QUOTE (Nicolaus Steno) – Jan 10

“One sins against the majesty of God by being unwilling to look into nature’s own works.”

“Beautiful is what we see. More beautiful is what we understand. Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend.”

“Who looks at a meadow from a distance in the loveliest time of year, experiences a most pleasant visual sensation from the mingling of delightful colors. But when then he stoops over the meadow itself to look more closely at the leaves and flowers of the individual plants, such a variety and beauty of shapes and colors unveil themselves that he is compelled to exclaim: from a distance they appear beautiful, but nearby they are far more beautiful! But if, indeed, he proceeds even further and examines in one single plant the inner structure of the different constituent parts, the goings and displacements of the fluids which perform all (vital) actions, in the transition from seed to the mature plant producing new seed, even if he becomes acquainted very little with all that as if it were though mist, yet he sees enough to acknowledge that the pleasure experienced from what is known is nothing compared to that he would experience if he could know all that lies hidden.”
~Nicolaus Steno

In honor of Nicolas Steno, Catholic Bishop and Danish Scientist considered by many to be the father of geology, who was born on this day in 1638.

Resources:
This Day in History for 10^th January
Nicolaus Steno: Biography and Original Papers of a 17th Century Scientist
Nicolas Steno on Christian Responsibility
Geological Pioneer – Nicolaus Steno was a Biblical Creationist

 

“FEARING TO FEAR” – Dec 13

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

I gazed up at the night sky on my drive home from work the other day.  It was an incredible display – stars deep and bright posing a mysterious question that challenged exploration and elicited awe.  The fullness of the expanse shrunk the office entanglements that still clung to my consciousness.  The burdens and responsibilities of a small business owner failed to rise above the trivial when confronted by the breath and complexity of this natural world painted across the black canvas of a night sky.

(Image: Yayoi Kusama  I Who Have Arrived In Heaven )

I felt a familiar sense of fear as I gawked at that night sky.

The implications of creation that come from a clear night sky are daunting upon contemplation.  We live in a world of intricate detail and minute precision.  It is a world of impassable distances and staggering scale.  Our discoveries reveal how much we do not know or understand.  There are many theories of how all that surrounds us came to be.  Most of these theories demand a faith of the adherent that is greater than any religion.  They yield to these theories to avoid the natural response of the alternative.  The natural response to contemplating this world as the product of a Creator’s hand is trepidation.

lrargerich / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

The realization that we are not alone should be jarring.

The presence of a Creator diminishes all of the accomplishments of man.

The theories and physical laws of human intellects climbing the heights of knowledge appear as mere children’s stories in contrast to the knowledge of a Creator who caused the ordering of those laws.

We lay defenseless before a Creator who gave the sun its energy.

We are but grains of sand on a limitless beach when the timeless reach of an infinite Creator is considered.

A living and active God, who has the power to create, changes the world that we live in.

Who can stand before one such as He?
What strength must one have to contend with the One who has created?
What claim can be made of the One who is without peer?

j-dub1980(THANK YOU FOR 100k+ Views) / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Sanity demands a response of the created for their Creator.

Fear is the sane response to the power of the Creator of the scale and scope of our world.
Fear is the reasoned emotion to the incomprehensibility of the Creator who speaks matter into existence.
Fear of Him who created the heavens and earth should be what all people feel.

Thankfully, the created were not left in the uncertainty of the knowledge of a Creator’s existence, absent his character – that would be terrifying.

God has revealed himself throughout scripture.  He revealed Himself generally through His creation but specifically through His prophets, disciples, apostles and Son.  He has shown Himself to be a Creator who abounds in grace and mercy for those He has created.  He has proven Himself faithful even when His creation was unfaithful.  He has demonstrated patience in response to blasphemy.  He displayed the greatest love ever known.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  (John 3:16-17)

However, the revelation of the Creator through scripture begins with fear.  I do not think that it was happenstance that the first verse of the Bible proclaims God as the creator of the heavens and earth.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.  His praise endures forever!  (Psalm 111:10)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

All decisions begin with knowledge.  God wills us to be knowledgeable because true knowledge of the Creator leads to us to a savior.  I do not believe that a sane person who truly believes in creator God, who knows their unrighteousness, who has had their mind open to redemption of the blood of Christ on the cross, will ever reject the redemptive plan that the Creator knew when He hung the star of Bethlehem in the night sky.

The beginning of that journey to salvation begins with the fear of the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.  Until we acknowledge God as creator, we will never be humbled enough to know Him as Lord and Savior.

The fear of the Lord is a precious gift.  The overwhelming awareness that we are in the presence of the magnificent God of the universe should humble us.

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.  (Numbers 14:18)

The doorway to true worship is knowledge of who we are worshiping.  That doorway is latched with the fear of the Lord.  It will do us well to periodically come back to the beginning of faith, to be humble by the healthy fear of our Creator.

lrargerich / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

We are blessed to be diminished by the Creator of the night sky.

We need not fear to fear our Lord.  It is not a fear that causes us to flee.  It is a fear that beckons us to draw near.  Honest fear of the incomprehensible Father of heaven and earth ushers us into deep and meaningful worship of the Creator who saves and the incomprehensible extent of his mercy, grace, and love.

PRAYER: O Lord, you are great and greatly to be praised.  I stand before You humbled by the reality of your magnificence.  You are God, the One and only.  I will trust in You and not be shaken for You hold all the world in your hand.  I can rest in You alone because you are the creator.  Nothing is impossible for the One who has the power to breathe the breath of life.  Thank you for teaching me to fear You.  Thank you for using that knowledge to draw me to yourself.  You truly are glorified in all of your creation.  May you be glorified in me.  I praise you, O Lord.   I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“The humility of wisdom is the happy consciousness that all things come from God, are sustained by God, and exist for God. This wisdom is rooted in the pride-destroying, joy-giving cross of Christ.”
~ John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

“ALL OF CREATION, SING WITH ME NOW” – Nov 3

“Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!”  Psalm 66:1-2

The electron microscope creates images from a beam of electrons.  This microscope reveals details of the microscopic world by exposing it to magnification of up to 10 million times.  These details have never been knowable until Hans Busch developed the first electron microscope in 1926.

Humans have been oblivious to the precision of shark’s skin, the geometric beauty of a fly’s eye, the symmetry of a butterfly’s wing, the wonder of a human egg, for a majority of human history.

Images from Electron Microscope – Exploring the Beauty in 3D Images (30 Photos).

Mankind has spent our time on this planet in relative ignorance of the world swirling around them.  We spend our days consumed by the busyness of life as wonder after wonder occurs around and within us.  There is wonder in the fly that annoys my rest.  There is amazing complexity in the regular exchange of oxygen from air to blood that I take for granted with every breath.  The development of life does not get any less marvelous the closer one looks.

We are forced to conclude that the details in the microscopic world were not created for mankind.  There is a beauty in creation that man’s eye cannot see.  Why?  Why create beauty that man cannot know and appreciate?

God did not create the microscopic for man.
God did not create the outer limits of the universe for man.

If the majority of creation was not created for me, it is presumptuous to assume the miniscule faction of creation that I can perceive was created for me.

The microscopic was not created for me.
The cosmos were not created for me.
All the wonders of known science were not created for me.
Therefore, all that I can see and possess were not created for me.

If nothing in the vastness of this world was created for me, then even I, my being, was not created for me.  I am a part of a vast created world, most of which I am oblivious to.  If it was not created for me then why was it created?

We are told that the whole world declares His glory.

The glory of our Creator is declared as we stare at the vastness of the cosmos.
Yet, His glory does not end at the limit of our telescopes.

The glory of our Creator is declared in the minuscule.
Yet, His glory does not end at the limit of our bifocals or the electron microscope.

The glory of our Creator is declared in all that we see.
Yet, we have a voice in His glory through all that we know of His creation.

Mankind has a very special role in all of creation.  We have been created in the image of God.  God gave us a role unique in all of creation.  God created us so that we can know and glorify Him.  We can proclaim His glory through our knowledge of science, medicine, philosophy and all other areas of knowledge.

We were created for Him.  The entire world passively declares this reality.
Yet, we have been created to actively participate in the single declaration of the universe – to sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!

May we look to creation and join in our created purpose!

PRAYER: Lord, you are glorious and greatly to be praised.  I raise my voice with all of creation to sing of your mercy and grace, to sing of your mighty works, to sing of you abounding love, to sing of your glory.  I join my voice with all of creation to fill heaven with the sound of your praise; let your glory resound.  (All of Creation, Mercy Me_.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Related Posts:
UNKNOWN MARVELS
GOD IS (NOT) MY BUDDY
GOD IS LORD
DENYING THE EVIDENCE

“KEEPING THINGS RIGHT SIDE UP” – July 12

“You turn things upside down!  Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?  Isaiah 29:16

As I contemplate my morning Bible reading, my coffee cup has drawn my eye.  I have written of my love for my coffee cup before (Filled for Purpose).  We all understand that the value of this wonderful cup resides in its orientation.  Attempting to pour coffee in my cup when the bear is on his back will only result in a mess.  Coffee will cascade down its sides.  The entire exterior of the cup may become encapsulated by the overwhelming flow of coffee being poured upon it but nothing will get inside my cup if it is upside down.

Humanity has been unable to get beyond the error of turning things upside down.  People have been applying their flawed reasoning for centuries.  There is nothing new to this world.  In Isaiah’s time, people were denying that God was their creator.  Today, the atheist’s main premise in their attack against God emanates from the belief that God is not their creator.  They embrace the belief that their existence is the product of evolution.  They deny God by reasoning that they no longer need a god construct to explain our existence.  Evolution is merely a modern version of the belief of Isaiah’s day, “He did not make me”; clay regarding themselves as the potter.  It is upside down.

In Isaiah’s time, people were denying that God had understanding.  I do not know how they were doing that but I know how it is often done today.  The instructions of the Bible are often dismissed under the cultural context argument.  Many conclude that they are free to engage in what the Bible calls sin because they believe that the author did not understand our present cultural environment or the author did not understand what makes them happy; potter being regarded as the clay.  It is upside down.

Just like my coffee cup, a person will not be filled with the Spirit until they get the orientation of their hearts correct.  God created man.  God created me.  Since there is a creator God, then I am subject to Him.  I am the clay and He is the potter.  The potter has the right to form and use the clay as he wants.

God has complete understanding.  He understands what I am facing today.  He knew my current condition when He was inspiring Isaiah.  He has an understanding that is greater than my own.  I can trust His understanding of what is good for me.  His guidance is faithful and true.  I can trust that He knows what will make me happy.

There is nothing new under the sun.  Our enemy has used the same old tricks throughout the generations.  Therefore, let us not be naïve to these tricks because they are very effective in turning things upside down.  The saving grace of the gospel has washed over the exterior of many who have gotten turned upside down from these tricks.

The wonderful truth is that we have a Creator with complete understanding.  Troubled waters await those who play at flipping these truths about.

Let’s stay grounded on these truths so that the Spirit of our Lord flows into us and fills our hearts to overflowing.

PRAYER: Lord, remove the gloom and darkness of my eyes; give me eyes to see.  Father, enable my deafened eyes to hear the words of your Book.  Do not allow me to become confused into getting the things of You turned upside down.  Jesus, open the eyes and ears of the lost; may you reveal to them how upside down they have become.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ.   Amen.

1+1 = GOD – Dec. 8th

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

What if we lived in a world where 1 + 1 did not equal 2? What if you could never be confident in the sum really being equal to two. What if we could not rely upon the observations of the world around us?

We could not know anything with confidence.

Einstein’s theory of relativity states that everything is relative to the observer. The consequence of this theory is that the sum of 1 + 1 for one person might not be the same as for another person. The sum depends upon what is going on with each person. If you’re in a car speeding along at 60 mph and pass another car going 40 mph, then that car will look like it is going 20 mph to you.  However, that car will look like it is going 40 mph to a person alongside the road.  The appearance of the speed of the car is relative to the observer.

The theory of relativity can be ignored in our daily lives because we are all hurling through space at the same speed, on the same planet. This very special case allows us to look at the world around us and with confidence know that 1 + 1 does actually equal 2.

Consider what a blessing God has given us in just this one aspect of creation. God could have created a world where Newton’s elegant law, F=ma, did not apply.  Our world could have been dominated by the uncertainty of the general theory of relativity.  I am not really sure what that would have looked like, since this world is all I have ever known.  However, we are told that God is outside of time. That means that God is outside the realm of Newton’s laws and the general theory of relativity, for that matter. So, there is a reality that we cannot even comprehend; physics laws that are beyond us. It is a place where our math does not work.

Therefore, God made this world different than His realm. Why? Why would God create this world in a manner that we can rely upon 1+1  actually and consistently equalling 2?

To declare his glory; to proclaim his handiwork.  It is necessary for us created beings to be placed in a world where math works.  It is necessary for math to work for us to even begin to make sense of what the heavens are telling.  A world in which 1 + 1 always equals 2 is a world within which we can look at the sky and see his handiwork.  That is an incredible blessing that we daily overlook. Just consider all the aspects of this creation that may exist, which we may never even know about that allows us to know God. It is staggering to consider.

God’s glory and handiwork is all around us if we just take the time to look. It is even in the fact that 1 + 1 = 2.

PRAYER: Lord – I am astonded by the works of your hand.  I know that I get so preoccupied with my daily life that I miss so much of what you have displayed around me. You are great and greatly to be praised.  Thank you for making me and making a world in which I can see and know your handiwork and glory.    Amen

Image from http://www.alberteinsteinsite.com/physics/relativity/generaltheory.html

GOD IS (NOT) MY BUDDY – Nov. 22th

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! Psalm 33:4

It seems like most people have a very similar tendency.  If we are shown an image enough times we begin to accept it as real even when we know it is a caricature. Caricatures are used all the time to help communicate a point. I have seen characteristics exaggerated to highlight what can be overlooked. I have also seen caricatures used to simplify that which is hard to fathom.  The problem is when the caricature becomes so engrained that we begin to believe the distortion.

Most of us are familiar with maps of the United States like this one:

What is the largest US state?  Most of us know that Alaska is the largest state, followed by Texas. However, I think many people fail to grasp the true size of Alaska. We become so familiar with this common map of the United States that our perception of Alaska is that it is just a little bit bigger than Texas. The reason Alaska has to be shown at the scale it is on the map is in order to get it to fit. This map puts Alaska into scale for us.

Alaska is big. It is really, really big.  I mean no offence to my friends in Texas but y’all need to come up with a new slogan.

Our God is like this. God is so big that we have to use caricatures to simplify Him, so that we can explain and understand Him. The scale of God is indescribable. Louie Giglio does a great job in this video, giving us a perspective of the indescribable-ness of God.  It is so important to occasionally take our eyes off of our God caricatures and behold the true scale of the Almighty.

This is the Milky Way. Just consider that God made this with the breath of his mouth; our small, little, insignificant, backwater of the Universe that still contains billions of stars just like our own.  God not only created that but the entire Universe, with a word.  Let that sink in – with a word!

We get so familiar with the caricatures of Jesus holding us, carrying us, comforting us, defending us; all of which are very true and demonstrate wonderful characteristics of our God. However, there is a gigantic scale distortion in those images. We may begin to think that we are on God’s scale if those images are all that we behold. We can default into thinking that our glory is almost as important as God’s glory. It is so very important to take our eyes off our caricature aids and behold the grandeur of our God.  Behold the scale of the universe…that is just a word of God Almighty.

How does your glory stack up against that?

PRAYER: Lord, … wow … you truly are awesome. You know that I have a hard time even understanding your grandeur. Thank you for helping me grasp just a small portion of it. Thank you for showing me how absurd it is to worship myself or anything else on this small little planet that you have given us. Lord, give me perspective to live my in awe of you. You are great beyond my understanding. I give you all the praise and glory that I am capable of giving.   Amen