Psalm 8
For the director of music. According to gittith.
A psalm of David.
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I took time to do what verse three talks about, considering God's handiwork and His greatness. I mentally agree that God is great and all-powerful, but rarely to I really take time to meditate on that and ponder it. In Matthew 10:30, the Bible says that the hairs on our head are numbered. That's the hairs on everyone's head - present, past and future. Wow. If God keeps track of that, what else does He know and keep track of? I'm sure some people will point out that He knows everything of course. That is very true, but I've found considering examples of that helped bring that truth home.
Consider for instance, the electrons that move through the electrical circuits of the world. Does God know each one of those? I believe this to be true. He knows where each electron starts, where it goes, and where it ends up. He could tell us how many electrons are in use for electricity at this moment just as easily as He could tell us how many electrons are in all of creation. Wow!
Consider the blood cells that flow through our veins. God knows each one, from the point it is made to the point it dies and deteriorates. He knows where each one is within each of our bodies. Or consider the waves of the oceans. God knows each and everyone of them - where they start and where they are going.
Each rock, blade of grass, spider, ant, snow flake, tree, leaf, drop of sap, oxygen atom, rain drop, and particle of smoke. God knows each of these and innumerably more things than can be listed. Wow! How does God keep track of it all? Well, He's God. Isaiah 55:8 say '"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. ' That is so true. He is beyond my comprehension, except what He chooses to reveal to me.
Psalm 147:4 says "He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name." He even has names for the stars. Does He have names for other things? I think it's a good possibility.
Psalm 139 has many truths in it. God knows everything we do, everything we say and everything we think - even before they happen! God is every where; there is no where that God is not. Each one of us was created by God, knit and woven by Him. God has a detailed plan for each one of us, for every moment of our lives. Wow.
Is God surprised by the things that we, people, make, invent, discovery or create? I think not. When He considers the computer chip, does He think "Wow, I had no idea that something like that could be derived from sand."? Again, I think not. When God created everything, He wove into creation's fabric all these wonderful properties and abilities. I think He designed creation in such a way that we could make, invent, discovery and create. It's a gift to us. It allows us to use the intelligence He has given us. As a dad, I love to watch my kids learn and discover things. I think God is the same way, assuming what we are doing is in line with His will. I was not very happy about Will learning how to open the vitamin bottle. They are only vitamins, but that means that he may be able to open other bottles that are supposed to be child proof, which may contain something that can harm him.
God is truly an awesome God. Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
These thoughts lead me to re-read the creation narrative.
Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning - the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning - the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning - the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens - 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground - 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
As I read over it, God showed me some things I had never noticed before and reminded me of somethings I had forgotten.
- In chapter one, verses one and two, God creates the "canvas" on which the rest of His creation will be applied. The earth was formless and empty. The sun, moon and stars are not created until the fourth day. Light had not been created yet. However, this was no ordinary canvas. I believe that when God created the heavens and the earth, He did so with all the laws and properties we know today and probably some we don't know. I believe gravity was created at this time, as well as the laws of thermodynamics (with the possible exception of the law of entropy, which may have come into play after the fall), E = mc2 and other such laws and properties. God had it all planned out. There was no trial and error with God. He got it right the first time. Just think about the complexity of the natural world we live in. All the things that need to happen to make it work. To me, the idea behind evolution, that things just happened by chance, is so improbable, so impossible, that it would take more faith to believe in evolution than a creator God. How could so many complex systems, with so many interdependencies, just happen by chance? I don’t think so!
- Notice the power of God’s words. He creates things out of nothing by His word. And His words are backed by His power and intelligence – they are full of meaning beyond the simple meaning conveyed by human languages. When He says “Let there be…”, God does not have to spell out the details. He did not name all the types of fish with a description of their shapes, sizes, colors, breeding habits, life cycles and food. He just said “Let the water teem with living creatures…” (1:20) and it was so. Wow.
- God creates light on day one but does not create the natural sources of light (sun and stars) until the fourth day. So where did the light come from that He separated from the darkness?
- In the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth. I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think this was prior to the start of the 1st day of creation. Knowing from the creation account that the sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day (and I'm guessing the other planets too), that this still a lot of creation in terms of size. Once the earth and the heavens have been created, God spends the next six days working on creating things on or around the earth. That says to me that the earth was the geographical focal point for God's creation (I think this is a good argument against extraterrestrial beings). God had the power, He could have just spoken and everything would have been created in that instant. So why didn't He? I believe that Scripture is clear that He did this to establish the pattern of a week for us. On any of the six days of creation, God could have done it all. He has not limitations. So why parse out the work? To establish the idea of six days. In 2:2, the seventh day, God rests from His work. Was God really tired and needed the rest? Palsm 121:4 says "indeed, he who watches over
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
- If the earth was the geographical focal point of God’s creation, then man was God’s creative focal point. God saved the best for last. He created everything else prior to creating man. He prepared for us a perfect place to live (sounds kind of like heaven, John 14:1-3). While God spoke everything else into existence (“Let there be…”), chapter 2, verse 7 says, “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground...” God used His hands to create Adam. Talk about special. But the crowning characteristic of this creation, that truly separated it from all the other creation was that fact that man was made in the image of Almighty God (1:26-27). We have a spirit like God and, like God, it will live forever. God created something to last for an eternity, just like Him. Wow!! Where it will live forever (heaven or hell) depends on that person’s relationship with Jesus Christ.
God is truly beyond anything I can imagine. He is more powerful, more glorious, more awesome than I can began to comprehend. I cannot think of a better way to end this post than with a couple more Scriptures.
Psalm 19:1- 6
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.
Romans 1:18 - 25
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
All the Scriptures are from the NIV, courtesy of BibleGateway.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment