God’s Ability and God’s Action
“And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt. 6:4)
Two great truths underlie all Christian teaching – God’s ability and God’s action. These are the two threads which bind together the tapestry of biblical truth held before our eyes. Has it not always been so? “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” – God is both mighty in power and mighty in compassion (Ex. 20:2). “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” – God is both wise in His creation and kind in His care. But what of our passage? God both sees and rewards.
God sees. Seven letters, two words, one challenge. Someone once confessed to me that when they were struggling under an immense burden, they said, “God was too busy with kids at St. Jude’s to see me.” Have you felt that way? Hagar did. She was the Egyptian, the slave, the “other” woman, and the problem. Why would God see her? Yet after God’s gracious provision, she called him “the God of seeing.” (Gen. 16:13) God saw her. When we consider how great and awesome God is, everything is small by comparison; however, God displays His greatness in His care for the smallest concerns. God sees both the cup of affliction received and the cup of water given (Is. 30:22; Mt. 10:42). Nothing escapes the God who sees.
God also rewards. The rewards which man offers are as fleeting as a summer shower in the Mississippi heat. We give our blood, sweat, and tears for the merit badge of public approval – a steep price to pay for something fleeting. How different is this from the liberal and gracious God who rewards? St. Augustine says: ”Of yourself, you are nothing. Sins are your own, but merits are God’s. You deserve punishment, and when the reward comes He will crown His own gifts, not your merits.” What is prayer and what is giving to the great God of heaven? To what do these earn from the Lord of all? Don’t we are fathers and mothers reward our children with great gifts that are vastly bigger than their meager efforts? Every single day. The rewards given in this life come not from the intensity of our efforts but from the bounty of His heart. Why? Because He is the God who rewards.
