Why People Don't Trust God
"No one has ever seen God...God is Spirit" (John 1:18; 4:24)
I like the following common sense statement by Arthur P. Adams (1847-1925)…
“Why do people not trust God? For the very same reason, I answer, that we do not trust strangers, because we are not acquainted with Him.”
So how do we, or will we, or can we become acquainted with Him who is an unseen Spirit?
Good question and I find little if no help from Theologians. Not that there are not countless commentaries written by them on how to “walk in the Spirit” or be “Spiritual” or produce the “fruit of the Spirit”. There is so much written on the subject that it has become mind numbing to me…and useless mumbo jumbo for the most part. After thousands of pages of writ, their conclusions are essentially the same - If we trust God and get saved, we will change into a “Spiritual person” who is like God, with the fruit of the Spirit flowing out of us.
Which of course is not true and simply brings us full circle to Arthur P. Adams question “Why do people not trust God?”
My answer is pretty simple…I do not trust God sometimes because I am a HUMAN BEING. I am born of the flesh, I live in the flesh and I will die in the flesh. Therefore I cannot become fully acquainted with God, or even be absolutely sure there is a God, until I am "raised a Spiritual body" and have "put on immortality"...which the Bible has promised and where I find hope...
"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual...Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must PUT ON IMMORTALITY. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:42-57)
So good luck waling in the Spirit and trusting God all the time now, hope you do and can, but for me I'll just have to know Him in part, and hope that the Bible is true...
"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Only then can I be fully acquainted with Him...and trust Him completely.
I like the following common sense statement by Arthur P. Adams (1847-1925)…
“Why do people not trust God? For the very same reason, I answer, that we do not trust strangers, because we are not acquainted with Him.”
So how do we, or will we, or can we become acquainted with Him who is an unseen Spirit?
Good question and I find little if no help from Theologians. Not that there are not countless commentaries written by them on how to “walk in the Spirit” or be “Spiritual” or produce the “fruit of the Spirit”. There is so much written on the subject that it has become mind numbing to me…and useless mumbo jumbo for the most part. After thousands of pages of writ, their conclusions are essentially the same - If we trust God and get saved, we will change into a “Spiritual person” who is like God, with the fruit of the Spirit flowing out of us.
Which of course is not true and simply brings us full circle to Arthur P. Adams question “Why do people not trust God?”
My answer is pretty simple…I do not trust God sometimes because I am a HUMAN BEING. I am born of the flesh, I live in the flesh and I will die in the flesh. Therefore I cannot become fully acquainted with God, or even be absolutely sure there is a God, until I am "raised a Spiritual body" and have "put on immortality"...which the Bible has promised and where I find hope...
"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual...Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must PUT ON IMMORTALITY. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:42-57)
"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Only then can I be fully acquainted with Him...and trust Him completely.