Creation & Awe

 

Monday, June 1, 2020

Psalm 104:24-34

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!  In wisdom you have made them all.  The earth is full of your creatures.  Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.  See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.  They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.  When you supply it, they gather it.  You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied.  But if you turn away from them, they panic.  When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.  When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.  May the glory of the Lord continue forever!  The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!  The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.  I will praise my God to my last breath!  May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

This passage moves from the general to specific.  The Psalmist begins with the vast diversity of God’s creation (what a variety of things you have made) to the prayer of a specific man for what God has done.  It is nothing more or less than the fundamental essence of worship; we see what God has done, and awe pours forth!

Click picture to view on Youtube

Whales are monstrously huge.  I’ve never been up close enough to touch one, but you can’t watch the nature channel without getting that perspective.  Sooner or later you’ll see someone swimming alongside Leviathan (literally, the sea monster).  Even on a TV screen you get the sense of being next to a wall that’s breathing.  And yet, says the Psalmist, this moving skyscraper is made to play in the sea.  Frankly, when I think of whales, my mind immediately goes to Moby Dick, harpoons, and ships full of blubber and oil; I don’t easily associate playfulness with whales.  But God has put that in all his creatures, even the scariest of them (to us).

The Psalmist’s reaction to the awe he obviously felt while considering God’s creative power and majesty is a reminder of the slippery slope to which we can fall victim, if we are not prudently watchful over our emotions and senses.  It is a small leap (but a very costly one) to begin to worship creation itself, rather than be in awe of the creation and maintain the focus on Creator. 

The Apostle Paul shows us that God considers that sinful, a break with trust in God, and leading to all sorts of mayhem to the soul and spirit of man, for which God had much different, and better plans.

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.  They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.  For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.  Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.  As a result, their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  They traded the truth about God for a lie.  So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.  Romans 1:18-25

Let’s Pray Together

Father, God, our hearts, minds, soul, and spirit are always touched by the majesty of what You have created.  Help us to keep our very beings focused on the Who of creation, more than the What of creation.

For You Today

Creation invokes awe, but our Creator is the source of both the created realm and the awe it inspires.  Don’t make an idol of what you can see; God, after all, is Who created even your eyes!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on Psalm 104:24-34 see Reason to Rejoice and for “Worship” as a theme see gods or God?                             See the whale video HERE

When GOOD Becomes Enemy of BEST

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Thursday, November 14, 2019

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.  They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.  For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.  Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.  As a result, their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  They traded the truth about God for a lie.  So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.  Romans 1:18-25

Favorite sayings become favorites because they open a whole new world of understanding and resonate with truth deep within.  Here’s one of mine:

Don’t let the good become the enemy of the best.[i]

The deep truth of this saying is that even good things, family, friends, opportunities, and material blessings, can become obstacles to our spiritual growth.  Whatever good things God has placed in our hands are never to become more important than the God who gives them.  This was the mistake Paul was holding up to the Roman believers.

There are many areas of life that can become enemies to spiritual health, and sorting-out the wheat and chaff are part of discipleship for the believer. 

For instance:

·      Food is good (trust me on this!), but living to eat instead of eating to live is NOT.

·      Money is useful in many ways; if getting more of it becomes your focus in life it is an enemy!

·      Sex is a God-given blessing and part of the way God has given for our enjoyment and participation in His creative ways, but when it becomes our obsession it can lead to perversion and distort everything good and holy.

·      Friendships are needful, as are the bonds of Family, but these must stand behind allegiance to Almighty God.

·      Work is necessary, and God-ordained that we should be productive.  But when work crowds-out everything, even excluding time for worship, we have let our “work ethic” become our God.

Therein is the sticking point – worshiping the gifts, rather than the Giver of those gifts. In so doing we have not only allowed the good things of God to become enemy to the best God wants for us, we have allowed ourselves, good creations of God, to become enemy of God.

For You Today

Wherever your activities take you on this day, make sure to be aware who or what is ordering those feet of yours…the pathway you take always leads somewhere.  Destinations are achieved one step at a time…for good or best…that is our choice!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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[i][i] For another post on this saying see:  Rocky Road Devotion 6-15-19

Unintended Results

[i]

Monday, July 10, 2017

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.  They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.  For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.  Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.  And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.  As a result, their minds became dark and confused.  Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  They traded the truth about God for a lie.  So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 

Romans 1:18-25^(NLT)

As a young teen I had an old motorcycle that could never have passed anyone’s inspection, especially the Motor Vehicle Department.  I have an idea my Dad let me buy the contraption from a neighbor for two reasons:

#1. It would never pass inspection, and therefore never hit the streets of Smithtown.

#2. It was so under-powered my Dad’s youngest son would probably not crash and burn on the streets of Smithtown while learning a lesson that he had no business at all on any kind of vehicle without an airbag.

My Dad never attended a college class, but he was wise when it came to the foolishness of his sons.  More than once, after I whined, complained, begged, and promised, Dad had said (with an appropriate eye-roll), go ahead…do what you want…just don’t complain about it later!

I can see Paul’s eyes rolling as he gives us a peek behind the closed door to what God’s game plan looks like for his foolish children, when, in mock surrender the Father lets his sinful creatures have their way.  It looks like:

[ii]

All of our declarations of loving God and being His children mock the truth when we exchange His ways for ours.  This is applied evenly and undeniably to all forms of sin, lying, stealing, pride, anger, and the whole menu of sexual dementia – lust, infidelity, homosexuality, and a growing list of ways to defile our relationship with God.

To complain we were born that way, whether it pretends to an excuse for a quick triggered temper, or a sexual preference that isn’t in line with God’s created order, is inexcusable, simply because God has placed in our hearts the knowledge that sin is first-degree thumbing our noses at God’s way.

And the only remedy for it all is repentance, turning back in God’s direction.

For You Today

You might be like the teenage Russell who, against Dad’s pretty clear instructions, ran that motorcycle off the hill in the woods at the end of our road.  I learned from that mild crash and walked-away from the crumpled mess…back home to tell Dad he was right!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

NOTES

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[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

[ii] Images at Pixabay.com and Here and Here and Here