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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The Vast Darkness of Emptiness

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Romans 1:21)

God originally created man in His own image so that man could know companionship with God in a unique sense and to a degree which is impossible for any other creature to experience.

Because of his sin, man lost this knowledge, this daily partnership with God. In the first chapter of Romans, Paul gives us a vivid picture of men and women whom God gave over to a reprobate mind because they did not wish to retain God in their knowledge, their foolish hearts being darkened.

This is the Bible portrait of man. He has that great potential of knowing God as no other creature can, but he is lost; and without God in his knowledge, his conduct is unworthy of his high origin and his being despairs in its encompassing emptiness.

There is no question about man's sin - therefore, there is no question about his being lost. A man is lost if he is not converted - overwhelmed in the vast darkness of emptiness. He was created to know God, but he chose the gutter.

What a tragic picture of mankind today, Lord. My heart cries out for those around me to be freed from their bondage to sin and to come to know You, the one who is life eternal. Amen

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God Calling

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" (Luke 15:4)

Although the human mind stubbornly resists and resents the suggestion that it is a sick, fallen planet upon which we ride, everything within our consciousness, our innermost spirit, confirms that the voice of God is sounding in this world - the voice of God calling, seeking, beckoning to lost men and women!

Sacred revelation declares plainly that the inhabitants of the earth are lost. They are lost by a mighty calamitous visitation of woe which came upon them somewhere in that distant past and is still upon them.

But it also reveals a glorious fact - that this lost race has not been given up!

There is a divine voice that continues to call. It is the voice of the Creator, God, and it is entreating them. Just as the shepherd went everywhere searching for his sheep, just as the woman in the parable went everywhere searching for her coin, so there is a divine search with many variations of the voice that entreats us, calling us back.

Lord, we would all be lost but for Your seeking and calling, in Your inestimable grace. I worship You today for that gracious calling. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~

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