"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)
If anyone does not begin to build his or her core foundation from this truth, their foundation will eventually be shown to be faulty. If the beginning of any true understanding of one's existence is to have real life and relationship with God, as well as salvation, it has to begin by believing God. We may not know all of the details of how, what, why, etc. around creation or anything else outside of what God's made available to us in His word and the truth is that that's ok. We don't necessarily benefit ourselves by spending inordinate amounts of time trying to figure out what God decided not to make plain, or imagining answers when God's told us outright what He wants us to know. He knows, but it's not necessary for us to know those other things in order to be saved and to have life in Him - but our trust in God is. From this moment in Genesis 1:1 our God launched His plan for the salvation of mankind, a plan that He had already conceived in His mind from the very beginning of His project of Creation. It's the plan that the Apostle Paul later began referring to as God's secret plan starting in the book of Romans. For example...
"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen." Romans 16:25-27 (NKJV)
I think that we may sometimes forget to recognize the truth of our position before our God in the busyness of the secular world around us. Can you answer? - What has any man horded, received, built, used, or enjoyed that did not originate with something that the true God of the universe - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob provided? Is there anything that man has ever touched that God did not provide at least the basic substance for? If we drink water, where does it originate from as a substance? Did we allow it to exist in creation and make it such an integral part of our physical bodies, or was it God? If we eat, are clothed, or even breathe air, is it not in fact God who has made and continues to make these things possible by His provision for mankind to make use of? I have no doubt that if our hearts continue to beat for the next minute, it's because God wills it to continue to beat. We exist at the pleasure of our Master and by the power of His Word.
If we're not acknowledging God's immediate provision, we really need to consider that there is no thing that we survive by that was not provided by the God who created those things with us in mind. Mankind can only build with what God has provided and with the talents and giftings that God has equipped him or her with. And in considering all of these things, where is our gratitude expressed to God for even the seemingly simplest of things that we take for granted, but that make our survival possible day by day? If He withheld the most basic of things necessary to sustain us, death would certainly come for our physical bodies. We know this, but do we recognize His authority and Lordship over us and His patient grace to continue with us or do we just take it for granted? Stiff necked among mankind may refuse to admit it, but the truth is that there is no-one among the physically living who is not, and has not always, been completely dependent upon the grace and blessings of God to sustain them at any and every moment. What an ungrateful lot we are if we don't fully recognize continually the magnitude of grace that we receive moment by moment from the Holy God who truly reigns over all that exists.
"This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be? Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “ This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word". Isaiah 66:1-2 (NKJV)
I know that without God creating them, no man or woman would exist and that having created them, without His making provision them, none could survive. He wills us to exist moment by moment and provides for us to survive physically until a time of His choosing or until His return. He began providing for us before He even created the first man by His design of creation. Our God's work in all of creation blesses mankind's survival...or tests him according to God's sovereign purposes. At the base of all that we believe must be everything that God has spoken and provided for us to know - or we hold Him as a liar to our own devastating end, unless we repent. Everything else we may be subject to in the form of potential knowledge has to be sifted through those things of God to determine whether it's true or not. If it agrees with God's Word - in context, then it's fitting for us to accept, but if it does not agree, then we need to throw it far away from us like the garbage that it is. The Holy Spirit assists us in this process if we let Him and those that truly believe and love God find themselves heir to His audience and provision reserved for those who love Him. Believing God opens doors that unbelievers may seek but may never find.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16 (NKJV)
"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You." Psalm 33:18-22 (NKJV)I thank my God, my all-in-all, for blessing my hands to work and for blessing the work of my hands to allow me to participate in His plans for my life, and beyond if He chooses. If I have a body that functions to aid in my progress toward my God, then I am blessed by Him in my journey as He comes to meet me - because I love and believe Him. I continue to exist physically because He is true to His word and because His patience with me and the miracle of His love for me allows it for now. I believe God, so my peace and faith in Him will remain undisturbed whether in this life or the next as He wills. I have no doubt of His Word, so I have no fear other than reverent respect for my God.
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:19-23 (NKJV) (bold emphasis mine - because He is!)"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJV)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJV)
Comments
Post a Comment