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  (BUT GOD) 6. THE SECRET OF THE VISION
  by A.B. Simpson
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"Oh that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His
seat! . . . Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but
I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He does work, but I
cannot behold Him: He hides Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see
Him." (Job 23: 3, 8, 9.) This is the cry of the soul that longs for God
and feels after Him if haply it may find Him. This is the deepest cry of
every true spirit, the deepest need of every human life, and the
greatest prayer that God can answer for a soul. For "this is life
eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom You have sent."

How shall we find God? How shall He become to our consciousness more
real and satisfying than any other personality and other need?

First, we can find God in nature. "The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and
night unto night shows knowledge. . . . Their line is gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

Nature alone is not able to reveal God in His gracious character as the
sinful soul needs to know Him, but after we know Him from His Word, then
nature is full of the most blessed illustrations of His character and
the most vivid unfoldings of His love and power; and the whole creation
becomes to the consecrated soul a great temple with the blue heavens for
its dome, the glowing stars for its lamps of fire, the vernal earth for
its emerald pavement, and the voices of the ocean, the thunder, the hum
and song of the whole animated creation for its ceaseless anthem of
worship and praise. There is a sense in which everything we see in this
beautiful world is but a letter in the great alphabet of truth, telling
of Him who

"Shines in the sun, Refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, And
blossoms in the trees.   Lives through all life, Extends through all
extent, Spreads undivided, Operates unspent." I am sorry for the man
that cannot see God in every turn of the beautiful kaleidoscope of
nature and hear His voice in every note of the great organ of this
voiceful world.

Second, we find God in His Word. Nature alone spells out but half the
sentence and writes upon the heavens and earth, "God is," but leaves an
awful blank and note of interrogation. The Bible alone can finish the
sentence and write the complete revelation, "God is Love." The
nineteenth Psalm, from which we have quoted, quickly passes from the
natural to the supernatural and to the testimony of the Word respecting
the attributes and glory of God. While the heavens declare His glory and
the earth His handiwork yet it is "the law of the Lord" that "is
perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making
wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The
fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether."

This Book is the mirror of God. On every page we behold His glorious
face. In Genesis we see Him before there was anything else to see, the
supreme and solitary Being who was before all things. And then we see
the teeming universe spring from His mighty creating hand, sustained by
His almighty providence. The fall of man wrecks His beneficent plan, but
God is still there equal to the occasion with His wonderful resources of
redemption. The story unfolds and each page shines with the presence of
God. The brightest character of the ante-deluvian world, holy Enoch, is
distinguished by the fact that he walked with God, and it is more than
Enoch we see. Abraham is but a little child stepping out into the
unknown, holding the hand of God. Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David,
all represent the peculiar presence and personality of the infinite and
ever-present God. The whole story of the Old Testament is a constant
revelation of God amid all the changing scenes and overruling all the
elements and forces of evil as well as good. The New Testament brings to
us the vision of God in the face of Jesus Christ and leaves us with the
Holy Ghost as the perpetual Presence of God in the inmost heart and life
of every believer.

But the God of the Bible is more than this. To believing souls He is not
only God but our God. This Book is more than a mirror. It is a love
letter with your name inscribed upon it, a bankbook by which you draw
from your great deposit all that it promises. The only way to make the
Bible interesting is to learn to read it with your own name in it and to
see in every promise a direct message for you. Would you meet God every
day? Go to this precious Book for a personal word morning by morning and
evening by evening and you will learn to prize it, to mark it as the
memorial of life\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/ab-simpson/but-god-6-the-secret-of-the-vision/
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