Our Marvelous Creator

Recently I was impressed by the amount of consideration and detail which goes into the customising of a Rolls Royce automobile.  According to a video by Business Insider, there are 44,000 colour options and your customised colour becomes your own.  Expertly handcrafted inside and out, a Rolls Royce is a luxury ride just over 5,000 people purchase a year.  One person had the dashboard to reflect their DNA, and another decided the fibre-optic lighting in the "starline headliner" to match a constellation of stars on the day he was born.  The video went into the effort made to make the stitching of letters and images of roses pop.

When I watched this video, what I found more impressive than the cost of a Rolls Royce was the thought, engineering, and effort put into building a car that reflects the owner.  I can't help but turn my thoughts to the Creator of the universe man can only copy:  God is the One who put DNA in every living cell of our bodies, the One who spoke the stars into existence, has given us His Word, and causes flowers and all living things to grow and reproduce after their own kind.  It would be a joke to suggest a car could create or design itself, and I cannot look at a human being or the ordered, beauty of creation and imagine it accidentally came into being.  Words like design, engineered, work, planning, and expense indicate an intelligent mind, and the living things microscopic and enormous which teem on our planet are infinitely more complex and wonderful than anything made by man.

As I was taking a walk the other day, I noticed a bird feather lying on the green grass.  It occurred to me that when I was a child I would have viewed that feather as a special treasure, picked it up, and taken it home.  I had seen birds before but had never been able to touch one:  to hold and examine the feather closely was fun.  I brushed it across my skin and dropped it to see how it fell.  I noticed how light it was, how the shaft was hollow, the expertly blended colours and how different the fluffy down was from the barbs which stuck together.  As adults we see our child picking up feathers and discourage them:  "Eww, don't touch that!  It's covered in germs!"  But the child has it right.  He recognised the feather of a bird was not grass and that it was special.  Isn't it ironic a person can value a car because of the customised features and work that goes into it yet miss the capacity for such innovation and skill are gifts from God?

Psalm 19:1-3 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."  The sun, moon, and stars speak forth the glory of God, yet none of them were created in the image of God like a human being.  God has given people the capacity of thought with a will, the ability to reason, love, a thirst for knowledge, and a delight in discovery.  We are notorious for our tendency to worship the creature over the Creator, to be temporarily pleased with a gift rather than eternally celebrating our Creator.  Psalm 8:3-6 says, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, ⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? ⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet..."  Let us never lose the wonder of our great God and Saviour, the One from whom all good things come.  He is the One we should always marvel over.

Doing the Word is Work

One letter can make a huge difference in the meaning of a Bible passage.  If I read the New Testament in Greek there would be little chance of confusing "work" with "word."  I don't always wear my glasses (and maybe I should!) when I read but "ergon" looks nothing like "logos."  While I have been guilty of finishing God's sentences in the past, sometimes I have also been guilty of skimming through scripture instead of carefully reading each word.  When we do this we literally don't realise all the revelation from God we missed.

But praise the LORD, even without wearing my glasses I came upon a passage I have mis-read in times past.  I looked it up in another Bible just to make sure it wasn't a typo!  James 1:21-25 says, "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." (bold emphasis mine)  The engrafting of God's word into our hearts and minds is His work believers must cooperate with.  Both men in Jesus' parable who were building a house heard His words, but the one who obeyed them built a house which would endure on a solid foundation.

We have all seen the reflections of our face in a mirror:  some were cursory glances, to aid shaving, help with applying make-up or styling of hair.  We may check to ensure our teeth are clean or to look for the source of pain.  The person who hears the word but doesn't do it James compares to one who takes a quick look and walks away--taking no action concerning the dry slobber on the cheek, sore ingrown hairs, and severe bed-head.  Being freed from the condemnation of sin and the shackles of Law, we are to work to follow Christ's example to love God and others, to make disciples of Jesus.  Our justification and sanctification is the work of God but we too are to work as Jesus did.  Even as a youth He was about His Father's business.  Having been set free by the Gospel by grace through faith in Jesus, we are blessed as He works in and through our lives.  Without Him we cannot do anything!  We do not earn salvation by working, but Jesus has saved us to do good work (Eph. 2:8-10).

When the Word of God is engrafted into our lives it produces fruit were there was only thorns and fruitlessness previously.  Jesus is the Vine and we are grafted into Him, and the Word is engrafted into us.  We are called to be intentional in seeing the contrast between the perfect law of liberty and the bondage we foolishly place ourselves under, whether it be bondage to sin, legalism, judgment, or tradition under the guise of being more pleasing to God than being led by the Holy Spirit.  No profitable labour happens by accident no more than make-up magically bonds to your face because you slept a bit hard last night or your hair is suddenly presentable without a degree of attention.  Hearing the Word of God is not doing it, and when we have heard it we ought to put it into practice.  The one who is a doer of the work will be blessed in what he does.

God's Miraculous Restoration

God's redemptive power is seen in His power to restore what is broken to wholeness.  After the severe testing of Job God gave him double what he had previously.  His health was restored, many children were born to him, and Job was held in great honour.  Job was faced with the temptation to lament all God took from him previously or celebrate the grace and goodness of God with what He provided.  Is your tendency to grieve over what you no longer have or rejoice in God's presence today and the help He provides?

Naomi is a woman who suffered the loss of her husband and two sons in a foreign land and returned to Israel bitter and angry at God.  Her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, was all she had to show for the many years she was abroad because of famine.  Naomi said, "I went out full but the LORD has brought me home again empty."  Ouch.  Despite the bitterness of Naomi, Ruth loved her and worked to support her by gleaning in the fields of Bethlehem.  It was then God began to unfold a beautiful relationship between Ruth and Boaz, a relative of Naomi.  Her heart began to soften as Naomi sensed an opportunity for Boaz to redeem Ruth as wife, fulfilling the obligation of a kinsman redeemer to raise up seed for her household so the inheritance would be retained.  The LORD was faithful and Boaz delighted to be joined to Ruth in marriage.

Ruth 4:13-17 reads, "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. ¹⁴ Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! ¹⁵ And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him." ¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. ¹⁷ Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi." And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David."  Little Obed born to Ruth could not replace Naomi's late husband or two sons, but Ruth and her son were used by God to restore Naomi.  This child was a great comfort to elderly Naomi who had seen much evil and suffered much pain.  Her future with the little one was sweeter than the bitterness of days gone by.  Could she have remained bitter?  Sure.  But how blessed Naomi was to gladly receive this little one and hold him close to her heart:  a gift from God who would be the grandfather of King David and in the line of the Messiah Jesus Christ.

When a car is "restored" the usual intention is to return it to the original condition with stock parts--maybe with a little extra chrome under the hood.  God restores in a completely different way:  He transforms us and brings us into seasons we have never experienced before.  Naomi went from being a widow and childless to being a grandmother.  She had a daughter-in-law from Moab who loved her who was better to her than seven sons!  A woman in Israel would have given almost anything to have seven sons who might fall in battle in a day, yet Ruth and Obed were precious gifts from God Naomi could rejoice in all her days.  Because God is with us and will never forsake us we can be bold in declaring His goodness and provision even when we have suffered loss (Hebrews 13:5-6).  We can choose to regret our past or rejoice in our Saviour who holds us close.  Fear and feelings of shame are drowned in the goodness and grace of our God.  The spiritual metamorphosis Christians experience by faith in Jesus leaves nothing to be lamented.

Joel 2:21-27 reads, "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done marvelous things! ²² Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. ²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you--the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. ²⁴ The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. ²⁵ "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. ²⁶ You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. ²⁷ Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame."

More Than Reformation

When Jesus walked through Israel teaching and doing wonders people disagreed about His true identity.  Some said he was John the Baptist, others claimed he was Elijah, or one of the old prophets had been reincarnated or risen from the dead.  None of these contradictory opinions were true because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Elijah and John were reformers but Jesus was a Redeemer.  We know our Redeemer lives because He is risen!

Elijah spoke strongly against the regime of King Ahab and the idolatrous condition of the nation.  He conducted a test between the prophets of Ba'al and himself to prove to the people who was the true God to be worshipped, and God answered with fire from heaven.  Having exposed Ba'als prophets as frauds, they were swiftly executed.  John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance, driving home to individuals their need to confess sin and change.  Various groups of people (including tax collectors and soldiers) asked what they needed to do in light of their present situation and John the Baptist provided guidance (Luke 3:10-14).  John boldly spoke against the unlawful conduct of Herod and was imprisoned.

It was around this time Jesus began preaching repentance and the kingdom of God through the Gospel.  It seems many people, including the disciples of Jesus, expected Him to do as they imagined Elijah or John the Baptist had done.  Jesus explained He did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets but to fulfill, to bring them to completion.  He did not push for social or political reform but demonstrated the love of God for sinners by dying on the cross for their sins as the Lamb of God without blemish.  He did not come to reform people or to improve living conditions for men on earth but to redeem all who believe and provide spiritual transformation.  People looked for Jesus to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem by force, but Jesus established His kingdom by grace through faith in love.

People would have been content with government reformation and social improvements yet God intended to redeem.  This means He is not in a hurry (like we often are) to change our circumstances for the better.  The scripture reveals our good God allows suffering and pain for His redemptive purposes.  Instead of making us calloused towards the suffering of others or indifferent towards our own, remember God is a Redeemer who is compassionate, gracious and merciful.  Having received such grace and kindness such qualities ought to mark our lives as we take courage in the God who will never leave or forsake us.  May our prayers and desires move from directing God to "Do this!"  or "Change that!" to "Thank you God for being my Redeemer."