God Is Creator

"I have made the earth, and created man on it. I--My hands--stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded."

Isaiah 45:12

Many times God identifies Himself in scripture as the God who created all things, and thus He has supremacy over all things that were, are and will ever be.  It is strange to me, bizarre even, when professing believers deny this foundational and simple fact of God's character by ascribing to Darwinian evolution as an explanation for the origin of man, the earth or the universe.  God says He is the Creator also says He is the LORD, a Saviour and King.  In allowing His status as Creator to be undermined, all the rest can tumble along with it.  Either God created the feathers and behaviours of ducks, geese and eagles to be different from one another, or we must credit the blind, dumb chance of evolution.

God often told His people to remember what He had done, and in remembering His work in creating the world and birthing the nation Israel from slavery in Egypt was a boon to their faith in present trials.  Since God is able to say, "Let there be light!" and there was light, He can shed light on the darkest circumstances we may face.  Hear the word of the LORD in Isaiah 45:5-8:  "I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, ⁶ that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; ⁷ I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.' ⁸ "Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it."

During our lives on earth we will encounter many ideas and notions that vie for rule over our lives.  God is the LORD in truth, yet man can be content to serve lesser gods--even himself.  Men have given themselves over to the praise of men; some have committed themselves fully to an art form, sold out for money or the pursuit of various pleasures and power.  Many bow down before the god of evolution as the cause of the diversity in living things, glorifying the creature over the Creator.  God gives every person, based on considering the evidence with rational minds He has provided us, the opportunity to decide He is indeed the Creator who does these things, or He is not really the LORD He claims to be.

Since God has stretched out and commands the host of heaven, how humbling it is He would reveal Himself to us as our Creator, the God unlike any other:  He forms the light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates calamity.  He does all these things and accomplishes His divine purposes which are glorious, resulting in salvation and righteousness.  God sent His only begotten Son Jesus for the express purpose of redeeming mankind and giving us eternal life Darwinian evolutionary processes cannot observe, provide or promise.  If you believe God is the LORD of all, why deny He created all things like He said?

Man Repents and God Relents

We are blessed beyond words God graciously chooses to make Himself known.  He is unapproachable in glory yet revealed Himself to us that we fear Him and walk in His steps.  There remains a lot of misconceptions and erroneous caricatures of God which persist to this day, that He is ruthless or bloodthirsty, that He takes pleasure in punishing evildoers.  We humans have a tendency to project our own faults on others, and God is not excluded.

See what the LORD said in Jeremiah 26:2-3  "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word. ³ Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.'"  Being a righteous and just God, the sins of His people demanded judgment.  God sought an opportunity to relent from doing them harm by exhorting them to turn from their evil ways:  if they would repent of their sin, God would relent.  They were heading towards certain destruction, and God illuminated the way of life so they would choose His way instead.

God is not cruel or mean to urge the prophet Jeremiah not to "diminish a word" of His severe warning, for that would provide the strongest impetus for them to change.  Sometimes it takes a life-threatening illness to prompt a person to make changes to their lifestyle because it did not previously seem necessary.  God gave everyone an opportunity to heed His word in the Law and Prophets, for He supplied a way of escape through faith and obedience to Him.  When the destruction of Jerusalem was assured because of the people's refusal to obey God, only a fool would blame Him for their plight because He provided sure hope they dismissed.

The diminishment of the warnings of God's impending justice for sinners, whether they know and trust God or not, is a potential reason people do not recognise a pressing need for repentance of sin.  The dire warnings did not mean people would necessarily believe and repent, but this was the responsibility of the hearers.  Jeremiah's responsibility was to speak all the words God commanded him to those who would come to worship in the LORD's house without diminishing a word.  God tells us like it is whether we approve or not, and praise God His purpose is to relent from doing harm our sins demand.

My God Came Down

God's word is more than a treasure we hold with our hands or read with our eyes.  It goes to work on our hearts and minds, revealing the reality of God's goodness to people who were once blind and in spiritual darkness.  It has power to cleanse our minds from error as we drink it in and works to strengthen our faith as we heed it.  It reveals plainly spiritual and practical realities that were in operation long before we were  made aware of them.  Paul said he would not have known sin except by the Law of Moses, and we Gentiles would not have known or recognised Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah without God's word.

It is remarkable how God chose to inhabit human form and come to earth to seek and save sinners Himself.  It was incredible enough when He thundered and spoke from Mount Sinai; it was wonderful how He spoke to Elijah in a small, still voice.  Yet God did more than stoop to behold us in our condemned state, for He became one of us.  He brought the power, wisdom and love of God down to our level as He walked among men.  Luke 6:17-18 says of Jesus, "And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, ¹⁸ as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed."

After calling His apostles on the mount, Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place--literally and in a spiritual sense.  He came down to the level of people who were from all over, a multitude of Jews and Gentiles who came to hear Him, be healed of their diseases and delivered from the torment of unclean spirits.  They were healed because they came to Jesus who is able to save all who come to Him.  The miraculous healing Jesus performed was a sign that directed people to consider Who He was, that He was the Messiah God prophesied would be sent.  They would see the excellency of God in what He would do among them as Isaiah 35:4-6 reads, "Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶ Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert."

Who but Jesus has opened the eyes of people born blind, cause the deaf to hear and the lame to leap?  Who else can give the Living Water of the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?  Though His vengeance is yet to be displayed to all, let us praise Him with our whole hearts for coming down to our level, for revealing Himself as the Light of the World to those who were in darkness awaiting eternal judgment. May our praise, gratitude and thanksgiving be lifted up to His throne of grace, where having sat down He reigns on high over all.

Seeing Our Need

There are things in life that do not resolve well on their own.  Without medical intervention there are a myriad of health problems which persist until they are intentionally treated.  I remember my Granddad had cataracts, which is a clouding of the lens in the eye.  It progressed to a point while driving he struggled to make out whether the light was illuminated green or red!  After submitting to a surgical procedure, he was able to see clearly.  With the advances of technology, what was once a risky operation with common poor outcomes is now safe and very effective.

As cataracts are a condition which progress over time and cause blindness, so it is spiritually with pride.  If left unchecked, pride progressively leads to the destruction of people and nations--and pride does not appreciate being checked!  Even as cataracts are often a result of the ageing process, it seems success and prosperity can play a role in feeding and coddling pride.  At one time king Saul was a humble man, but only after a matter of years of being crowned he was no longer small in his own eyes.  He sought praise and adoration of his people, blowing a trumpet to announce his successful military operations.  King Nebuchadnezzar also was filled with pride, and though being warned by God was likely unwilling and unable to humble himself because he was saturated with it.  The person blinded by a cataract cannot see what they are blind to.

Pride is not only a dangerous pitfall for the powerful or wealthy.  After God delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He warned them not to be lifted up with pride and forget the LORD God and all He had done for them:  they needed God in prosperity even as they cried out to Him for help in poverty.  Moses wrote to God's people in Deuteronomy 8:11-19:

"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, ¹² lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴ when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵ who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end--¹⁷ then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' ¹⁸ And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."

When we have eaten and are full, we lack hunger that prompted us to eat in the first place.  Having a comfortable house, stores of food and money to purchase all we need can cause us to forget how much we still need God.  Amazingly, pride would cause the perspective of the people to be distorted to believe it was by their power and might of their hands that was responsible for their prosperity rather than God who delivered them from slavery, led them through the wilderness, protected them from harm, miraculously provided water from the rock, fed them with bread from heaven.  God brought them through difficult trials to humble them to learn to fear the LORD and rely upon Him for all things, for He is the source of all good we enjoy.  God made a covenant with His people to exclusively serve Him, and if or when they were lifted up with pride and deviated from his covenant, it would be their ruin.

Cataracts have been blinding people for millennia, and pride has led to the condemnation of Satan, kings and people from the beginning of time.  Samuel couldn't do anything about Saul's pride, and Daniel couldn't do anything about Nebuchadnezzar's pride.  Like my Granddad needed to make an appointment and go to the doctor, to humble himself to undergo a procedure, so we must each humble ourselves before the holy God.  Unlike cataracts which only affect a portion of people, pride is endemic to all people.  In His wisdom, God allows things we see as bad or negative to remind us of how much we need Him.  If you look around and see things as bad and growing worse, then our role is to humble ourselves before God.

Consider what God said to Solomon after he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem to the LORD with feasting in 2 Chronicles 7:13-16:  "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."  The implications of God's promise is immense when we consider the new covenant by the blood of Jesus makes every born-again Christian the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We ought to have no allowances for pride in us (though it rises up continually in the flesh), for Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners.

It is for us, fellow believers, to humble ourselves, pray and seek the LORD's face, to turn from our wicked ways, and we have the promise God will certainly hear our prayers and answer.  He has forgiveness and healing for the land of all who draw near to Him in faith.  A land may be marred with bloodshed and soaked with tears, yet there remains hope in God.  His eyes are open to see believers' plight and His ear attentive to our voices, for He has chosen and sanctified us by grace.  We are His precious, purchased possession for all eternity.  God said of the temple that once stood, "My eye and My heart will be there perpetually," and this is true regarding the presence of the Holy Spirit who resides within us.  How humbling it is to know God, and blessed it the man who knows He needs God in prosperity.  Such will even praise and thank God in adversity, for it is a gentle, merciful and gracious reminder of our need for Him always.