent and obey, but only a small minority have responded.
One effective way of seeking God is through careful study of the Bible. “It is no accident that the Bible came down to us through so many centuries with such accuracy and power. God intended us to live our lives by this book, and many people dedicated themselves to the preservation of its sacred text” (Paul Wegner, The Journey From Texts to Translations, 1999, p. 24). A continuing, earnest investigation of Scripture will increase our faith (Romans 10:17) and confidence in God’s promises. The Bible is God’s word and it is our Creator’s gift to us—His guide for a fruitful, productive and abundant life.
