"Without excuse"

    Living in a context where over 90% of people follow another belief system has really caused me to deeply consider God's Sovereignty and man's choice.  I have lived life with these dear people for nearly 2 years now.  It has really weighed on my mind.  How can there be so many people that are living life, day in and day, out apart from the Good News of JC?  How has this happened?  Why has God allowed it to happen?  It's a terrible reality.  People live and die apart from JC.  Who is to blame?

    Before I came here, it was easy to just mentally accept to the idea that God is Sovereign and people have a choice to believe in JC or not.  I naively thought that that all we have to do it share the Good News and people will very quickly want to know God and believe.  After giving more focused effort in reaching people here, spending two summers here, returning for 2 years, studying the language, and taking the steps to build relationships, that question came back.  Why don't they want to know God?  Why isn't God doing more to reach them?  Does God really care?

    Tonight I again voiced these questions and talked to a friend.  She shared some but listed too.  I really felt I just needed to verbalize these nagging thoughts.  My question was, "Does God personally reveal Himself to EVERYBODY on the planet or not?"  This question really carries a lot of weight for me because it affects how I view God and His heart.  I have a lot of head knowledge!  I have studied 30 hrs of Bible in college and read through it numerous times on my own.  Yet this question still plagued my mind.  I was tired of wrestling with the question because in times past I never could seem to come to a conclusion. 

    But tonight I thinking this truth is starting to hit more of a heart level.  Here's some verses that are helping me to answer this question:

"From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us"  (Acts 17:26-27, emphasis added).  

"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"  (Rom 1:18-20, emphasis added).  

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men"  (1 Tim 2:3-6a, emphasis added). 

There are more verses like John 3:16, Rom 2:14-16 that go along with this.

On the flip side you have verses on God's Sovereignty like:

"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will"  (Eph 1:4-5, emphasis added)

This verse suggests that God chose those who will be saved.  But we know from other verses that people are saved through faith and "whoever believes" will be saved (Eph 2:8, John 3:16).  The questions, "Did God choose us?" or "Did we have a choice through faith?" have been debated for centuries.  There are many views on this.

However I believe that both hold true.  It is just two ways of looking at what God has done.

"To God's elect. . .who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood" (1 Pet 1b & 2a, emphasis added).

They were chosen by God who knew, ahead of time, who would choose to believe.  God is so omniscient that even before the creation of the world He already had a plan in place to provide a way that anyone who believes in Him would be saved.  But He know some would choose to deny Him.  He chose and predestined that those who believe would be adopted as His sons.

So to go back to my original question. . ."Does God personally reveal Himself to EVERYBODY on the planet or not?" I believe that Yes He does.  He has given so many various facets of revelation.

    One thing that my friend mentioned tonight is how even the fact that we have a conscience is a testimony of God.  It tells us right and wrong.  Yes some people's consciences have been skewed but every person has a conscience.  And if their heart is open to listen to it, it will aid a person is realizing God exists and that they will be accountable for their actions. 

"(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a low for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)  This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares"  (Rom 2:14-16, emphasis added).  

    Another way He reveals Himself is through creation, as already stated above (see again Rom 1:18-20).
 
    God also uses other people in this process to share the Good News (2 Cor 5:20, Rom 10:14-15).

   For over a year I've wrestled internally with the feeling that God has not done enough to help people know Him here.  (I knew theologically this could not be right, but, I still struggled with it).  When I meet people every day who are on the road to destruction, it was overwhelming to realize the huge need for them to hear the good news.  But in reality God is pursuing them (1 Tim 2:3-6, Acts 17:26-27, Rom 1:18-20, John 3:16).  He has made a way (John 14:6).  He did it in spite of our sinfulness and depravity (Rom 5:6-8).   Our sinfulness does not over-rule or overpower His grace.  He is holding it out to whoever will listen and turn to Him (Is 551-6, Rom 10:13).

    In my journey in serving on a foreign field, I have felt the weight of an almost unbearable burden of feeling that we need to share the Good News because people are dying without JC.  It is true that we need to share.  In the process of sharing and being a living testimony of the Truth let us not forget that God has indeed provided a way and He is also pursing the people that we desire to reach.  We are co-laborers with Him in His mission to reach people.  If it were all dependent upon us, we would fail every time.  However, when we go and serve we are joining Him in what He's doing.  That's truly amazing when you think about it.  It's humbling and at times exciting.  How would you like to start your job tomorrow and realize that the co-worker you are partnered with is the Good Shepherd himself who is eagerly seeking to save the lost (Luke 19:10)?