Tag Archives: the Creator

Do You Worship Idols?

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Isaiah 44

Are wood and molded metal the only kinds of idols out there? I don’t know anyone who has a statue they worship in their home. But I know many people (me included at times) who have fashioned gods to our own liking, and worship them.

Some worship self, others nature, the stars and moon. Some worship ancestors, some make gods out of relationship, careers, pubic figures, even their automobiles! There are those who twist the truth about Jesus to be loving without being holy, to be forgiving without being the righteous Judge, to being one of many ways to the Father, and accepting of all people everywhere without the need for repentance.

Most people would say they don’t worship idols. But their actions and priorities say something quite different. I know God is speaking through Isaiah about the wooden statues people were worshiping at that time. But I believe Scripture always has something to say to us as well whenever we read it.

I like how the NLT says so clearly what God would say to those who put anything or anyone above our devotion to Him:

How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. (vs 9)

Who but a fool would make his own god – an idol that cannot help him one bit! (vs 10)

Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. (vs 18)

The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie? (vs 20)

I pray none of those verses describe you. But I think God would have us all do an idol-check in our hearts. Hear God say repeatedly:

I am the Lord and there is no other. (vs 6b)

I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right. vs 19)

Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. (vs 22)

I hope you’ll read this chapter in God’s Word and see the spiritual parallel that is there. Maybe it’s time we quit telling ourselves that God is just one of many, that His Word is outdated, not necessarily true for everyone. Maybe it’s time that we truly submitted to the Creator God because…

What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. vs 9a)

Don’t Lose Your Awe (Proverbs 30)

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It has been said we are in the Information Age. Do you have a question about something? Google it. You will have more information at your fingertips than you’ll know what to do with. I don’t think there is a topic out there that isn’t covered on the web.

Agur reminds us, however, that there are some things that are too wonderful for even Google to understand. He starts out by admitting he’s not God. He acknowledges that “every word of God is flawless,” and that we don’t need to add anything to what God has revealed to us. If we try, we’ll be found out as liars. God has all the answers. We don’t. We never will.

Then Agur looks in awe at Creation. He looks at an eagle flying in the sky, a snake crawling on a rock. He watches an ant, a badger, locusts, lizards, lions, roosters, and rams, and seems to just say, “Wow.” Some things are just too wonderful to understand.

Do you think you have everything figured out, that you understand the human body, the ecosystem, the physics and science behind nature? You may have studied these things for years, have multiple degrees on any given subject. That’s awesome! Just don’t lose your wonder.

Take a minute. Put down your phone. Turn off the TV. Then watch that eagle soaring in the sky, the bumblebee sitting on that daisy, the clouds as they lazily cross the sky, the ant carrying that bread crumb on its back, a panting dog, the tiny fingernail of a child.

Notice how when you inhale, your lungs fill with oxygen. Feel your heart beating. Become aware of the blink of your eye. Enjoy the smell of roses in your garden.

Yes, there are scientific reasons for things. And good for you if you’ve got an understanding of those scientific reasons. But allow yourself to be awed by science, too. God created science.

God created order. Thoughtfully, carefully, intentionally, everything that is was amazingly designed by God. With. A. Word. Don’t even pretend you understand how He did that! There are some things too wonderful for us to know.

Then consider this: the same God who fashioned this world from nothing, loves YOU. He wants to have a relationship with YOU. He died so that YOU can know Him intimately, eternally.

Let’s not lose our wonder just because we can fill our heads with information. This world is amazing. Our Creator is far above any explanation, the Bible far superior to any scientific journal.

Don’t lose your awe.

The King (Psalms 1-2, 15, 22-24, 47, 68)

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David was a powerful, popular king in his day. Yet he often talked about God as being the King over all kings. Even in the height of his reign, David knew he was really just a worm. (Psalm 22:6)

Got me thinking about what kind of King God really is. Here is some of what David says about that:

First of all, David tells us that God the King has a powerful army at His disposal. Ten thousands and thousands of thousands of chariots ready to move at His command. (68:17) In fact, David tells us all the kings of the earth belong to God. (47:9) God is the King of Kings!

The King of glory, strong and mighty. Who is this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – HE is the King of glory. (24:10)

I can know without a shadow of a doubt that my King has absolute power over my enemy Satan, and his weapons of sin. At any time, the whole angel army will fight for me as a child of the King.

David describes our King as a Shepherd (Psalm 23). That is quite a different picture than that of a powerful king. A shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, a shepherd gives up house and home to stay with the sheep, to protect them and make sure they are fed. That’s who God is to His sheep.

David also tells us our King is our Savior, that he blesses and vindicates those who seek His face (24:6). In fact, our King Savior died in order to save us. (Psalm 22)

David talks about our King as our Creator in Psalm 22. Our King is near to us, He hears the prayer of those who trust Him.

And finally, David declares that one day every knee will bow to the King of Kings (22:27-28). God is not the king of Christians. God is the King of everyone who has ever lived since the beginning of time. And one day, no one will be able to deny that Truth.

What a privilege to be the child of the King of Kings, the Shepherd’s lamb, protected by, loved by, blessed by the Lord God Almighty!

 

 

 

 

Knowing God (Job 40-42)

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“Well, when you put it like that, Lord…”

After months, maybe years of heartache and loss, with questions unanswered, God finally speaks to Job. But God doesn’t answer one of Job’s questions. Instead He asked questions of Job (and us) which we should not ignore. In those questions is exactly what God wants us to know about Him.

I hope you’ll read Job 40-42 today. And instead of wondering what a behemoth was, or if a leviathan was a fire-breathing dragon, hear what God wants you to know about Himself. Don’t just see bronze-like bones, or lightning-producing sneezes. See God! See the God who is more powerful than anything He created.

Then, I hope you will respond like Job responded. Don’t miss 42:5-6.

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Job had thought he knew God. But his knowledge about God wasn’t enough. When Job finally was faced with WHO GOD IS, he could only fall on his face before Him, despise himself for things done and thoughts thoughts, and repent of it all.

My prayer is that all of us will do the same.

 

July 18; Who Is God?

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Isaiah 43-46

Some days you just have to let God speak for Himself.

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” (43:10-11)

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (43:25)

“I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” (44:6b)

This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…” (44:24)

For this is what the Lord says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (45:18)

“Even to your old age, and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (46:4)

“Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (46:8-9)

I bear witness: God is who He says He is. The Bible tells me that. And He has shown Himself to be true in my life. There is no other god. None.

These are only a few verses I read today that declare the identity of God. I hope you’ll read all that He has to say about Himself, and His relationship to you. Listen to His heart.

I love God, who tells me not to fear, that He is with me, that He saves me. And He never fails.

How can such a great, awesome, powerful God be so personal? Because HE IS!

April 30 – He Just Did

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Psalms 102-104

Creation or evolution? Purpose or chance? People have been trying to figure out the “how” of our existence for thousands of years. Even the psalmist considered the subject. But when considering life, the psalmist often throws in a verse or two that points to our Creator.

Like 102:25. He’s talking about his short life compared to God’s eternal one, and says: “Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.”

The entire 104th psalm celebrates creation, and the fact that God didn’t stop at creation, but that He continues to care for this world yet today.

There need by no mystery as to how we got here. It’s all here for us in detail in the Words God inspired men to write. Everything we need to know! How did God make something from nothing? I don’t know. He just did. He’s God.

Knowing the God of Creation loves me and longs for fellowship with me makes how He breathed life into mankind insignificant. In fact, I might go as far as to say spending more time searching for answers can be Satan’s way of getting our eyes off God Himself, of keeping us from that fellowship with the Lord. In eternity, those answers will no longer seem important.

Just because I don’t have a scientific mind, doesn’t mean I think that being curious is a sin. It isn’t. I’m glad God has used scientific, questioning minds to improve our life on this planet. But I would ask you who do have that scientific curiosity, why you ask those questions? Is it to prove there is no God? Or to make yourself equal to God? Or to better appreciate the creation?

My longing isn’t for knowledge, or answers derived from someone’s opinion. I can let God be God. And I can enjoy His Presence through the blood of Jesus. I can enjoy the warm sun on my skin, the sounds of birds in the green trees, be refreshed by a spring rain, and have complete faith in the Creator.

I hope you can do the same, even if you are sitting there enjoying the sun God created, and trying to figure out how that bumblebee is able to fly.

Listen For The Whisper

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Job, in chapter 26, tries to say how big, how powerful, how awe-inspiring is God. God is supreme over death and hell. He is supreme over creation: “He hangs the earth on nothing.” And God is supreme over heaven.

Job tells us that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just what we can know of God. God is greater, more powerful than we can even imagine!

Then in verse 14 he says, “…and how small a whisper we hear of him…”

What we see around us, what we experience in life is such a small part of WHO God really is. Our human minds can’t comprehend his reality.

A whisper is something you can only hear close up. That’s what spoke to me in this verse today. This immense God leans in so we can hear him. As mighty as he is, as awesome, and as enormous his reach, he is also personal, wanting us to know him.

He whispers to us through his Word, through the birth of a baby, through struggles and joys, through a budding rose, and a summer rain. “Here I am,” he says to us. “I love you. I died for you. I want to walk with you today.”

Listen for the whisper!

Message in the Clouds

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My sister teaches science to middle schoolers. She is a Christian woman with a very scientific mind. And, yes, those two are not mutually exclusive!

I was walking with her yesterday and she pointed out some wispy clouds in the sky. They were beautiful and delicate, just like lace. She told me those clouds indicated a storm was coming.

The sky was blue. The streaks of white painted a gorgeous picture. It looked anything but stormy. She told me about the different levels of atmosphere and fronts and why those clouds warned of impending rain. But I have to confess, I couldn’t see it. I only saw a breathtakingly beautiful blue sky.

This morning, at about 2:00, I was awakened by a clap of thunder. I listened as rain pelted my window. Those delicate clouds were not wrong.

David tells us in Psalm 19 that the heavens proclaim the glory of God. In fact, all of nature points to the Creator, his power and majesty. Whether enjoying a colorful sunrise, watching trees and flowers come to life in the spring, gazing at stars and realizing the enormity of space, or holding a newborn baby and marveling at the wonder of birth, God is evident in nature.

You can try to deny it. But denying God just makes you look foolish.(Psalm 14:1, 53:1; I Corinthians 1:23-24)

David reminds us that the heavens, although wordless, speak loudly of God’s glory and craftsmanship. The NLT translates Psalm 19:2-4  like this:

Day after day they continue to speak;

night after night they make him known.

They speak without a sound or word;

their voice is never heard.

Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,

and their words to all the world.

To think this powerful Creator wants to walk with me. With you. Do you know him? Have you accepted his Son Jesus as your Savior, repenting of sin and allowing him to free you? Then you can fellowship with the Creator David writes about in the Psalm.

Look to the sky. The clouds are shouting a message to you that God wants you to hear. He is real. He is the Creator. He loves you. And he wants to forgive you so he can walk with you today and in eternity.

My Creator, I praise you for this world that you designed for us to enjoy. I thank you for the warmth of the sun, the changing of the seasons, a cool breeze, or sparkling snow. I thank you for clouds and stars, the moon and blue skies, for rain and blooming flowers. And I thank you that your name is written all over creation. I pray for those reading this today. May we each recognize your power and craftsmanship and declare with nature that you are God. I pray that each of us will bow before you, repent of sin, accept Jesus’ grace, and walk with you today. What a privilege! Thank you, my Creator, for this beautiful world.