How To Be Comfortable With
An Uncomfortable God
Back
To School With God Series
A Sermon
By Jim Hammond from Psalm 139
Karl Marx was the one who said, “Religion is the
opiate of the masses.” By
this he meant that he viewed religion as an attractive intoxicant for
depressed, downhearted, and weak people.
It is a popular belief today that people turn to God for comfort
in a world of harsh realities. Some
people state the same sentiment by saying “Christianity is a crutch
for weak people.” Those same people who believe this also say they aren’t
religious because they don’t feel they need religion. The Atheist wonders why in our “enlightened” age does
religion continue to persist. The Atheist asks the question, “If there
is no God, why are so many people involved in religion?”
Their answer is this: man
invents God because of the pressures and weaknesses he feels; man
invented God because of his “psychological need” for God.
Atheists say there is no God. But one boy found out that so did his toy “Speak and
Spell.” Mary Farwell of
Green Castle, Missouri, told of the time she was listening to her 5 year
old son, Matthew, as he worked on his Speak and Spell™ computer. He
was concentrating intensely, typing in words for the computer to say
back to him. Matthew punched in the word “God.” To his surprise, the
computer said, “Word not found.” He tried again with the same reply.
Staring at the computer in disgust he declared: “Jesus is not going to
like this!”[i]
Atheists say man invented god because he has a
psychological need to do so, let me submit to you a counter proposition.
The counter proposition is that Man has a psychological need to
invent Atheism. The New
Testament gives us this proposition in Romans 1:18 explaining that it
was human ungodliness and the rejection of God that leads men to
suppress the truth about God.
Romans
1:18 (NIV) The
wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
It is Paul’s argument that God has
revealed himself to people in general revelation through his created
order. He has also revealed
himself through special revelation throughout history to select people
and people groups. It is
the suppression of what has been revealed that leads to Atheist
conclusions. Why would
anyone suppress the notion that there is a God?
The reason is this. The
God who revealed himself is an Uncomfortable God!
Mankind can have a negative psychological reaction
to the knowledge of God. The
knowledge of God can be traumatic for some people.
It provokes a fear and a dread.
According to the Bible, over time, men substituted idolatry for
the worship of the real God. Man
has throughout history had the tendency to soften the nature of God so
that the concept was more tolerable.
Men like to make the creator more like creature, so that they do
not have to fear him.
I. Why God Is
Uncomfortable
Here we are not talking about how God is
uncomfortable with what’s going on.
We are talking about why man is basically uncomfortable with God.
Here are the basic reasons that evoke a negative fear toward God.
A. Because He has
revealed Himself as being
1.
Holy (Absolutely Good)
2.
Omniscient (All Knowing)
3.
Sovereign (Ultimately In Charge and In Control)
4.
Omnipotent (All Powerful)
5.
Immutable (Never Changing)[ii]
Here
is how God’s Holiness is a threat.
God is utterly good, with no tolerance for evil, because he is utterly
just. We, on the other
hand, are utterly flawed with sinfulness.
This feels threatening until one understands what God has done to
remedy the situation.
Here is how God’s omniscience is threatening.
God knows EVERYTHING. There
is no secret. Your most
closely guarded secret will be exposed.
There is no closet where we can hide the skeletons of our lives
from God. The combination
of God’s holiness with his omniscience leaves us feeling naked with
shame before him. This was
Adam’s feeling when he felt shame and tried to hide from God.
He hid. God knows
everything. He never has to
ask any questions. But
guess what. He does ask questions. He
asked Adam, “Where are you?” God
knew the answer to that question. He
knows everything. So why
did he ask the question? He
asked that question for Adam’s sake.
God knows everything about you. For your sake, does God need to ask you this morning,
“Where are you?” Would
you allow my voice to frame God’s question to you today?
“Where are you?” What
do you feel when he asks you this question.
Remember he already knows the answer.
He wants you to know it also, so he asks you to think about it
before his holy scrutiny. Do
you remember the feelings you felt when you were caught by your parents
and they began to ask questions and you knew they knew the answers
already? What does that
question, “Where are you”, make you feel right now?
God already knows where you’ve been hanging out, what you’ve
been doing, what you’ve been thinking, and what you’ve neglected or
avoided also. You can see
how his omniscience can be threatening.
Here is how God’s sovereignty is threatening.
God is in control. He will rule, he will judge.
He is the ultimate law. We
are not a law unto ourselves. I
am not free to do whatever I want if there truly is a sovereign God.
I might be a free agent, I might be able to choose, but I cannot
change the consequences God has sovereignly established in his world.
In other words I might be a free agent who can choose to obey or
disobey, but I cannot choose no consequences for my disobedience, and I
certainly can’t choose good consequences for my bad choices.
God has sovereignly set up the spiritual laws.
Now, if there is no God, then anything goes. If God IS, there will be an accounting. I am not free to do anything I want. If I want to establish an anything goes kind of freedom,
first I must destroy the notion of a sovereign God.
Are you following me? You
can see how God’s sovereignty can be threatening.
Here is how God’s Omnipotence is threatening.
Omnipotence means God is all powerful.
This means there is no greater power than God.
Power is intimidating. Now
think of absolute power. Calling
God simply the “higher power” doesn’t go far enough.
He isn’t just a higher power.
He is the highest power. He
is absolute power, and nothing can stop God from achieving his purposes.
Nothing, that is, except his own character. He does limit his power by other attributes of his character.
For example, God is good, so although he can do ANYTHING, he has
limited himself to do only GOOD things.
He is not like the Greek Mythological gods whose primary
attributes were power. They
weren’t Good, so they could do ANYTHING, good or bad.
The God as revealed in the Bible always allows his power to
operate in accordance with his character.
But when you put absolute power with absolute goodness, this is a
frightening concept to those of us who know we don’t measure up to
God’s absolute goodness. Can
you see how his omnipotence can be threatening.
He is all powerful and all good.
He is going to get his way and I’m not sure I really want him
to have complete justice with me. I’ll come up on the short end of the exchange.
I don’t want to get what an all powerful, completely just God
might determine for every one of my choices.
Can you see how his omnipotence might be threatening?
Time’s Up
I read an story about how justice works, just this
morning. One enterprising
group of college students tried to literally manage time, but in the end
it came back to haunt them. At this particular university the rule was
that if the professor had not arrived in class within the first fifteen
minutes of the hour, class was considered a "walk" and the
students were free to leave - with no penalties for missing class. The
rooms in this school were equipped with the old style clocks where the
minute hand mechanically ticked ahead after each minute. Some of the
students discovered that they could cause the clock to jump ahead one
minute if they hit it with an eraser from the black board. The professor
of this class was not the most punctual so it became a ritual for these
students to take target practice at the clock. After a few well-aimed
erasers hit their target, bingo, 15 minutes had passed and the class
walked.
At the end of the semester the final exam rolled
around. The professor strolled into the room and passed out the test. He
said, "You have one hour to complete it."
He then proceeded to collect all the erasers in the room and
gleefully took aim at the clock. When he had successfully jumped the
clock ahead one-hour, the professor called "time’s up" and
collected the exam papers.
We aren’t going to fool God any either.
One billboard put it this way, “Have you read my #1 best
seller? There will be a test.” - God
Here is how God’s Immutability is threatening.
God will never change. He
is the same yesterday, today and forever.
That means I cannot change him.
Guess who has to change if we are to get comfortable with an
uncomfortable God? We do.
Do you really think you can change enough to satisfy this
unchangeable, all knowing, all powerful, absolutely just God?
Who Would Make Up Such A God?
The
Atheist says we make up this God because we need him to meet our needs.
Let me ask you who has the psychological motivation for making up
their philosophy in life, the Atheist or the theist who believes in a
Holy, Omniscient, Sovereign, Omnipotent God?
It is the Atheist who has the psychological need to suppress the
truth about this threatening God.
If all we believe in is a nebulous, non defined
“higher power,” if all we believe in is a God of our own making and
choosing, then we can continue to feel comfortable with the God of our
choosing. But I don’t
want you to be comfortable with a made up concept.
Focus:
The gods of human making are invented for man’s psychological
comfort. I don’t want you
to become comfortable with a humanly invented error.
I want you to become comfortable with the True God.
And the true God is uncomfortable.
The Bible record indicates that when men confront
the Holy God they are reduced to a state of terror.
We are going to look at one of those passages describing the
reaction of terror before God next week in Part two of “Getting
Comfortable with an Uncomfortable God.”
Today we are going to look at the fact that many people are
running from the uncomfortable God.
We Christians
live under the illusion that everyone wants to find God. This simply is
not true. Many people are running away from Him. They need Him—yes;
they would be better off with Him—certainly, but they do not want Him.
Some people are simply not comfortable with an all-powerful, all-knowing
God.
II. There’s
no escape from the Uncomfortable God (Psalm 139)
The Psalmist
describes how futile it is to run away from God. In the end, he finds
out there is no escape. But what we discover is that David doesn’t
mind the fact that there is no escape from God.
David has learned how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable
God. We want to learn why.
We want to learn how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable
God.
Psalm 139
1
O LORD, you
have searched me
and you know me.
2 You
know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You
discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before
a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You
hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where
can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If
I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my
bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If
I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even
there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I
say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even
the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For
you created my inmost being;
you knit me
together in my mother’s womb.
14 I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My
frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your
eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How
precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were
I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
19 If
only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They
speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I
not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I
have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search
me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See
if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
A. God knows too much.
(v. 1-4)
·
He knows everything we do. (1-2)
O LORD, you have
searched me and you know
me.
You know when I sit
and when I rise;
·
He knows everything we think. (2)
you perceive my
thoughts from afar.
God searches us, knows us, and even knows our
thoughts. He knows our
thoughts from afar. Since
God is here, does “from afar” mean he knows my thoughts before I
think them? Or does it mean
that even when David leaves the Temple and goes far from it, he realizes
God knows his thoughts wherever he goes?
·
He knows everywhere we go. (3)
You
discern my going out and my lying down;
you
are familiar with all my ways.
·
He knows all my ways. (3)
He knows our every action.
He is familiar with our habits in ways we are not.
If God wanted to impress the angels he could say as they look on,
“Watch, he puts his right leg into his pants first.
He puts his right shoe then left shoe, then ties his right shoe
then left shoe.” God is
not just an astute observer who is very familiar with us.
He knows us so well he can tell what we are going to do before we
do anything.
4
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
·
This can be frightening, but if the relationship is solid
it is also comforting.
He knows every word we say, even before we say it.
Since this is true, I find it fascinating how much time he takes
urging us and teaching us to talk to him.
If he knows what I’m going to say before I say it, then why
does he urge us to talk to him? He wants a voluntary relationship. He wants it to be two way.
He doesn’t simply want to be an outside observer, as expert as
his observation might be! He
wants a relationship.
B. God is everywhere
(5-12).
·
David tells us if we go as far up as we can or as far down
as we can we will not escape God.
5
You hem me
in—behind and before;
you
have laid your hand upon me.
God
is everywhere you turn. He
has a hand on your life. There’s
really no way around him as hard as people try to find ways around him.
6
Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too
lofty for me to attain.
This
knowledge blows your mind when you stop long enough to think about it.
You can’t surprise God, even as your hand can’t surprise you.
Hold up your hand for a moment.
Try to have your hand movement trick you.
I used to be awed by this as a kid, the quickness in which my
hand responds. It can’t
trick me. Neither can we
trick God. He knows.
His knowledge is too wonderful for me to comprehend.
The difference between the hand and me is that I’m a free
agent. How can I truly be
the free agent when he knows my every move.
This is an incredible mystery that has been the discussion of
many for a long time. How
much freedom do we really have. Some
emphasize God’s sovereign control, and minimize human freedom.
Some focus on man’s free will to the neglect of God’s
sovereign control. The
scripture clearly emphasizes both.
I am truly free, but I can’t trick God.
God knows before my every move what my move will be, and how that
move leads to another. It
begins to be too much for my mind to comprehend such knowledge.
7
Where can I
go from your Spirit?
Where
can I flee from your presence?
There’s
no escaping God. God is not
limited to a locality because his Spirit is everywhere.
There’s no dark corner in which you can hide.
8
If I go up
to the heavens, you are there;
if
I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
You
can go to the moon or Mars and God is still there.
You can go to the center of the world or the bottom of the sea
and God is still there.
9
If I rise on
the wings of the dawn,
if
I settle on the far side of the sea,
He’s
here in Cottonwood. Fly to
Calcutta, India, and he’s there.
In fact if you go as fast as the light travels from the sun
rising in the East shooting across on “the wings of the dawn” and
settling on the far side of the sea in the West, God will beat you
there. He is everywhere.
Your
Right Hand Will Hold Me
10
even there
your hand will guide me,
your
right hand will hold me fast.
Have
you ever been alone somewhere that you’ve never been before?
Perhaps you arrived at an airport somewhere new to you.
You are hoping all arrangements are made.
You are hoping someone is there to meet you, or that there are no
goof ups securing the travel arrangements.
EVEN there in that strange new place, all alone, we learn from
this verse that you are never alone, and can never be completely alone.
He is there to guide you and hold you in his protection if you
will let him.
When
was the last time you consciously took a hold of the hand of the Father
and walked with him?
Let
me ask you another question that struck me as I was reading this
chapter. Remember to read
passages over and over and spend time on the portions that strike you.
Here is what struck me. Why
does David specify God’s RIGHT hand?
Why does he say God reaches down his RIGHT hand to hold me fast?
Does David simply have a vivid picture in mind of a heavenly
father reaching down with his strong hand, his coordinated hand, to
guide his children and protect them?
Or is there more to it?
If
you were to read all the scriptures about God’s right hand, what would
you discover? As I read the
scriptures with this question in mind I was reminded how God reached out
his right hand to me. I was
fascinated to discover that God reached down with his right hand when he
sent his right hand man, Jesus. Jesus
showed us the way. God the
father condescended to reach down to the lost child.
Jesus is God’s loving reach down to us.
Jesus who is the way, showed us the way, and made a way.
He grabbed our hand and put it into God’s hand.
How did he do this? He
is the reaching right hand of God.
After His mission was accomplished, where did Jesus go?
Jesus returned to the Right hand of God. Where is he now? He
is at the right hand of God now. Here
is my conclusion. I believe
it is a conclusion David could not have yet fully realized when he
penned these words that the Spirit of God inspired.
When you have a relationship with Jesus, you ARE holding the
right hand of God, and walking with God.
All David could see was the loving and powerful condescension of
the almighty God who wants to hold our hand with his powerful Right
hand. I am amazed at just
how God determined to do this!
11
If I say,
“Surely the darkness will hide me
and
the light become night around me,”
12
even the
darkness will not be dark to you;
the
night will shine like the day,
for
darkness is as light to you.
To those
who hide from God, He becomes very uncomfortable.
There is no escape, and he is in hot pursuit. Hide yourself in the darkest closet, line the walls with lead
to keep out the x-ray vision, and still God’s eyes can see right
through that box and know what you are doing, and what you are thinking.
Darkness is like light to God.
There’s no hiding, there’s no escaping God.
But is that a bad thing? David
doesn’t think so.
III.
There’s no Comfort until Hiding becomes Seeking
Illustrations: The Wild
Animal
If you tried
to rescue a wild animal, it might resist you and even defend itself from
you with painful attacks. The animal does not realize that resistance
may well mean disaster. In fact, the animal needs to discover that in
surrender is survival.
When you are in distress, don’t be afraid, or run
away from God’s heavy pursuit of you. He is not there to “get you”
but to “rescue you.” We stop running when fear gives way to trust.
We stop running away from God when we realize only God can help
The Slash Mark that Changed Everything
Some
graffiti artist wrote on a wall, “God is nowhere.” A believer came
by and with one well-placed slash changed the message to, “God is now
here.” It is a frightening thing for the person whose life
encounters that well placed slash mark, while he or she was busy living
life as if God is nowhere. It
is a frightening thing when life’s circumstances, God’s answer to
someone’s prayer, suddenly places that slash mark in your life that
changes everything. It is frightening when suddenly God shows up before the self
avowed atheist or agnostic. He
stops saying God is nowhere and with profound awareness realizes that
God is now here. As
frightening and as awesome as that might be, the realization is that if
there is a God, there is hope. Fear
becomes hope.
Hide and Seek
Hide and Seek Is Fun when you want to be found.
It is really boring when nobody is looking for you.
It is really frightening when you don’t want to be found
because you aren’t hiding as a game, but as a way of surviving, as a
criminal survives while on the dodge.
·
Rather than hiding from God, David finally says “Search
me.”
·
Rather that avoiding God, David finally says, “Try
me.”
·
Rather than resisting God, David finally says, “Lead
me.”
How do you get comfortable with the Uncomfortable
God? God’s way.
It’s like the old joke, “What do you feed a 400 pound
gorilla? Anything he
wants.” How do you get
comfortable with an uncomfortable God?
We adjust to him. We
don’t try to adjust God. He
has provided a way already when he reached down his right hand through
Jesus Christ, his right hand man. David
was willing to adjust to God, through the forgiveness offered to him in
the Old Covenant system. David
stopped hiding. David
stopped running. Do you
know why? Because there was no escape from the God who pursued him.
God caught him in the act of darkness.
David thought nobody would know.
How did the prophet Nathan find out.
God knows. God
revealed. God pursued.
God confronted. David quit running and hiding.
He began to seek. He
asked God for that help. Search
me. Try me.
Lead me.
Would you pray with me.
Dear God,
We used to be frightened
by some of your attributes. What
used to be frightening and threatening is comforting to us now as we
seek you out. You ARE Holy. You are Absolutely Good.
You are worthy of our worship.
You are Omniscient (All Knowing).
You know exactly what I’m going through and just what I need.
You have all the answers. You
are Sovereign. I believe that you are ultimately in Charge and In Control.
That’s why even though I walk through the ordeal of suffering,
I can trust You. That’s
why Paul could write,
2
Corinthians 4:17 (NIV) 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
God,
You are Omnipotent (All Powerful).
You can bring about ultimate good even from the ashes of the
seemingly bad. For you
cause all things to work together for good to those of us who love you
and whom you have called (Romans 8:28).
God you are Immutable (Never Changing).
I can trust you through the thick and the thin.
You never have changed. You
never will. You aren’t
the one who needs adjusting. I
am. So, father, I’m glad
you are pursuing me. Thank you for reaching down your hand, your right hand.
Thank you for reaching out to me.
You have found my heart this morning.
I am reaching up my hand, and I’m embracing Jesus Christ, the
one and only begotten who has fully revealed who you are.
Thank you for loving me and forgiving me through Jesus.
I’m holding your hand as you search me, and try me, and lead
me.
In
Jesus’ Name I come before you and pray,
Amen.
[ii] R.C. Sproul, Reason To
Believe, p. 60f. “Christianity
is a Crutch for Weak People”
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