EXODUS 17
No, I don’t mean that God is a flasher. I mean that He’s into exhibits... as in Exhibit A, Exhibit B, etc. In other words, He uses evidence — a lot of evidence — to persuade us that He exists.
I guess ten plagues, a parted sea, bread rained down from heaven, and a miracle to sweeten drinking water were not yet enough for the Israelites to understand that they were in the presence of a personal God who cared about them and wanted to provide for them. Here they are, in this chapter, once again crying to Moses that they would die in the wilderness.
Photo © Unsplash/Dmitry Ratushny
And once again, God comes through with yet another evidence of His presence with them. This time, He has Moses strike a rock, and water comes out of it for the people to drink. Later, when the Israelites are attacked by a neighboring nation, God fights for Israel. But He does it in such a way that they know of His presence. While Moses’s hands are lifted to heaven, the Israelites win the battle. When his hands get tired and drop, the Israelites start to fall behind in the battle. Their winning or losing isn’t dependent upon their battle strategy or their strength. It’s just dependent upon one thing — God.
The point is that God doesn’t leave us to wonder about His existence. Paul echoes this in Romans 1:18-20 with these words: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
Photo © Unsplash/Benjamin Davies
God has made sure that there is no reason for us to say, "There is no God." Now, we are free to say that if we want, but according to Paul, we know it’s not true. And looking at God’s dealings with Israel, we can definitely say that God is not shy! He is bold, forthright, and forthcoming. We won’t ever have to wonder about whether He’s there or not. He always makes His presence known, because He wants to be known!