Hung on Nothing

"There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord."

Proverbs 21:30

The Bible says "He who glories, let Him glory in the LORD" (1 Cor. 1:31).  It is no fault for a man to boast in the Living God.  We are shamed when we do not do so.  For a moment, consider the inestimable wisdom and knowledge of God.  Job says in Job 26:7, "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing."  How God suspends the earth in the vacuum of space with a unique atmosphere which supports humans, animals, plant life, gasses, minerals, and elements all working together...it is too much for the mind to take in.  A man comes home from work and hangs his jacket on a hook - a jacket he could likely not sew together even if all the fabric was already woven for him and he had a month to practice!  A metal hook is employed which he could not cast, shape, or beat into a useful form even if all the tools were provided.  The jacket hangs because of gravity, a means devised by God to illustrate His perfection and unchanging glory in natural law.  Gravity itself screams, "Fall down before your Creator, mortal man!"

Man, though finite in wisdom, is seemingly infinite in foolishness.  He explains away the glory of God in nature and the testimony of our conscience through "natural process."  The worldwide secular erosion of belief in God, much less the Biblical view of Him, is more pronounced every day.  There is no "nature" without God and no absolute law; there is nothing solid, stable, or constant without Him.  Men wish to be their own god, yet they cannot hang their store-bought coats on nothing.  They may implement countless atheistic, hedonistic, and worldly philosophies of men and women in schools and universities.  People may rage against God with marches, editorials, speeches, and rallies.  But no matter how the world may rebel against God, He remains the same.  He wisdom is infinite, and His ways and thoughts past finding out.

God is real and His Word is true.  Even if  every copy of the Bible was burned it will not change the unalterable truth which it contains.  Rage against God if you dare, o man - but know you only add to your guilt.  Is not His wisdom beyond human understanding?  He gives man a choice:  salvation or damnation, faith or denial, submission or rebellion.  Man is allowed to take the path he chooses.  I have heard it said the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but it would be better said that it is paved with wicked intentions which seem good to a man.  Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."  Man cannot travel to the moon unassisted, nor can he dive to the bottom of the ocean - so what would possess him to think he can get to heaven on his own merit?  May we come to our senses!  There is no wisdom, understanding, or counsel against the LORD.  Repent and follow Jesus Christ, for He speaks the words of life.  His love, mercy, and goodness are from everlasting to everlasting.  The One who hung the earth on nothing can also walk on water.  Let's follow Him!

Where's my truck?

I've been working late the last couple nights.  Laura walked into the den this morning and said, "Where's your truck?"  I'm thinking it should be right where I left it.  It did not take me long to realize that my truck was indeed NOT where I left it.  Instead of my truck there were trash cans waiting to be picked up.  I called the police and reported my truck stolen.  While I was contacting the police department, I asked Laura to drive around our neighborhood to see if she could find it.  I just filled up with a full tank of gas and the odds were against us finding it.

With God, there are no such thing as odds.  Within five minutes Laura was calling me to say she had found the truck three blocks away.  The tool box looked intact (my chief concern!) and it looked like the interior had been rifled through.  After a policeman arrived to file a report and looked things over, nothing appears to have been stolen.  The thieves jammed something in the ignition but the doors look fine.  Amazingly, within three hours of reporting the truck stolen, it had been towed to a mechanic for repairs.  God willing I shall have my wheels and tools back for work tomorrow!  The policeman said I was very lucky, but I give God the credit.  He does things not for our convenience, but that He might receive the glory.

I suppose what I draw from this experience is God remains in control whether thieves break in and steal or if we dwell in relative safety.  Would God be a bad God if my truck had been cut stripped of parts, every tool stolen, and found two months from now in Mexico?  No.  God would still be the great, awesome, all-powerful, gracious, and loving God He has always been.  Though I don't know why, God has chosen to knit this experience in the fabric of my life on earth.  It's an opportunity to be tested and for God to prove Himself faithful again.  We can lose everything of monetary value on this earth but God still remains.  His love fails not, and His mercies are new every morning.  "Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him."

Questions

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. [6] For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. [8] We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- [10] always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. [11] For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."
2 Cor. 4:5-11

I planned on writing on this yesterday but I pulled a double shift (6am-2pm and 4pm-12am).  Hope it's right on time!  I suppose there are several parts of the passage which I've been mulling over.  Though we would likely never admit we think the Christian walk of faith in Christ will be easy, we sometimes wish it to was easier!  We read of men and women of faith in scripture doing valiant things for God's glory.  There are successes, failures, moments of doubt and boldness alike.

As I read this passage over and over, I noticed all the things which Paul claims marked his life as a believer.  We are hard pressed on every said, Paul says.  We are perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and ultimately delivered to death for Christ's sake.  There was one of these experiences which we might think was due to a lack of faith:  being perplexed.  I freely confess I am very familiar with being perplexed.  But as Paul says, we are perplexed but not in despair.  It is faith in Christ and His sovereign plan which keeps us from despair.  It is not a sin to be perplexed any more than being hard pressed on every side.

There is a tendency for us Christians to think that we must have all the answers, we must have knowledge to combat every doubt of the world.  We feel foolish when we are ignorant - "I should have known that," we think.  Yet isn't it true that ignorance marks mankind more than knowledge?  For all a man might know there is much more he recognizes he does not know.  A perplexed mind is a working mind.  If you are walking with Jesus and are not at times perplexed, I wonder how that could be.  The disciples were always asking Jesus to explain things because they did not understand.  It's crazy with all the time I have spent teaching adults and youth how few questions I have fielded over that time.  God made our minds to think.  The more we think the more questions we will have.  We should ask questions of God, not question Him.

I am comforted by the fact Jesus never upbraided his disciples for asking a question because they saw themselves ignorant.  People sometimes ask questions to test others, not because they are seeking wisdom.  But I believe scripture reveals how God honors the questions of those who ask in faith seeking God's wisdom in a situation.  We often are looking for clear-cut answers.  Sometimes the answers never seem to come.  But in His grace and mercy God leads us away from despair and doubt.  We need not wallow in despair.  He wants to turn our thoughts from obstacles or struggles and onto Him.  We might not have answers and perhaps we never will.  But let us pray that whatever we face causes the life of Christ to be manifested through us.

Particularized Trust

I read an interesting article in Time by James Poniewozik today called "The Myth of Fact."  "Technology now enables rumors to spread at the speed of the Forward E-Mail button," he writes.  "But the common explanation - that new media let us self-select into groups and never hear news that contradicts our beliefs - may be too simple.  We do hear contradictory news.  But we have better ways to invalidate it...Farhead Manjoo writes that the rise of self-selecting media tribes has led to a decrease in "generalized trust" but an increase in "particularized trust"...People now live in self-buttressing fortresses of myth, where debunking a belief only confirms it."

The internet and media have brought an abundance of information unparalleled in history.  With an abundance of information has ushered in an incredible amount of mis-information.   It is so easy to pick and choose which version of the truth we are comfortable with or suits our pre-conceived bias.  For instance, there is currently a debate raging concerning the establishment of a mosque near where the Twin Towers fell in New York on 9/11.  NBC claims President Obama "endorsed" the building of a mosque near Ground Zero.  Another local new agency starts an article with this statement:  "After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it."  NPR states something different:  "...President Barack Obama said Saturday that Muslims have the right to build a mosque near New York's ground zero, but he did not say whether he believes it is a good idea to do so."  So does President Obama "support" the establishment of a mosque or just the right of muslims to build one?  It is likely only he knows.

With all of this rhetoric, what more do we really learn?  All we have done is confirm our previous beliefs of President Obama.  The same thing can happen between church fellowships and their interpretation of scripture.  People bounce from group to group, looking more for style than substance.  The very real danger is we would bring a worldly perspective to the Bible instead of allowing scripture to confront our bias.  The Bible is living and powerful, able to speak to any situation or person.  One verse may have many different applications but the truth remains unchanged forever.  Scripture is multi-faceted, not limited to a single idea or theme.  But the overall theme of scripture is God Himself.  We learn of His character, attributes, holiness, and purity.  It is in learning of Him that we see ourselves in our proper light:  we are sinners, without hope of salvation through us.

When was the last time you read the Bible and learned something completely new?  It should happen all the time.  God says things that can be downright shocking to our flesh, totally different than we would expect.  But God must be trusted, and His Word remain our sure foundation.  One thing God will NEVER do is contradict Himself.  If there is an apparent contradiction, it is our failure to understand.  As Paul says in Romans 3:4, "...Let God be true but every man a liar."  Our beliefs evolve over time as we gain more information.  Often when we are young in Christ we are very rigid in our views and think everyone should see things the way we do.  But as we mature and grow we realize we weren't as right as we once thought we were about everything.  God does not evolve and neither does His character.

We should not treat the books of the Bible like the hordes of news agencies which vie for our viewership.  One book should not be discounted because of another, neither should we ignore the Old Testament for the New or vice-versa.  The same God can be seen throughout both, for He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever.  The New Covenant has replaced the Old, but His Word will endure forever no matter when it was spoken.  Let's give God an invitation to debunk every false myth we might cherish about Him above His Word.  He remains the authority no matter what we think of Him!  Thank God for the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and quickens our understanding to receive of it.  May we grow in "particularized trust" in our God and His Word.