“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18)
I am not attempting to dishonor the Lord in this short letter, nor am I going to excuse anyone, the Almighty is just that, all mighty, He is Sovereign over all of His creation, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11) stands as truth.
But I am going to offer you some insights into the nature of mankind, some traits that are dogmatic, man does not fear God, and, again without being disrespectful to our Savior and Creator, why should he?
If you were born into and remain in for the entirety of your life in perhaps not a very wealthy family, but one which knows little financial hardship, why would you fear God, things have always gone well, you have never known any real trials or tribulations, for the most part you lived a healthy, happy and content existence for several decades, why seek the face of the Most High?
If you were raised in poverty, if at every corner of your life hardship waited for you, even when you tried you failed, and your life was spent in abject poverty, what good did God ever do for you?
This letter could expound on millions of different examples in the lives of men, and in each case of those billions of lives over thousands of years the same truth could be applied, men have no fear of God before their eyes because there is no proof of God in their lives.
Now, if you have been born-again you may be thinking of Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” or how the Lord has given many over time to a reprobate mind, but consider this, these people do not know those verses, many have never seen a Bible, much less read one.
Granted, there is that so-called spark, as I have named it in the past, the fact that all men were created in the image of God and therefore have within themselves the knowledge that He exists, although buried so deep within them for many to recognize it as such, save in the direst circumstances. But if the Lord is not parting the Red Sea, if He is not walking amongst us healing the lame and giving sight to the blind, if there is not some phenomena occurring that can only be attributed to the Creator and Sustainer of all reality, then there is no fear of God before their eyes.
They do not seek God on their own, in fact none of us did.
“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:11)
Those who have the things of this life that satisfy them and those who live in pain and poverty will not seek the face of God unless He calls unto them, this is a truth. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) This was true in the time of Christ, in the days of the Old Testament, and it is true today, it has always been the truth, and it is one of the most difficult truths for mankind to believe, no one seeks God until He calls to them.
We do not give Him a single thought until that moment.
Many who serve the Lord in fear and trembling cannot accept this fact, these truths, they want to believe that they were searching for Him before He called them, but there is not one shred of evidence in the Scriptures for those words, everything points to the Lord calling to us, not us first searching for Him.
If you would contend that men call out to Him in times of adversity, I would suggest to you, who sent the adversity? How better proven is the fact that when mankind fears, they reach out to God, and when there is no reason to fear, they do not?
In the great Tribulation many will come to Christ because of fear, in times of plenty mankind does not seek the Lord.
God is Sovereign, He calls whom He will, the fear of the Lord is reverential trust and a hatred of evil, if you do not fear Him, you will not seek for Him, but once He reveals Himself to you, no other path in life will be sought but the one that leads to Him.
