365 Reflections

There are those who investigate God simply to find new ways to deny Him. This is the case of Pharaoh's hardened heart in Exodus 9. We are 5 plagues in to the Exodus and Pharaoh's own advisors have spoken against his willful arrogance. He has seen the evidence now for two of the five plagues that God is distinguishing between Egypt and Israel. The plague on the cattle is the second plague in a row in which all of Egypt suffers while Israel lives peacefully. The signs cannot get much clearer for this rebellious man. Pharaoh does something interesting concerning the fifth plague too. It reads: Exodus 9:7 (NLT) Pharaoh sent his officials to investigate, and they discovered that the Israelites had not lost a single animal! But even so, Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, and he still refused to let the people go. What did Pharaoh do after the plague? He went to investigate if indeed it happened just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. It had. And all Pharaoh did from this m...

Psalm 53 is a powerful proof for the existence of God. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. (Psalm 53:1-3 ESV) Notice how he opens by saying the fool says there is no God and then immediately looks upon the evil and wickedness of mankind. Why? What does the evil of mankind have to do with the existence of God? Here's why. He looks upon the evil and acknowledges that is not right. In a stunning reversal of argument, he actually uses the evil of mankind to prove there is a God. Stunning because most people blame God for the evil selfish decisions of mankind against ourselves. Inwardly we are certain life is not as it should be and for this Psalmist at least, that sense within take...

The 14th Psalm opens with very familiar words, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" It then describes the ungodly: They are corrupt, do evil. They don't seek or understand God. They turn away from Him, they do no good. They hurt the people of God. Not all atheists do all those things. But they at least do one of them. How do you answer an atheist? Sometimes we want to argue our point. That makes us feel smarter. Sometimes we want to pray for a miracle to happen. But they will dismiss that as easily as the miracle of a new born baby. Sometimes we want to prove we are more patient and better behaved. But that never works, we are saved by grace. The Psalmist provides a great answer to the atheist in this Psalm: Here it is: Live with God. Don't answer Atheism with believism. Answer it with living in the presence of God, without fear, without worry, without falling apart or getting overly worked up about the state of the world. Notice Ver...