Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Mark 4:35–41
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.… And they feared exceedingly (Mark 4:39–41a).
As we have seen in this short series of studies on atheism, those who reject the existence of God do so against all reason. There is some bias in their minds, some factor that prompts their rejection of the overwhelming evidence of God’s presence. What is it?
Nineteenth century atheists concluded that human beings invented religion and God as a way to deal with their fears. But Scripture calls this assertion into question by showing that God is the most fearsome thing in the universe. We see this powerfully demonstrated in Jesus’ calming of a storm on the Sea of Galilee. As the wind and waves rose, the disciples (seasoned fishermen though they were) grew fearful of losing their lives. At last they woke Jesus to ask His aid. When He spoke to the elements, saying, “ ‘Peace, be still!’ ” all was suddenly calm—except the disciples’ racing hearts. Their fears were not relieved; now “they feared exceedingly,” in other words, more than during the storm. Why? They realized they were in the presence of one with power and authority over nature. Atheists say God is a figment of men’s imaginations to relieve their fear of nature. But God in reality is more fearsome than nature, for He rules it.
Why are people afraid of God? Scripture says sin is the reason. God’s holiness exposes man’s faults. When Peter saw Jesus cause a great catch of fish, he realized he was in the presence of divinity and cried out, “ ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ ” (Luke 5:8). Peter’s sinfulness made him feel unworthy to be in Jesus’ presence. Sin causes all people to feel shame in God’s presence, just as Adam and Eve did (Gen. 3:7–8). Because man knows he cannot hide from God’s omniscient gaze, he has no alternative but to suppress the knowledge of God. But as we have seen, a truth suppressed is not destroyed. Though people may attempt to suppress their fears, they usually re-emerge from the subconscious in a less-threatening form. So it is with all who suppress the truth of God; the end of such denial is the exaltation of the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). In other words, they reject the reality of God and form idolatrous conceptions of Him—all in an effort to deal with their fear. Therefore, in Paul’s psychology of atheism, it is unbelievers who are looking for a crutch to deal with their fears—and the end result is false religion.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
At Tabletalk, we like to stress that all of life is lived coram Deo—before the face of God. All that we do, all that we think, all that we are is clear to Him. Understanding this, the believer will invite even closer scrutiny—“Search me, O God” (Ps. 139:23)—in order to be rid of the shame of his sin. Do you welcome your Father’s gaze?
For Further Study
- Job 31:6
- Psalm 26:2
- Daniel 2:22
- Hebrews 4:13
- 1 John 3:20