God’s Relationship with Man

Question 1: Why do we praise God?

ANSWER: To praise God is to express heartily our admiration and thankfulness in prayer and song for what He is; what He has done; what He is doing; and what He has promised to do! We do it, because He is most deserving of it! Also many passages teach that it is the right thing to do. See Psalm 148; Luke 19:37; Romans 15:10-11; Hebrews 2:12.

Question 2: Does God know when a baby is in the womb?

ANSWER: Yes! David wrote in Psalms 139:13-15, "For thou hast possessed my reins (created my inward parts): thou hast covered (protected) me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth greatly. My substance (body) was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously fashioned in the lowest parts of the earth (in a place away from man's observation). God told Jeremiah (1:5), "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

If God knew David and Jeremiah in the womb, it is certain that He knows all who are in the womb today!

Question 3: When God comes to stay in your heart what will you feel?

ANSWER: The heart that is talked about in the Bible refers to our mind or our understanding. When we receive God's Word, the Bible, into our minds (our Bible hearts) and we come to believe and obey it, then God dwells in our hearts (minds). He does not actually live in the flesh and bones of our bodies. He is said to dwell in us, only because we let His words (the Bible) dwell in us (Colossians 3:16). When one obeys the Bible he or she feels (and is) free (John 8:32) and happy (Acts 8:39), because in obedience all past sins are taken away and one becomes a true child of God. These feelings come only because our mind knows that we have been pleasing to God!   

Question 4: Why doesn't God provide food for His people today?

ANSWER: God will do His part, if we do our part! Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 4:11 to "study to be quiet, and do your own business, and to work with your own hands." In II Thessalonians 3:10, "For even when we were with you we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." When man fell in the beginning, God ordained from that time forward that "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). If we do our part according to God's will, while seeking first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, the necessities of life will be added to us (Matthew 6:25-33). See also Psalms 37:25.

Question 5: If we all trusted God, would racism end?

ANSWER: If all would learn and practice Godliness (Godlikeness) racism would end, because the God we are to imitate is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34; Galatians 3:28). If any would be like God, he or she must reject racism in all its forms!

Question 6: Can those who sincerely want to know God find Him?

ANSWER: In Revelation 22:17, we read that whosoever will may come! In Hebrews 11:6, it is stated that, "he who cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Without this faith, however, the writer says, "it is impossible to please Him." The faith that pleases God comes through hearing His Word (Romans 10:17). Therefore, if people sincerely want to know God and prayerfully search for Him, they can find Him, but only in His Word (Matthew 7:24-27; John 12:48). He cannot be found in the religions, books, doctrines, and commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).

Question 7: Can God, being all knowing, be disappointed in man and what he does?

ANSWER: I believe so, for this reason. We know that God is also all-powerful. Therefore, God does not necessarily know all things all of the time, but rather only those things that He desires to know when He wants to know them. He may desire “not” to know, at this time, what we, as free moral agents, will do in the future. Did God opt to know, for example, that man, prior to the flood, was going to become so wicked He would have to destroy the earth by water? It does not so appear, because in Genesis 6:6 it says, “and it repented (regretted) the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it ‘grieved’ Him at His heart.” It appears to say here that the past actions of those who lived before the flood ‘grieved’ God. Surely in this we see, at least, an element of disappointment in God over the actions of His creation. Note also that God, the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) can be grieved by the improper actions of Christians. In this sense we see an element of disappointment also.

Question 8: Have People always believed in God?

People have from the beginning recognized the Creator of the marvels of the Earth and the heavens as God (Romans 1:21), even though some came to develop varying ideas about the nature and character of this Creator/God. To them, very often He was not "a" god (as of many), but to them (from their perspective) He was the Creator and, therefore, God! People have always believed in God and what He has done, but have seen Him and His purposes in a light incompatible with His true nature and character as revealed in Scripture. 

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