we are made of dust. but notice GOD’s response to that fact.
psalms 103.13-14 (niv), as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear HIM. for HE knows how we are formed and HE remembers that we are dust.
GOD’s response is not ridicule. GOD’s response is not to devalue us. GOD’s response is compassion.
some of you have been really hard on yourself this week. you need to hear this verse and hear GOD say to you “I have compassion on you and I know that you’re made from dust but I’ve breathed MY life into you. I'm willing to pick you up again and I'm willing to strengthen you again for tomorrow.” i love GOD’s compassion in our lives, how powerful it is.
now here in the beginning of genesis GOD makes adam in HIS image. then HE gave him some important things and they all have to do with the fact that he was created in HIS image. they may seem simple but they’re incredibly important. they reflect the kind of responsibilities and opportunities that GOD gives into my life and into your life. for one GOD gave to adam a garden.
genesis 2,8 & 9 (niv), GOD planted a garden [HE made a garden] in the east in eden. [eden means delight in hebrew.] there HE put the man that HE had formed. HE made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. [that doesn’t mean he created those trees when he did that. it just means he made them grow there. they had been created already in different places.] in the middle of the garden there was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
HE made a garden. and that garden was a GOD-given opportunity for adam to express GOD’s image. HE gave him an opportunity to express his personality, a place for him to be creative, a place for him to do things, a place for him to interact with GOD’s creation.
one of the most wonderful thing that he got to do at least in the beginning before eve came along was to name all the animals. would you have liked to have that job? there could be some fun things to it. “dog” and “cat” i can understand, but where did he come up with “aardvark”? how did he come up with those kinds of names? (i know he was naming them in a different language than english.) but just think of the creativity that was involved in naming all those things that GOD had made. GOD allowed him to do that. HE gave him the chance to express his personality, to make decisions, to think, to feel that he saw those things that GOD had made.
just a thought from the front porch…
Showing posts with label genesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genesis. Show all posts
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
HE had/has a plan…
look at this here in genesis one. it’s striking. day 1, day 2, day 3… if GOD had wanted to HE could have snapped HIS fingers and everything would have come into existence all at once? but HE decided not to do it that way. HE decided first to do “this” and then to do “this” and so on.
light and darkness was on day 1 and the sun, moon and stars on day 4, so one of the questions people have always had about genesis is what kind of light was created on the first day. it wasn’t the sun, moon, and stars, was it? it was a different kind of light. what kind of light was it? i don’t know! i wasn’t there! but it was a light!
scientifically, those of you who know more about this than i do could talk about the physics of light and how in incredible ways we’re learning things about black holes and all those kinds of things that help us to understand that GOD could have created some kind of light that coalesced into the sun, the moon and the stars. HE set time up in incredible ways to do this.
day 2 the atmosphere, the firmament was created. day 3 the land, the seas were separated the plants, the trees. day 4 the sun, moon and stars which created not only light but also seasons and days and years. sea creatures and birds on day 5. land animals and mankind on day 6. on day 7 creation was completed and GOD rested.
here you have GOD’s to do list and HE spoke and it came into existence. light, sky, water, vegetation were done in order. plants “according to their kind” – that means all the families and kinds. those are all GOD-created. it’s incredible how organized GOD’s creation is. we can see it as we look at it.
definition of creation: an orderly unfolding of the mind and the purposes of GOD.
when we talk about a plan for your life, you and i can see in creation the purposes of GOD at work in the world today. there is order, there is progression. swordfish after oceans. eucalyptus trees before koala bears because they would have gotten hungry. but GOD made the trees first and then put koala bears in the trees so they could eat. the order of GOD’s creation literally shouts.
when we look at the seasons and orders and families and all that he did, it shouts! there’s a plan here. watch the plan how it fits in perfect order. look at the salmon, how GOD put an instinct in it to go up that river at all costs so that the species could survive. study a beehive. look at how just by instinct the bees work in perfect order. look at how cells divide. delve into the properties of light. there is a plan here. GOD is shouting it in every part of HIS creation. if there’s a plan in a beehive, don’t you think there’s a plan for your life? of course there is. and GOD has made sure that we know that.
jeremiah 29.11 (niv), I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope, plans to give you a future.
if you haven’t memorized that verse, my challenge to you is to memorize that verse. i can’t think of a better verse to remind me of the fact that the GOD who has a plan for all of creation, one of the reasons HE has a plan is because HE has a plan for my life.
just a thought from the front porch…
light and darkness was on day 1 and the sun, moon and stars on day 4, so one of the questions people have always had about genesis is what kind of light was created on the first day. it wasn’t the sun, moon, and stars, was it? it was a different kind of light. what kind of light was it? i don’t know! i wasn’t there! but it was a light!
scientifically, those of you who know more about this than i do could talk about the physics of light and how in incredible ways we’re learning things about black holes and all those kinds of things that help us to understand that GOD could have created some kind of light that coalesced into the sun, the moon and the stars. HE set time up in incredible ways to do this.
day 2 the atmosphere, the firmament was created. day 3 the land, the seas were separated the plants, the trees. day 4 the sun, moon and stars which created not only light but also seasons and days and years. sea creatures and birds on day 5. land animals and mankind on day 6. on day 7 creation was completed and GOD rested.
here you have GOD’s to do list and HE spoke and it came into existence. light, sky, water, vegetation were done in order. plants “according to their kind” – that means all the families and kinds. those are all GOD-created. it’s incredible how organized GOD’s creation is. we can see it as we look at it.
definition of creation: an orderly unfolding of the mind and the purposes of GOD.
when we talk about a plan for your life, you and i can see in creation the purposes of GOD at work in the world today. there is order, there is progression. swordfish after oceans. eucalyptus trees before koala bears because they would have gotten hungry. but GOD made the trees first and then put koala bears in the trees so they could eat. the order of GOD’s creation literally shouts.
when we look at the seasons and orders and families and all that he did, it shouts! there’s a plan here. watch the plan how it fits in perfect order. look at the salmon, how GOD put an instinct in it to go up that river at all costs so that the species could survive. study a beehive. look at how just by instinct the bees work in perfect order. look at how cells divide. delve into the properties of light. there is a plan here. GOD is shouting it in every part of HIS creation. if there’s a plan in a beehive, don’t you think there’s a plan for your life? of course there is. and GOD has made sure that we know that.
jeremiah 29.11 (niv), I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope, plans to give you a future.
if you haven’t memorized that verse, my challenge to you is to memorize that verse. i can’t think of a better verse to remind me of the fact that the GOD who has a plan for all of creation, one of the reasons HE has a plan is because HE has a plan for my life.
just a thought from the front porch…
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
an expression of the creative mind of GOD…
it’s interesting to me as you look through the first chapter of genesis how exciting the truths are. how simple but exciting.
for one GOD’s word started each and every day. genesis 1.3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26 (niv). …. and GOD said. that’s how each day started.
it’s one of the most striking things in the first chapter of genesis. is this a poetic way of saying through some unknown process that GOD set the wheels in motion and eventually certain things would come out of that process? no. GOD spoke and things existed. that’s the power of GOD. that’s the creativity of GOD. if you miss that you miss the essential truth in the book of genesis. GOD said it and it happened.
everything was created out of nothing. that’s hard for me to envision. for me, creativity is trying to rearrange something. we take a lump of clay and rearrange it into a pot but the clay was already there. we rearranged something. for GOD, creativity is speaking something into existence. it wasn’t there. nothing was there and then it was there.
everything you see in creation is an expression of the creative mind of GOD. it’s not just wonderful science. it’s not just an interesting fact. it’s an expression to you and i of the creative mind and power of GOD.
imagine GOD says, “land” and there’s land! GOD says, “water, ocean” and they’re there, separated from the land. GOD says, “tiger,” and there’s a tiger. it’s incredible. GOD spoke a word “whale”, “flower”, “rose”, “red”, “yellow” and they came into existence. everything’s an expression of the creative mind of GOD and everything is an example of the supernatural power of GOD.
is what i'm talking about scientifically impossible? to speak and it exists? yes, it is! but it’s supernaturally powerful. science studies how creation works and does a pretty good job of it a lot of times. but it does not follow that a study of how things work right now will always tell you how it came into existence.
if i held up an orange in front of you and you’d never seen an orange tree and said, “what does this grow on?” would you know? you could guess – a tree, a bush. if i asked you what okra grew on, would you know? an okra tree? an okra vine? what do they grow on? (they’re actually a little plant.)
we live in a scientific age. there’s a lot of benefits to our scientific age. but don’t let anyone, anything, steal from you the awe that you and i need to have in GOD’s creation. it is sad when we become so sophisticated that we can’t say, “wow! look at what GOD’s done!”
just a thought from the front porch…
for one GOD’s word started each and every day. genesis 1.3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26 (niv). …. and GOD said. that’s how each day started.
it’s one of the most striking things in the first chapter of genesis. is this a poetic way of saying through some unknown process that GOD set the wheels in motion and eventually certain things would come out of that process? no. GOD spoke and things existed. that’s the power of GOD. that’s the creativity of GOD. if you miss that you miss the essential truth in the book of genesis. GOD said it and it happened.
everything was created out of nothing. that’s hard for me to envision. for me, creativity is trying to rearrange something. we take a lump of clay and rearrange it into a pot but the clay was already there. we rearranged something. for GOD, creativity is speaking something into existence. it wasn’t there. nothing was there and then it was there.
everything you see in creation is an expression of the creative mind of GOD. it’s not just wonderful science. it’s not just an interesting fact. it’s an expression to you and i of the creative mind and power of GOD.
imagine GOD says, “land” and there’s land! GOD says, “water, ocean” and they’re there, separated from the land. GOD says, “tiger,” and there’s a tiger. it’s incredible. GOD spoke a word “whale”, “flower”, “rose”, “red”, “yellow” and they came into existence. everything’s an expression of the creative mind of GOD and everything is an example of the supernatural power of GOD.
is what i'm talking about scientifically impossible? to speak and it exists? yes, it is! but it’s supernaturally powerful. science studies how creation works and does a pretty good job of it a lot of times. but it does not follow that a study of how things work right now will always tell you how it came into existence.
if i held up an orange in front of you and you’d never seen an orange tree and said, “what does this grow on?” would you know? you could guess – a tree, a bush. if i asked you what okra grew on, would you know? an okra tree? an okra vine? what do they grow on? (they’re actually a little plant.)
we live in a scientific age. there’s a lot of benefits to our scientific age. but don’t let anyone, anything, steal from you the awe that you and i need to have in GOD’s creation. it is sad when we become so sophisticated that we can’t say, “wow! look at what GOD’s done!”
just a thought from the front porch…
Friday, October 22, 2010
it all started in the beginning…
in the beginning are the first three words of the book of genesis, the first book in the bible. but it’s really the fourth word that is the most important – GOD. genesis 1.1 (niv), in the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth. those are ten words in english, seven in the hebrew language which the old testament was originally written in.
we all ask the question, what is all this? what is all this creation i see? how in the world did it come into being? when did it begin? how did it begin and who did it? and this one simple phrase tells us. in this phrase comes together two great sources of human knowledge.
one of the ways you and i get knowledge is through GOD’s revelation. GOD just shows us. HE just tells us things. that’s what the bible is all about, GOD showing us what HE wants us to do. HE reveals things to us.
HE also made some things. a second way you and i have some things revealed to us is through nature. we can look at things that GOD has made and see what HE’s done. nature and revelation – both are useful when it comes to learning what GOD wants us to do. science and observation, looking at nature by itself, you can’t discover GOD by that alone. you get a clue that maybe something is going on that’s bigger than me but we need GOD also to reveal HIMself to us. that’s why HE gave us nature and the bible both. that’s why HE created the heavens and the earth and why HE gave us the book of genesis to tell us HE created the heavens and the earth.
sometimes people want to use science to discover GOD. cut out the revelation part altogether as the source of knowledge and say all we’ve got is science. but we can’t do that. GOD doesn’t work that way. HE has chosen to work in invisible ways. HE’s chosen to work through faith. trying to discover GOD solely through nature is like saying you want to discover love with a steam shovel. it just won’t work. it’s the wrong instrument. if you and i want to discover GOD, we’ve got to have HIM reveal HIMself to us.
nature is devised to teach us truths about GOD. who made the heavens and the earth? if GOD made the heavens and the earth, and HE knew that someday HE wanted to show you and i some things about HIMself, do you think it’s an accident that there are things in HIS creation that are perfectly designed to express to us who HE is? no. GOD made the heavens and the earth because HE could show us some things about HIMself.
just a thought from the front porch…
we all ask the question, what is all this? what is all this creation i see? how in the world did it come into being? when did it begin? how did it begin and who did it? and this one simple phrase tells us. in this phrase comes together two great sources of human knowledge.
one of the ways you and i get knowledge is through GOD’s revelation. GOD just shows us. HE just tells us things. that’s what the bible is all about, GOD showing us what HE wants us to do. HE reveals things to us.
HE also made some things. a second way you and i have some things revealed to us is through nature. we can look at things that GOD has made and see what HE’s done. nature and revelation – both are useful when it comes to learning what GOD wants us to do. science and observation, looking at nature by itself, you can’t discover GOD by that alone. you get a clue that maybe something is going on that’s bigger than me but we need GOD also to reveal HIMself to us. that’s why HE gave us nature and the bible both. that’s why HE created the heavens and the earth and why HE gave us the book of genesis to tell us HE created the heavens and the earth.
sometimes people want to use science to discover GOD. cut out the revelation part altogether as the source of knowledge and say all we’ve got is science. but we can’t do that. GOD doesn’t work that way. HE has chosen to work in invisible ways. HE’s chosen to work through faith. trying to discover GOD solely through nature is like saying you want to discover love with a steam shovel. it just won’t work. it’s the wrong instrument. if you and i want to discover GOD, we’ve got to have HIM reveal HIMself to us.
nature is devised to teach us truths about GOD. who made the heavens and the earth? if GOD made the heavens and the earth, and HE knew that someday HE wanted to show you and i some things about HIMself, do you think it’s an accident that there are things in HIS creation that are perfectly designed to express to us who HE is? no. GOD made the heavens and the earth because HE could show us some things about HIMself.
just a thought from the front porch…
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