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Pastor Skip Heitzig
An unbeliever can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman after he's committed a crime. He's not looking!
Psalm 92 begins "It is good to give thanks to the Lord..." But down in verse 6, it says, "A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this." You could add "agnostic" or "atheist" here, because the word "fool" means someone who deliberately shuts God out, someone who is willingly ignorant, who will not pursue the facts. I put many so-called agnostics (let alone atheists) in this category. They say "I'm an agnostic; I just don't know." When I ask if they ever pursue knowledge of Him, or investigate to find out if the Bible is the Word of God, they say, "Well, no... I just don't know."
"Fool" is God's term, not mine. Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool has said in his heart 'There is no God.'" Literally, it means "The fool has said, 'No God!'" He's not saying God doesn't exist; he's saying, "I don't want Him." Just like if someone offered you pie after dinner, and you said, "No dessert," you're not denying it exists. You're saying "I don't want any." The fool says, "I'm pushing God out of my life. I don't want His control over me."
The agnostic and the atheist will say you can't prove that God exists, and that Christians believe in Him by faith. And they're correct. But in the same way, they believe by faith that He doesn't exist, and they can't prove that either. It's a basic law of reason that the infinite cannot be proven--or disproven--by the finite. But there's more evidence on the side of there being a God than there not being a God.
It's the simplest thing in the world for a child to believe in God. I think you have to plant a lie in the heart of a child for them to disbelieve in God. I heard of an experiment where people were hooked up to a lie detector and asked "Do you believe in God?" and when they said no, it registered that they were lying!
Here's the problem: If an atheist recognizes that there is an infinite, powerful being to whom he must give account, that's scary. People don't want their life controlled by anybody!
But back to verse 1: "It is good to give thanks to the LORD"--and may I say, not just at Thanksgiving in November, but all the year long--"and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night."
We have to practice that. When we get up in the morning we ought to dwell on His lovingkindness. The word means "covenant love." God has made a covenant with you to show His mercy and His love toward you, based on what Jesus Christ did on the cross. So as you get up every morning you can say, "Lord, I trust that Your lovingkindness will carry me through this day." And at night you can lie down and thank God for his faithfulness: "Lord, I made it through another day. You have kept me, You have been faithful in all of Your promises."
"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:15).
An unbeliever can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman after he's committed a crime. He's not looking!
Psalm 92 begins "It is good to give thanks to the Lord..." But down in verse 6, it says, "A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this." You could add "agnostic" or "atheist" here, because the word "fool" means someone who deliberately shuts God out, someone who is willingly ignorant, who will not pursue the facts. I put many so-called agnostics (let alone atheists) in this category. They say "I'm an agnostic; I just don't know." When I ask if they ever pursue knowledge of Him, or investigate to find out if the Bible is the Word of God, they say, "Well, no... I just don't know."
"Fool" is God's term, not mine. Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool has said in his heart 'There is no God.'" Literally, it means "The fool has said, 'No God!'" He's not saying God doesn't exist; he's saying, "I don't want Him." Just like if someone offered you pie after dinner, and you said, "No dessert," you're not denying it exists. You're saying "I don't want any." The fool says, "I'm pushing God out of my life. I don't want His control over me."
The agnostic and the atheist will say you can't prove that God exists, and that Christians believe in Him by faith. And they're correct. But in the same way, they believe by faith that He doesn't exist, and they can't prove that either. It's a basic law of reason that the infinite cannot be proven--or disproven--by the finite. But there's more evidence on the side of there being a God than there not being a God.
It's the simplest thing in the world for a child to believe in God. I think you have to plant a lie in the heart of a child for them to disbelieve in God. I heard of an experiment where people were hooked up to a lie detector and asked "Do you believe in God?" and when they said no, it registered that they were lying!
Here's the problem: If an atheist recognizes that there is an infinite, powerful being to whom he must give account, that's scary. People don't want their life controlled by anybody!
But back to verse 1: "It is good to give thanks to the LORD"--and may I say, not just at Thanksgiving in November, but all the year long--"and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night."
We have to practice that. When we get up in the morning we ought to dwell on His lovingkindness. The word means "covenant love." God has made a covenant with you to show His mercy and His love toward you, based on what Jesus Christ did on the cross. So as you get up every morning you can say, "Lord, I trust that Your lovingkindness will carry me through this day." And at night you can lie down and thank God for his faithfulness: "Lord, I made it through another day. You have kept me, You have been faithful in all of Your promises."
"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:15).