[AI translation] What I want to talk about now is what it means to believe that God exists. I want to talk about this not because I doubt whether you believe in the existence of God, but because, on the one hand, I know from my own experience and from talking to people that there are questions about the existence of God that are good to clarify, that there are phenomena in life that shake our faith, that steal a certain doubt into our hearts, which, if we were to put it in words, might sound like this: Does God exist? Does God really exist? - Well, I know very well that God does not need human defence, that He does not convince the believer of His existence, but that is why, in order to dare to believe in Him, we must try, despite all appearances, to remove the unnecessary obstacles that our reason puts in the way of our faith!There is, for example, the Bible's most fundamental statement about God, viz. He is Lord of the universe, and all events, happenings, death and life are subject to His sovereign will and plan. Yes, so we have been taught at some time, so we read in our Bible, so we hear in every sermon - but then our human logic starts to reason: is God really in control of the world? It seems so little!.... Apparently there are other powers that influence events, that control history. Yes, other other powers, such as sheer chance - things of enormous significance happen apparently by chance - or simply natural forces: a terrible windstorm, coupled with a particularly powerful tide, submerged a fifth of the Netherlands under sea water ten years ago; or man himself: such is the world conflagration, such is the historical tragedy that a single mad general can create; or some evil power, or money itself - as the saying goes: Geldiert die Welt! [Money rules the world.] Well then: does God rule - or money? God or politicians? God or the forces of nature? God or chance? One is not visible - the other is visible! So which is the master?
One could say, among other things, that it is not at all illogical or incomprehensible to assume that a reality can be multidimensional in that different factors are at work in it at the same time. Let me illustrate this rather difficult proposition with a biblical example. What brought on his misery? You could say that natural forces destroyed the house in which his children and animals were burning, and disease-causing bacteria invaded his body. But it could also be said that certain people were the cause of his misery, because the Sabbians and Chaldeans attacked his servants and they were the ones who executed them. And at the same time, it could be said that the evil power had a hand in all these things, as the Bible indicates, that it wanted to destroy Job at all costs, that it incited the Sabbians against him, but that it also sent the disease on Job. That is still not all, because at the same time it can be said that God held the reins in all these events, and the storm, the enemy, the evil power - all the other factors - could only go as far as he allowed. How all this can be interconnected, how all these things are interwoven: this is something that our logic can never quite make clear. And the mystery of faith is precisely that what the windstorm caused, or what the hostile neighbours' rioting did, or what the evil powers planned to corrupt Job: all this Job accepted from the hand of God!
But there is a greater example of this in the Bible: the example of Jesus. Even at the cross of Jesus, nature seems to have triumphed: physical exhaustion caused Jesus' death. But it is also true to say that man triumphs: the cowardly Pilate pronounces the death sentence on the violence of the chief priests. And at the same time, there is no doubt that the Evil One himself is triumphant: he desperately wants Jesus to die and kindles the evil fire in men. And yet, it is clear from all this that in all this God triumphs, God reigns, because it is precisely through the cross that his saving will is accomplished, it is precisely through the cross of Jesus that the fact of redemption is accomplished, it is precisely in the cross that God's hidden omnipotence is revealed. Yes, it is here, in the cross of Jesus, that one can truly learn to believe in the sovereign power of God.
So, whatever fatal accident, or force of nature, or historical twist of fate may be the cause of the trouble that has befallen you, accept it with courage and faith from the hand of God, and what one accepts from the hand of God, one will always find that there is something blessed for him in it! In this sense, too, the verse read is true: "...for whoever would come before God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
We said in the case of Job that the storm, the enemy, the evil power - in other words, all the factors that so often determine our destiny - can only go so far before God allows it. And here is the next nagging question: why does he allow it? In the face of so much suffering and injustice, the soul cries out: is there a God? For if there were, he could not allow this and what has happened. If there is a God, why does he subject this world, one person at a time, to so much horror, to such an immense sea of blood and tears? Yes, that is the question: how does God allow it? - But many people's lives have been blocked by faith in the existence of God!
Well, then, here too we must make something clear. In the Bible, God did not reveal himself as the guarantor of the moral order of the world, as the one who always rewards the good and punishes the evil. In fact, the gospel is precisely a gospel of unmerited favour, which radically intersects with the theory of merit and reward. The biblical revelation, on the contrary, recognises with great realism that there is a great deal of misery and injustice on earth, and that at the heart of the Bible is the greatest suffering and injustice of all: the cross. That the only truly good person, the only one who truly did not deserve it, should be declared a villain by the most flagrant injustice, condemned as such to an agonizing death and executed with the most terrible cruelty! How could God allow this? He did! And it was in this greatest injustice that he revealed to us his justice which surpasses all understanding, and in this greatest evil his greatest goodness. This saddest event became the source of the most joyful fact: the reality of redemption, of forgiveness of sins, of divine love that saves. God responds to the suffering of life on earth not as a magician who raises a magic wand and makes everything right again, but by entering into this abyss himself, by filling it with his presence, by restoring our relationship with himself through this very suffering, and thus by removing our greatest misery. This is the wonderful thing, that sometimes one can thank God with the most sincere gratitude for what one has just rebelled against, "Why did God allow this?" - because that is what has brought his whole life closest to God.
And now, even further: if, in the face of all the evil in the world, the question of "why does God allow it?" still lingers in one's mind. - let me answer with a counter-question: Why do you not allow God's goodness, justice and love to overcome evil in the world through you? Where should God begin to establish his rule if not through you and by you? All the evil in the world is not the bankruptcy of our faith in God, but the bankruptcy of our failure to call on God! - you ask, if this and that can happen in the world; well, where is God with you, are you ready to open yourself to him, to be a stronghold of his rule on earth?
How can God allow it? - This question cannot be settled by such a patent solution as, well, for this or that; but there is only one true answer to this question: repentance. All accusation against God ceases the moment I begin to accuse myself, the moment I begin to see that it is I myself who am hindering God from building a stronghold, a bridgehead, of his just and loving rule in this world. That's why I said what we used to say: Where is God? How can God allow this? - is precisely not the bankruptcy of our faith, but the bankruptcy of our unbelief.
So this is the crux of the matter: do we dare to believe in the existence of God?! Believing, according to the Bible, means the certainty of things which man cannot see. But these things can sometimes be more important than the things one sees. A good example of this is marriage. When a young man and a girl want to get married, there is a difference between what they see in each other and what they see in each other. What they see in each other: the way they look, is what makes them fall in love, and what they see in each other - and they don't see it with their physical eyes - is what they will have when the first one is gone. It also happens that one does not see anything attractive in the other person, because he does not have a shape or appearance that is attractive - and yet he sees something in him that makes him trust him, believe in him, dare to trust him, dare to give himself to him.
It is something like that between man and God. Yes, something of God is visible, of the invisible God... God has seen himself to a certain extent with man, in the form of Jesus. For Jesus said, "He who sees me has seen the Father." What we see in him may not be as impressive, not as divine, not as pleasing as man imagines God to be; certainly not as pleasing and not as divine as his suffering and death. But what is decisive is not what we see in him, but what we see in him? Do we see in the son of the carpenter of Nazareth the Son of God? Do we see the love of God in the person of Jesus, do we see the heart of God in his death? This is faith! To see in Jesus - not in Jesus, but in Jesus - God, so that I dare to entrust myself to him even invisibly, to give my life to him. Just as a girl with a pure life only gives herself and shows what she is really worth when someone believes in her, so God only shows who he is when someone believes in him. It is by believing in Him that we give God the opportunity to prove that He exists, and that He exists in a very special and powerful way! So our verse says: "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him".
Whoever dares to accept the love of God shown in Jesus to irradiate his life, and whoever tries to reciprocate this divine love with his own weak, small love, only he will know who God is. He who dares to walk with God, to live with God, to sacrifice for someone in God's name, to forgive his enemies in God's name, who dares to live in His fear and in His consolation, who dares to confront a sin with God's power: he, but only he, experiences the living reality of God. It is only in personal communion with Him that one can have unswerving faith in the existence of God. But then "he will reward those who seek him", our verse concludes. He rewards us with Himself, with the whole life of the believer being filled with the wonders of God's paternal love!
Let me end by saying what I have said many times before, but I will say it again: never have I heard a believer say that he would like to be an unbeliever! - But I have heard many times from unbelievers that I too would like to be a believer, to believe in God! - Well, that is indeed the highest good, indeed that is the only solid foundation on which to live: to believe in the existence of God!
Amen.
"I entrust myself to God,
I cannot trust in myself;
He formed me, and knows my work,
My soul I encourage with this.
The beautiful form of this world
Is the work of his hand.
What am I afraid of? - I say boldly:
My God and my Father shall be."
(Canto 269, verse 1)
Date: 17 January 1965.