When God spoke during creation week, it was with a profound, incomprehensible power of bringing out of nothing something into existence or ex nihilo (God said, cf. Gn 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24). So familiar are we of creation week in Genesis 1, that we may have lost sight of the awesome wonder of how great our God is,
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gn 1:1).
How can we look up into the night skies and witness the myriads
of stars or consider the uniqueness of this terrestrial ball that we inhabit
and remain unmoved by the sheer magnitude and beauty of the earth and the
surrounding universe? Could it be that we don’t look up any longer? Maybe it is
because we got our noses to the grindstone, enamored by a horizontal universe,
doing all for the glory of meism (cont. 1 Cor 10:31)?
If we are not careful as believers, we can miss the message of
the natural revelation of God in creation. To him
who has an ear, let him hear; the Scriptures have joined along with the
chorus of creation, still declaring the glory of God, and there are none,
having sight and beheld the heavens in all of its glory, that have not heard
it,
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows
His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals
knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their
voice is not heard (Psa 19:1-3).
What God had done in six solar days was the unleashing of His
unfathomable power in creating the universe. Through biblical inspiration,
Moses wrote of the creation account. We have a tendency to overlook the
creative power behind the Author of the Word of God (cf. Rom 12:1-2; 2 Tim
3:16-17; Heb 4:12)?
When God speaks, something is going to happen; it’s not a
feeling; it’s a fact. Yahweh doesn’t mince words nor waste a syllable (Isa
55:8-11). It is comforting to read the words of Yahweh taking delight in …exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth (Jer
9:24).
Even with my feeble eyes of faith, I can even see that His
throne is never vacated! God rules over all of His creation! Selah. How could
Rom 8:28 be a reality in our lives 24/7/365.25 if Yahweh wasn’t the sovereign
Lord? You and I can only be at one place at any given moment, not so
with God. He is everywhere present, meaning He is all there everywhere all the
time.
There is not a star (Psa 147:4), an atom (Col 1:17) or strand of
hair (Mt 10:30) or bird (Mt 10:29) or thought or act (Psa 139:2-3; Jer 17:10)
that He is unaware of! He is not stretched to the limits of His effectiveness
by the immensity of the macro-world or the infinitesimal expanse of the
micro-world of His creation.
Yahweh never came close to exhausting His creative power during
those six days of creation because He is all-powerful and infinite, without
limitations. We marvel at some of the remarkable feats by the most powerful
weight lifters in the world; perhaps we can relate to them from a human
perspective, comparing, or more accurately, contrasting our physical abilities
with theirs; it’s depressing. I still love to watch strongman competitions,
because I am amazed by the human feats of strength. But the sheer power and
knowledge of God in speaking the universe into existence (ex nihilo) is
difficult to comprehend.
I would be crazy or suicidal to shout out to all of these
competitors in the strongman competition that they were all a bunch of wimps.
Now that would be not only disrespectful but a stupid thing to do! It is only
sensible and healthy to respect their physical prowess.
When it comes to the Almighty God, how do we draw a comparison
or relate to Him? He is; we are not. We may make claim to be made in His image,
and rightly so, but that image was marred beyond recognition by our disobedience.
Those impressive men who participate in strongman events are not in the same
league with Him who is absolutely in a league of His own -
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the
LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me (Isa
44:6).
That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that
there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other (Isa
45:6).
We can make comparisons between the sons of Adam, but relating
to the Almighty is impossible though we are created in His image. Think of some
of the attributes of Yahweh: omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent
(all-present), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnisapient (all-wise). He is
eternal, immutable, and infinite and so much more! He has no beginning, we do.
He has no end; we do in a physical sense.
Now, let me draw a rough analogy between foolishly provoking the
power of the strongest man in the world by going head to head with him and
challenging the authority of the Almighty. I am of the opinion there is no way
we are going to get up in the face of the strongest man in the world,
particularly if you are between no and where, and it is just you and him.
However, when it comes to the Almighty, the creature, namely us, we have no
problem disobeying the Creator and disrespecting Him who has infinite power;
problems ensue.
Without delving headlong into the psychology of the irrational
act of disobedience to God, suffice to say, that would be a very foolish thing
for us to do. We know the reaction of the lost, but how many believers do you
know are challenging God’s authority in their lives on a daily basis?
They make claim to be believers. They want to go to heaven, but
they want the best of both worlds, too, having their cake and eat it, too,
before they do. As one preacher put it, “They want to see how close they can
live like hell on earth and still go to heaven!” This is very shortsighted and
stupid because this world is passing away, and the
lust of it (1 Jn 2:17)! So, how do believers who thwart
the authority of the Almighty grapple with this statement, but
he who does the will of God abides forever? They
don’t; they just concentrate on their selfish motives and stay too busy to
think. Some are more inclined to take on the omnipotent Creator of Adam than a
son of Adam of limited but extraordinary strength!
There is simply no way that you and I can relate to God’s
abilities, but isn’t that a blessing rather than a burden!? I don’t know about
you, but I am thankful God is an I2P God (impossible 2 possible)! He’s got the
knowledge, the wisdom, and the power to make things happen in my life and in
yours!
Whenever we think we have a better plan for our lives than God,
there is a spiritual shifting going on we may not have anticipated.
Disobedience creates ripples. We can be forgiven of sin, but the ripple effect
continues which is why it is best not to be willfully disobedient to God and
produce unnecessary ripples in our lives that we have to live and deal with.
Adam and Eve learned that firsthand; though forgiven, transgression produces
ripples. Who retrieves a ripple in the water?
When we step outside the will of God, we move from the eternal
to temporal things, from being blessed by God to being burdened by our
disobedience, from pleasing God to pleasing self. It is definitely not a move
any of us should make. In so doing, we begin to think, speak, and run
independently of God. When we catch ourselves getting comfortable and reveling
in our autonomy, we have already migrated back into the ways of darkness that
have no interest in the things of God, which ultimately always leads to a dead
end.
This brings us to the question; if we know this, why in the
world do we go worldly? Well, because of the deceitfulness of sin, of course,
but also being self-deceived, and spiritually irresponsible. This movement away
from God doesn’t happen overnight. But when we begin this notion that we know
better than God, we are off to the races of ruin, the place of futility,
vanity, and sorrow.
Where does the strength come from to overcome this spiritual
shift back to the darkness? The answer comes from a well-known verse by the
Apostle Paul, I can do all things through Christ who is
pouring power into me (Php 4:13, literal). As
long as Jesus continues to put power into us, we can do all things.
When we choose to step outside His will, we are running on flesh-power
(cont. Gal 5:16; Eph 5:18). The key is through Christ, not
through our own strength (cont. Jn 15:5). The verb strengthens (present
active participle) means the One who continues to strengthen (cf. Eph 3:16; Col
1:11; 1 Tim 1:12; 2 Tim 4:17). We are to be strong in the Lord and in the power
of His might (Eph 6:10); the flesh is weak and incompatible with the will of
God.
It would be silly and folly for me to enter a strongman
competition, but for you and me or any believer to step outside the will of God
is silly and folly, too! Whenever we do this, what are we thinking? Oh! We
weren’t. At times I wondered what Lucifer was thinking when he rebelled against
Yahweh. Pride got him tricked out into thinking he could survive going up
against the Almighty God; it was an, I will be like the
Most High (Isa 14:14), kind of foolish thinking. How did
he think that was going to work out, anyway? How do we think it is going to
work out when we rebel against the Almighty? There is a great theological word
for it: s-t-u-p-i-d (been there done that)!
Whenever we disagree with the all-knowing and all-wise God over
something that grows and grips our hearts in such a way that we find ourselves
in a steep dark descent that obviously leads to darker places rather than walking
in the Light as He is in the Light, we get spiritually unclean and out of
fellowship with Yahweh. Essentially, it amounts to a love problem (cf. Jn
14:15, 21, 23).
The longer we remain in disagreement about this or that with
God, the more it deteriorates into something far worst. Time is not our friend
during our rebellion and neither is ego our amigo. Confess in
1 Jn 1:9 carries the idea of agreeing. If we agree with God about our sin, He
is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
This verse in John’s epistle is not referring to a salvation
experience (peace with God) but addressing the broken fellowship of an existing
relationship with Jesus (the peace of God); throw in the chastening of the Lord
and disobedience is a rough time (Heb 12:11a). We become weighed down by the
things of the world.
Then there is that still small voice to contend with. In the
hustle and bustle of seeking our own way, we may not hear it. When Jesus is not
Lord in our lives, verses like Prov 3:5-6 are not entertained in our stream of
consciousness and decision making. Spiritual principles do not dominate our
mental and spiritual landscape; our mindset is a statement to God that He is
being considered as another opinion. We maintain that our way is better or
superior (the flesh loves that).
The heavens are continually declaring the glory of God, but we
are not taking the time to look up to be reminded of His handiwork. That same
powerful Creator has the same power to work in our lives. Can you imagine
dismissing the Lord of creation over an all-about-me horizontal moment!? When
God speaks to us through creation (general revelation) or His Word (special
revelation), it would be wiser for us to listen to Yahweh for He is the great I
AM, and frankly, we are the great I ain’t without Him. <><
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all
things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must
give account (Heb 4:13).
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