GOD uses nature to teach us…

genesis 1.1 (niv), in the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth.

nature and revelation – both are useful when it comes to learning what GOD wants us to do. and nature and revelation are not contradictory; they’re complementary. they complete each other in a lot of ways. they’re not two separate sources.

the same GOD made both of them. HE built into what HE made examples to teach us. GOD wanted to teach us the value of working hard. there’s several proverbs about that. so HE made an ant, the tinniest little thing you can see and look what an ant can accomplish if it works hard –back and forth, back and forth. they never get tired. and they’re there the next day. there’s something about that that teaches us the value of industriousness.

GOD knew that someday HE would want to teach us about dependence, about what it means to depend on GOD. so HE made a sheep. HE knew HE was going to use the sheep HE was creating to teach you and i about depending on HIM. the sheep is totally dependant and it’s pretty dumb. HE uses the sheep to teach people how they need to depend on HIM. i’ve got to believe that when GOD made the sheep HE had to laugh. can’t you just see the joy in HIS heart when HE realized it would be perfect? HE made it so when it falls over it can’t get up without help. it will be a perfect object lesson to them about who HE is.

one of the greatest expressions though to us about who GOD is, is light. have you ever seen a lunar eclipse, where the light is cut off? couldn’t GOD have made the heavens and the earth so there would never be an eclipse? yes, HE could have made it that way but HE didn’t. why?

when you see the light cut off it fascinates people. what an object lesson to us of the fact that we need GOD’s light in our lives. what an object lesson that sometimes the earth (in a lunar eclipse) comes between the source of light and the reflected light. sometimes we let that happen, we let earthly things come between the source of light, GOD, and the reflected light that HE wants to shine in our lives through JESUS CHRIST. it’s built into creation. HE built into creation examples to us of who HE is and what HE wants to do.

just a thought from the front porch…

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…