Stepping Down

(Psa 113:6 KJV)  Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

As I was reading this chapter my mind went into “get through it” mode and I just read through this verse.  The Holy Spirit checked me and made me go back.  I had assumed that this was either a question or referring to a man speaking.  No, it was God speaking and that struck me as odd.

When you read scripture, keep your mind engaged including your baloney meter.  I am ot saying you will find baloney in the Bible but the awareness will wake you up to tensions in the text.  The NASB takes this as a question and the KJV a statement of fact.  I imagine you can take it either way so we might have another both/and situation.

How does God humble himself and why does this means He humbles Himself?  I think this is a clue to the difficult question of the relationship between God and time and comes into our daily investigations when we try to reconcile God’s foreknowledge and man’s free will.  The word “humbled” (8213) has the idea of stepping down.  There is a real sense in which God must step down to deal with our universe.  We are familiar with the idea that we cannot look into the face of God without being consumed by His glory.  Is it possible that the same principle applies to all of creation?

So?  However you want to look it it God is involved with His creation I hope we don’t bore Him too much.  

Peace Question

Jeremiah 23:23-24 (KJV) 23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

(Proverbs 26 also read)

Here in the middle of this chapter about the anger of God and His threat of retribution, we find this question. It is a question that was aimed at Israel. It was a question which was intended to remind them of the nature of God.

The answer, of course, is, “No”. He is not a god who is far. He is a god who is intimate and involved. Two theological words that keep coming back to my mind about the nature of God. One is transcendent and the other is eminent. Both of those are addressed here. And they applied to us because we serve the same God that had revealed Himself to Israel.

Yes, God is transcendent. He is out there. He is the creator of the world and the universe. Earlier the chapter talks about the whirlwind and imminent refers to God speaking to Job out of the whirlwind. God is also imminent. He is here with us just as He was there with Israel.

So? Embrace the truth. Embrace the One who is truth. While you’re at it, let Him embrace you.

Does Creation Continue?

Psalm 104:30 (KJV) Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

(Proverbs 30 also read)

I almost breezed over this because of all the figurative language and great word pictures in this chapter.  Then I noticed the word “created”.  Now keep in mind that this is written in David’s time or later, and the author is probably not thinking about the seven days of creation, yet he uses that same word that is used in the first verse of the Bible.  It is also used about halfway through the creation account with the large sea animals, and then about man being created.

One of the mysteries of the people pushing evolution is something called the Cambrian explosion where suddenly a vast number of new species appeared.  They seem to have come from nowhere.  There is no fossil record of them developing.  Add to that the fact that all the links are missing when someone talks about the “missing link”.  All the links are missing.

This verse may be the reason why the links are missing because God continues to send forth His Spirit and create.  I’m not looking for a doctrine here or an article of faith.  This is just an observation of the creativity and continued involvement of God in His world.

So?  Man is still the only one that was created in His image.  Don’t forget that.  Honor Him. Worship Him.  

The Attribute of Wisdom

Proverbs 8:22 (KJV) The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

One of the puzzles that keeps coming to my attention is the place of wisdom in creation.  If you read down through this chapter, you find that it seems wisdom is there at the beginning, and is a part of the creation process.  There is a tendency to personify wisdom.  That is a mistake because wisdom is not God.  Wisdom is not the fourth person of the trinity.  What I see happening here is that the attribute of God, wisdom, is involved in the creation process.

When I look at the universe around me, I think of the creativity of God.  I see it from my front porch in the oak trees, the wild flowers, even in the dandelions and weeds.  Creativity is an attribute in my mind.  I think I would add to that creativity takes place in the context of wisdom.  It’s not just a matter of seeing what kind of wild and crazy ideas you can come up with.  It is a matter of assembling all of this, in an attitude of wisdom.

So?  As we go through our day it’s not just a matter of seeing how creative we can be or what kind of bright ideas we can have.  It is a matter of us taking the wisdom of God which He offers to us and applying it to our unique situations.  Of course, we need to apply it to the every day situations that everyone faces, especially to the unique ones. 

Light Years or Days

Psalms 19:1 (KJV) [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

(Proverbs 30 also read)

I was sitting here, contemplating the universe and God.  I was thinking about how I’m created in the image of God, with the ability to reason, and think, to interact with the Eternal One, and have free will.  And there are those who believe that the universe is billions of years old who will tell you that the entire universe is established and created to focus on the planet Earth to create an environment that we can exist in.

I find that even more on awesome than 7/24 hour day creation.  God is God.  He can do anything He wants.  The question is not whether God did it, but just speculating on what it all means.  Somehow, something in me says that God enjoys the process of creating, and although He exists outside of time, I think there is an element where He just really celebrated when He was making the novas and the galaxies and all the different types of stars.  I think He reveled in the variety that He was able to come up with.  I think He rejoices in all of this.

And He made us to be a part of this.  He gave us this universe to investigate and look into and it’s only the beginning and the first page of the book of eternity.

So?  Enjoy.  Celebrate.  Rejoice.  Look at the sky and remind yourself that this declares the glory of God and we can only see the tip of the iceberg. 

Literary Devices

(Psa 104:5 KJV)  Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

(Proverbs 19 also read)

As I read this verse or this chapter, I became aware that this is a poetic device.  The author of this is waxing strong on his creative imagination, trying to express the depth of his God’s glory.  He works overtime.  Since I tend to not like poetry, I got a little bit bored.  But then I saw this first and remembered what John Lennox had to say, about a literal view of creation.

He said that there was a time in history when Christians accepted the idea that the Earth did not move in space.  I think he quoted a different verse that says that more specifically but here you get an indication of the idea.  He said, with greater understanding of the physical world we live in, we came to realize that the Earth rotated around the sun, and that it did move.  With a greater understanding we were going to see that this was a literary device, trying to tell us something about the nature of God and his creation.

So? Read with discernment. Keep in mind that if modern authors can come up with things like hyperbole, that God is quite capable of doing the same thing.  Don’t limit him to your own boundaries. 

Which came first?

(Gen 1:1 KJV)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

This makes me think of that old question of which came first the chicken or the egg.  In this case, however, it’s a question of what was in God’s mind first, the world or man.  If you are familiar with the discussion of intelligent design, and the fine-tuning of the universe, it would seem that everything was put together with the idea is it man would come along.  That would also fit with the nature of God and the fact that he doesn’t do things by chance, or accidentally.

Keep in mind that man was told to subdue and cultivate the Earth.  It was not ready out of the box, some assembly required.  Which again brings up the question of which was created for the other.  Or I guess it could be that both were created with the same goal in mind.

So? Keep in mind that you are here for a reason.  God had a plan and still has a plan that’s bigger than just you or me.  I’m glad to know that there’s something more going on than me getting the lawn mowed. 

Because I Say So

Acts 10:15 (KJV) And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

This brings to mind the creation story.  God would produce something new and at the end of the day he would announce that it was good.  Was it good because God created it or was it good because God declared it?  Well, that is a philosophy question for another day.  The point I’m making is that God declared his creation good.  Everything he made was good before sin messed it up.

We need to look at the world around us, and realize that God created it as good.  Part of our job, given during creation, is to subdue the world.  That has even more meaning now, after the fall, than it did before.

So? Get with the program.  Start improving your world.  Start with yourself. 

Question

(Heb 4:16 KJV)  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Have you considered the glory of this verse recently.

Repeatedly in the Old Testament we are told that we cannot see God and live.  It seems clear but there are exceptions so it must need some study.  In the NT we know God because we know Jesus.  While we should not be losing our awe of the majesty of God we are told by Jesus that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father.

When we practice the worship of prayer we need to remember that.  When we have the audacity to stand in the congregation and lift our voices to the Holy One we need to remember that.  When we watch the glory of creation it should be on our mind.

So?  There is only one God and He has revealed Himself to us.  He has given us the gift of approaching Him.  Rejoice. 

Embrace Your Calling

(Psa 8:6 KJV)  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

(Proverbs 28 also read)

This is a verse that looks both ways.  It looks back to creation and the place of man in that creation.  It looks forward to the book of Hebrews which revisits it.  Either way we are reminded that we are not just a cipher in the universe.  We are charged with making sure that the universe can develop to its full potential.

Don’t fall into the modern trap of evolutionary thinking.  We are not just the latest blip of chance.  We are created in the image of God and are expected to fulfill that calling.  The Fall introduced sin and clouded the vision but Jesus has come to set us free and get us back on track.

So?  Embrace your calling and make a difference in your world.  You may not be able to redeem the inner city but you can certainly make your neighborhood a place that has a spot of glory. 

More than Having Your Back

(Psa 104:29 KJV)  Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
(Psa 104:30 KJV)  Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

(Proverbs 18 also read)

If I had to label this chapter I would call it an Ode to Creation.  It is full of poetic images as well as simple facts.  When we get to verses 29 and 30 we are reminded of God’s continued involvement in all of creation.  We see God taking “their” “spirit” (7307) and as it leaves they die.  “Spirit” here is [ruach] which literally means breath.  In the next verse it is given, producing life.

I put “their” in quotation marks because we need to pause and ask who “they” are.  As I look at the context it seems to me that this is referring to all animal life.  This tells us that God is intimately involved with His creation.  

How much more He is involved with us.  He breathed into us when we were conceived.  He will withdraw that breath when it is time to die.  Only the everlasting God of the Bible could be this involved on a moment by moment basis.  I don’t see Zeus or the local tree god having this capacity.

So?  We serve He who is everlasting to everlasting and every moment in between.  He is the great I Am.  Rejoice as your day progresses.  He not only has your back, He has your breath.

No Beauty for the Beast

(Psa 92:5 KJV)  O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
(Psa 92:6 KJV)  A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

(Proverbs 16 also read)

I was drawn to a discussion between Jordan Peterson and Bill Maher.  They are both on my prayer map in the section that I label “Seekers” because I have heard both of them express thoughts that indicated they were interested in truth.  What a difference between the two men.  What stood out to me is the condition of Maher.  He is so filled with hatred for the God of the Bible that it could not help but overflow.  When I read this verse I thought of that discussion.

We need to understand that when we see the wonders of creation reflecting the glory of God other people see an accident ruled by the law of the jungle.  I could use the word “senseless” (1198) in polite company but the KJV term of “brutish” is actually closer to the truth.  Do you remember the commercial that had a bull wondering through a china store?  That is the picture of some of these people.  The second term of “fool” (3684) in the KJV and “stupid” in the NASB is just a further indictment.  

So?  Do you see the hand of God in the sunrise?  There are many people who admire it but think of it like modern art where an “artist” takes a brush and splatters paint on a canvas.  Pray that they would be given eyes that will see. 

Surprise

(Pro 3:20 KJV)  By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

Here in the middle of a discussion of wisdom is a reminder about creation, about the power of God and that He was here at the beginning.  God has a way of sneaking up on us and dumping a reminder of big truths.  How refreshing.

We need constant reminders.  We get so caught up in our schedules, the news and all the concerns of the world around us that we lose a bit of perspective.  Well, at least I do.  It is good once in awhile to pull over to the side of the road and look both ways.  I don’t care if you are in the mountains or in the dessert.  You could even be on a back road in Vietnam with 12 foot walls of bamboo on both sides.  I have been in all of them.  I little pause, a moment to look around and a hot line to heaven will remind you of who is in charge.

So?  It is kind of awesome to realize that you know the One who made all this.  It is humbling to think that He loved us enough to send Jesus to suffer and die for us.  Rejoice.

Getting What You Ask For

(Job 38:2 KJV)  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

(Proverbs 30 also read)

In a sense, God asked for it.  Here we have Him asking us, “Just whom do we think we are?”  Job and his friends have been waxing eloquent.  They are studied and quoted by scholars and students of the word.  This book is considered one of the deep ones.  How does God respond?  From here He goes on to point out how ignorant we are.

But I repeat, God asked for it.  He created us in His image.  He could have made a perfect world with compliant robo-men.  He could have made us easy to get along with and made us so that logic and goodness always were our first response.  Instead, in order to get that spark of Imago Dei, He put something in us that makes us different than the animals.  

So?  Be humbled by our limitations.  Be exalted by His desire for us to have that spark.  He regretted it in the time of Noah.  He was on the verge of destroying Israel in the desert.  He also sent His Son to die for us because in some strange way He felt we were worth it.  Rejoice. 

No, Before That

(Pro 8:22 KJV)  The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

We see here something of the eternal nature of God.  This “beginning” (7225) is the same Hebrew used in Genesis 1:1.  It does not refer to the beginning of God but to the universe that we belong to.  You might say it marks the beginning of time and matter.  In our terms nothing existed before this.  That is why we believe the God created ex nihilo, out of nothing.  When you read Christian scientists they try to get across to you that this “nothing” does not mean the emptiness of space but the non-existence of space.

At that point wisdom as we know it must have come into existence as we think of it.  It is a case of the character and attributes of God impressing themselves on our natural world and into what would become right behavior.

So?  God is not just making things up as He goes along.  We can trust that He knows what He is doing, even if we don’t. 

Squirrel Questions

(Pro 3:20 KJV)  By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

I got off on a squirrel hunt on the “deeps” (8415).  This is a word that can be taken and used literally but still has a mystery about it.  It appears in the second verse in our Bible.

(Gen 1:2 KJV)  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Picture what the earth might have looked like before it took on modern form.  The elements were still churning from direct contact with the power of God.  He had not yet moved the elements to their final form.  The closest I can come is the picture that forms in my mind of looking down in the maw of an active volcano, ready to spill over the brim.

In Exodus my imagination starts to work on just what the deeps consisted of.  It seems that the deeps is not necessarily the same as the sea.

(Exo 15:8 KJV)  And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths (8415) were congealed in the heart of the sea.

At this point I think of all the mineral wealth that is in the ocean.  Some is on the bottom.  Some is in solution.  I read an article recently about mining lithium from sea water.  I have long known that gold was present.  Not just water in a plastic bottle.

Then Job makes the sea and the depths separate.  Is this just a literary device or should we read more into it.  The spiritual point is the same either way but one might help us understand the physical world better.

(Job 28:14 KJV)  The depth (8415) saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

So?  The Bible is loaded with questions just waiting to be asked.  Isn’t that the basis of good science?  Real science is never settled.  There is always another question to be asked.  Sounds kind of eternal doesn’t it?

Back to Basics

(Pro 3:19 KJV)  The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

We are reminded in this verse of one of the primary divisions between the Christian and the modern pagan.

(Gen 1:1 KJV)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

It isn’t a difference in the process of science or trying to figure out the nature of nature.  It is a matter of faith.  Did God do it or did it just happen?  Since the modern pagan refuses to accept that there is any higher power than himself, God obviously could not have done it.  To believers who keep asking the evolutionists, “And what caused that to happen?” it was the Prime Mover.

So?  Don’t ever forget that the differences exist.  They are not frivolous.  They are basic.  Learn the truth and remember it.

Foundational Appointments

(Pro 8:29 KJV) When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

The phrase “foundations (4146) of the earth (776)” shows up ten times in the KJV.  In this discussion of creation it seems to be referring to the core and principles of gravity for this planet.  It also lets us know that the cosmos is involved.  It has been a long time since I listened but William Lane Craig talked about the fine tuning of the universe.  He said that science seems to point to a large number of physical characteristics of the universe that by even a light variation would make life impossible.  He then says that it almost seems like the entire universe is set up in a balance for the purpose of maintaining life on earth.  He of course sees God’s hand in this.

So?  Our world, as polluted by sin as it is, was created by God.  It is maintained by God.  That should give you a little comfort amid all the hysteria going on around us. 

Always Wise

(Pro 8:24 KJV) When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Is wisdom eternal?  Is it an attribute of God or is He so far above wisdom that such a statement is an insult?  It makes me wonder what “brought forth” (2342a) signifies.  It seems to have the idea of twisting and turning.  It implies birth in the course of great struggle.  The older commentators drew parallels to the concept of “only begotten” relating to Jesus.  If that has traction it could infer that wisdom is eternal but had to be squeezed into a form that humans could use.

It makes me wonder if the Pumice Pathetic Paraphrase would translate it “trotted out”.

So?  The point is that the principles laid down in Biblical wisdom are consistent with the nature of God and His creation.  We all benefit from making them a part of our lives. 

Creation Wisdom

(Pro 3:19 KJV) The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

At first I am sure we think of wisdom as being a concept we can understand.  Wisdom is, you know, wise.  Then we see it as being different than knowledge and even understanding.  I think this verse gives us a clue to the deeper meaning of wisdom.  Here it is linked to creation. 

One of the reasons that people can believe in a Creator God is the complex coordination of the universe.  Everything works together.  Sun spots tie into rain fall.  Osmosis and diffusion are vital to life as well as chemistry and physics.  What happens a million light years away is tied in with the fungus under your toe nails.  That calls for Wisdom.  That is an understanding of how it all ties together.  It knows how the ripples of your rock skipping can effect the sex life of a frog in the pond.

So?  Understand that God did not create by caprice.  He did it by wisdom.  That applies to your creation at the moment of conception too.  Go out and enjoy the night sky knowing God was really plugged in when He made it.