This Sunday we worked through a Salvation History Psalm. These are Psalms where the main content of the song is a re-telling of God’s work in His plan of salvation. These Psalms are recognizing the means by which God has revealed Himself to His people; how we know that God is God. When people ask me that question: how do you know that God is God? I give 3 reasons for my belief.
Empirical: I believe that God can be seen in His creation. I think that the world we live in is best explained as the creation of a Creator. As we experience the world (and heavens) around us, we learn who God is. In beauty, size, and specificity, we are introduced to God’s character. The details of the Creator can be found in what and how He created.
Salvific: I also recognize that the world is not as it should be. There is a broken sense to this world; somehow, it has fallen short of its purpose. This is true, not only of the world I experience, but it is true of me. I am not who I wish I was. This isn’t to say I can’t fool those around me. I can look like I have it together, but I know better. I know my inner thoughts, I know my weaknesses and sin. I know I need help. I need a Savior.
This isn’t just wishful thinking or an excuse because I am not strong enough. This is an honest look at the world. It is destroying itself: morally, physically, emotionally. We need to be saved from ourselves. We don’t have the means to fix what we have broken.
The cross describes both this brokenness (sin has separated us from God) and gives us a solution. Jesus’ willing sacrifice on our behalf becomes a way for sinful, broken people to be reunited to God. The details of the Savior can be found in the means that He saves and what it is He saves us from.
Personal: I believe in God because I have experienced Him. Not as a voice or a vision, but the presence of God has been evident in my life. As comfort in times of need, as a peace that passes understanding, as a protective hand. I have known that He is with me, when I am able to do something that I know was not of my own strength.
I experienced this the first time I ever preached in front of a church. I became a pastor because I was committed to the shepherding of God’s people, not because I wanted to have anything to do with public speaking. Like many people, I tensed up and my mind went blank whenever I had to speak in front of a crowd. For some reason, I agreed to preach a sermon. I still remember the week before, getting that claustrophobic feeling: like you are going to suffocate if you can’t get out from under weight. I began to think through all sorts of ways that I could get out of having to preach. In the end, I chose to fulfill my commitment, and I walked up to preach my first sermon, ready for the nerves to hit me, like they always had before, just praying that I didn’t vomit on the front row. A crazy thing happened: the nerves never kicked in. Somehow, something that I had experienced my entire life was simply not there. I know I didn’t all of a sudden conjure up the courage; God carried me through. I made a commitment to Him that day not to say ‘no’ to things based solely on my own fear.
Here is the thing about that situation, it isn’t one that is proof to anyone but me. I can tell you the story, but you did not experience it. What is profound proof to me means very little to you. God meets His people in different ways. The details of God’s presence are found in how He reaches into your life.
These 3 things: the way that God has shown Himself in creation, the way that He graciously rescues us from the bondage we have created, and the way that He responds personally, are how I know He is God and why I love Him. I hope you get to know Him too!