The Universe and Your Heart

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

I spent a long time this morning reading Genesis; deep into the sixteenth chapter I believe. I read of God’s creation, of man’s fall into sin, and of those who failed afterwards. I trudged through lists of genealogies (well somewhat anyway….) and I came to the passages of Enoch and Abram, and their relationships with God. There is very little about Enoch in the Bible, but his heart and faith are like none other, for he was (IS) one of only two people who never died, but went straight into the presence of God. The writer of Hebrews simply states, “he pleased God.” The writer then pens what is a requirement of pleasing God, to have faith, true faith in God. True faith produces a true heart for God; a true heart produces a soul that seeks God with all their heart, mind, body, and soul; that faith produces obedience, and that faith saves. Does true faith check salvation off a list? Does true faith rely on one’s good works, or lack of sins, or self-righteousness on any level? True faith does not……

If you spend enough time in your Bible, you will begin to see and understand the failures of many of the greats in the Bible. All their highs and lows are accounted for; these accounts show us so much of God’s continual gifts of mercy and grace; his level of love for his creation is unimaginable. Even Abram, praised in this context of Hebrews chapter 11, in Genesis fails repeatedly while being in the center of God’s will for his life. He lies about his wife, to protect his own life. Genesis 12:11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” He was really “lucky” Pharaoh didn’t kill him after finding out, but Pharaoh feared God too much to take Abram’s life; Pharaoh had felt the plagues of God on his country because of Abram’s sin.

We all fail so much; so many times over and over again. Even Paul, the writer of most of the New Testament, struggled with his sins openly; again the Bible points us to the failures of those we might tent to elevate or worship so that we see they are human also. Satan takes our sins and turns the screws of failure down upon us. Only a humble repentant hearts pleas for forgiveness lessen the pain of Satan’s tools. If you will just draw near to God daily, in prayer and his Word, he will reward you justly. The reward is likely not measured by worldly means, but heavenly, eternal rewards that moths and rust cannot destroy. Live your life in this faith, that God was, and is, and shall forever be the God of this universe, and your heart, and you will walk with him one day in paradise forever.