Is there any way that you can really know that God exists? Is believing there is a God like a wish? A wish is something we would like to happen, but there is little chance that it will. Is faith more like a dream that has nothing to do with reality?
Or is faith more than an idle dream but there is some level of expectation that the dream likely will become a reality? We live our lives serving God, and we make choices every day hoping that He does exist. Sometimes when we talk about God and heaven we say, “Well, I really hope that there is a God.” Those words can imply that the odds are that He exists, but there is a chance that He does not.
Or is there another level so that we can really know that God exists. Can mature faith and hope become a reality? Can I actually know that God does exist? Look at how God uses the word “know” when He came into Egypt to deliver the Jews from bondage.
At the burning bush God gave Moses what most would consider to be an insurmountable task. God answered all of Moses’ questions like “Who am I…What is Your name…Suppose they will not believe me?” God answered that third question in three ways. Moses was to cast his rod on the ground before the people, and it would become a serpent. If they did not believe him, he was to put his hand in his garment, and it would come out covered with leprosy. If they would not believe these first two signs, then he was to take water from the river, pour it on the dry ground and it would immediately be turned into blood. Wishes and dreams can become hope. Hope can become so strong that hope becomes knowledge.
See this shown in the events after Moses left Egypt. Moses told the Jews God was about to bring them out of bondage and when that happened, “Then you shall know I am the Lord” (Exo. 6:7). The Egyptians would know (Ex. 7:5). Pharoah would know this when all the water turned into blood (Ex. 7:17). Moses told Pharaoh that the removal of the frogs at the time Pharaoh selected was so that he might “… know there is like Jehovah God” (Ex. 8:10). Space does not permit looking how often this was said in Egypt (Ex. 8:22; 9:14; 9:29; 10:2; 10:7; 14:4; and many, many others)!
If you believe this happened in Egypt because you trust the Bible, how much greater can your faith be because of what we read about Jesus and His life. Here’s the application of this to our lives. Do you wish that Jesus really lived and did what He did? Or do you fondly hope that the odds are that these signs show He is Immanuel? It is far more than this. You can know that God is and that Jesus came. It is not a dream!
-Dan Jenkins
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