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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Spontaneous Love by Oswald Chambers
An Awareness of God by Charles Stanley
The three commands in today’s passage may look simple because they’re short, but many people find them challenging to obey. Our lives are so full of responsibilities and activities that it’s all we can do to keep up our schedules, let alone live as these verses command. There’s only one way to succeed—not by trying harder but by focusing on Christ. When He becomes the center of our attention, our attitude and behavior will change.
Rejoice Always. The realization that our omnipotent God is constantly with us puts troubling circumstances in their proper place—under His authority. It also helps us sense the incomparable joy of His companionship, even in difficulties and suffering.
Pray without ceasing. It’s important to set aside time each day to come before the Lord with our problems and requests. But believers also long for an ongoing attitude of prayer, which, like a continual conversation, is expressed either verbally or in our thoughts. Then if a decision is required or trouble comes, our first thought is to turn to God for help.
Give thanks in everything. If our minds are set on the Lord each day, we’ll be able to thank Him regardless of the situation. That’s because we know He is with us and will work everything for our good—if not here, then in heaven.
These three admonitions are a call to become preoccupied with Christ. If we are consumed with other thoughts, it’s easy to feel irritated, worry unceasingly, and complain about everything. But when we begin each day in God’s Word, we are reminded of His instructions and His care.
Of Saints and Sinners by Remi Oyedele
Of Saints and Sinners
The third time [Jesus] said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” . . . [Peter] said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” John 21:17
Before she followed in the footsteps of John the Baptist by living in the desert, Mary of Egypt (c. ad 344–421) spent her youth pursuing illicit pleasures and seducing men. At the height of her sordid career, she journeyed to Jerusalem in an attempt to corrupt pilgrims. Instead, she experienced deep conviction of her sins and thereafter lived a life of repentance and solitude in the wilderness. Mary’s radical transformation illustrates the magnitude of God’s grace and the restoring power of the cross.
The disciple Peter denied Jesus three times. Only hours before the denials, Peter had declared his willingness to die for Jesus (Luke 22:33), so the realization of his failure was a crushing blow (vv. 61–62). After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Peter was fishing with some of the disciples when Jesus appeared to them. Jesus gave Peter a chance to declare his love for Him three times—one for each of his denials (John 21:1–3). Then, with each declaration, Jesus charged Peter to care for His people (vv. 15–17). The result of this stunning display of grace was that Peter played a key role in building the church and ultimately gave his life for Christ.
A biography of any one of us could begin with a litany of our failures and defeats. But God’s grace always allows for a different ending. By His grace, He redeems and transforms us.
The disciple Peter denied Jesus three times. Only hours before the denials, Peter had declared his willingness to die for Jesus (Luke 22:33), so the realization of his failure was a crushing blow (vv. 61–62). After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Peter was fishing with some of the disciples when Jesus appeared to them. Jesus gave Peter a chance to declare his love for Him three times—one for each of his denials (John 21:1–3). Then, with each declaration, Jesus charged Peter to care for His people (vv. 15–17). The result of this stunning display of grace was that Peter played a key role in building the church and ultimately gave his life for Christ.
A biography of any one of us could begin with a litany of our failures and defeats. But God’s grace always allows for a different ending. By His grace, He redeems and transforms us.
In what ways have you experienced God’s transforming grace? How can you express His grace toward others?
God’s grace transforms us from sinners to saints.
Questioning by Billy Graham
Questioning
It is not unusual for persons in their early twenties to defect from their early teaching. The reasons are many. Perhaps their exposure to unbelief “took” better than their exposure to belief. This is often the case, for the Bible says, “The heart of man is deceitful above all things.”The human heart is as prepared by sin to accept unbelief as faith. Some person they regard highly has undoubtedly influenced their thinking; and for the time being they look on their early training as “bunk.” As someone has said, “A little learning may take a man away from God, but full understanding will bring him back.”
Some of the staunchest Christians I know are people who had periods in their life when they questioned the Bible, Christ, and God. But as they continued to examine the matter, there was overwhelming evidence that only “the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
Some of the staunchest Christians I know are people who had periods in their life when they questioned the Bible, Christ, and God. But as they continued to examine the matter, there was overwhelming evidence that only “the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
Daily Prayer
I pray for all the questioning people today, Lord, remembering times in my own life when unbelief reigned.
“Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Psalms 51:12 KJV
Are you asking Jesus for something today? by Adrian Rogers
Are you asking Jesus for something today?
APRIL 30
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:31
The same Jesus who turned water into wine can transform your home, your life, your family, and your future. This same Jesus is still in the miracle-working business. His business is the business of transformation.
And when we believe that Jesus is the Christ, we will receive life through His name. Someone has well said that nature forms us, sin deforms us, penitentiary reforms us, education informs us, the world conforms us, but only Jesus transforms us.
What are you asking Christ for today? A miracle? Or for more of Him? Your very next breath is a miracle. Thank God for the miracle of life He has given you today.
April 30 / Streams in the Desert
And the ill favored and lean-fleshed kine did Eat up the seven well favored and fat kin…and the thin, ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears (Gen. 41:4,7).
There is a warning for us in that dream, just as it stands: It is possible for the best years of our life, the best experiences, the best victories won, the best service rendered, to be swallowed up by times of failure, defeat, dishonor, uselessness in the kingdom. Some men's lives of rare promise and rare achievement have ended so. It is awful to think of, but it is true. Yet it is never necessary.
S. D. Gordon has said that the only assurance of safety against this tragedy is "fresh touch with God," daily, hourly. The blessed, fruitful, victorious experiences of yesterday are not only of no value to me today, but they will actually be eaten up or reversed by today's failures, unless they serve as incentives to still better, richer experiences today.
"Fresh touch with God," by abiding in Christ, alone will keep the lean kine and the ill favored grain out of my life.
--Messages for the Morning Watch
--Messages for the Morning Watch
What a Friend We Have in Jesus by Stephen Davey
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1820. After graduating from Trinity College, he had great expectations and plans. He was engaged to marry his lovely Irish sweetheart, and together they had dreams for building their life and home together. Wedding plans were made, business ventures were decided upon, but the day before their wedding his fiancé drowned in a boating accident. His world fell apart.
Joseph moved to Canada, attempting to put all the memories and heartache behind him. Although he was very much alone, he served faithfully as a missionary bachelor, driven to share the gospel with those in need of salvation.
Years later tragedy struck again. His mother became seriously ill and he was unable to be with her. In his absence, he sat down and wrote a poem for her. He scribbled out a copy for himself, and it was later discovered by a visitor.
The powerful lyrics not only brought great encouragement to his mother on her deathbed, but they were put to music and sung in churches, even to this day. His lyrics read:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear,
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer,
In His arms He'll take and shield thee;
Thou wilt find a solace there.
To onlookers Joseph Scriven would seem to have lived a lonely life marred by sorrow. But after his death [also by drowning], his poem that circulated through churches and penetrated the hearts of believers for nearly two centuries revealed his heart for all to see—he had been content with life, for his closest friend was Jesus.
What trials, temptations, and troubles are you facing today? What sins, grief, and pain are you bearing? Remember this—before Jesus died on the cross for you, He whispered into the ears of His frightened disciples, "I consider you my closest friends!" No matter that sorrows and cares may come—Christ, who knows your every weakness, will shield and comfort you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.
If you are His disciple, you are also His friend... forever.
Prayer Point: God's incredible humility is shown by stooping to call us friends when we deserve to be called slaves. Thank the Lord for restoring your relationship to Him, who walked that terrible path to the cross on your behalf.
Extra Refreshment: Read Psalms 23 and witness the faithfulness and the friendship of God in the life of David.
Exposing the misconception of meekness / Senior Living
Exposing the misconception of meekness
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” - Matthew 5:5
So often today, the Christian value of meekness is overlooked, and often times completely disregarded. Much of this attitude has come about as a result of Christians who misunderstand what meekness really is.
On this subject, the great author A. W. Tozer wrote,
“The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto.”
A meek person is not one with an inferiority complex. He is quite the opposite. Meekness is a characteristic within a person which creates boldness and strength, yet at the same time causes that person to humbly understand that everything good in him comes from God, not himself.
Jesus only gave the promise to inherit the earth to one group of people: the meek. So as you live your life, be both bold and strong in your faith while also humble and quiet in your boasting. Be meek… because the reward is great!
Prayer Challenge
Pray that God would give you boldness in your faith while at the same time giving you a humble heart. Pray for meekness, and you’ll inherit the earth!
Freedom Seekers by David Jeremiah
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To All Teachers by Chuck Swindoll
To All Teachers
by Chuck Swindoll
I've never had a strong desire to be a teacher. Don't get me wrong. I admire tremendously those who teach. It was a teacher in junior high who taught me to love science. It was a teacher in high school who got me hooked on history. Another teacher helped me overcome stuttering and learn how to speak in public . . . how to think on my feet . . . how to pace the delivery of words . . . how to use humor. And it was yet another teacher who passed along the practical techniques I still use in digging pearls out of scriptural oysters.
So, let me firmly establish this fact: I am deeply indebted to several teachers. If you teach, be encouraged! You probably have no idea how great a contribution you are making.
If I were to teach, however, I think I would keep a personal journal of the funny things my students said.
Actually, Richard Lederer must have had the same brilliant idea. In fact, he even published the mistakes in a book cleverly titled Anguished English, in which he sort of pastes together the "history" of the world from genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout America, from eighth grade through college level.
Here are a few examples. Hold on tight . . . there's a lot to be learned that you may have missed in your years in school.
For example, did you know that Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies who wrote in hydraulics? They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. Certain areas of that dessert were cultivated by irritation.
Then we learn that in the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, "Am I my brother's son?"
After that, Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw, and Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.
Later we learn that David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finkelsteins. Solomon, one of his sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
See why I have no compelling desire to be a teacher?
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops"
(Henry Brooks Adams).
(Henry Brooks Adams).
April 30 Reading by C.S. Lewis
Today's Reading |
| There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn: We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden. From The Weight of Glory Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses. Copyright © 1949, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1976, revised 1980 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. |
Expect the Unexpected by Chuck Swindoll
Most folks I know like things to stay as they are. You've heard all the sayings that reveal our preference for the familiar: Leave well enough alone. I don't like surprises. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Stay with a sure thing.
We admire pioneers . . . so long as we can just read about them, not finance their journeys. We applaud explorers . . . but not if it means we have to load up and travel with them. Creative ideas are fine . . . but "don't get carried away," we warn. Plans that involve risks prompt worst-case scenarios from the lips of most who wait in the wings.
Don't misunderstand. Just because the plan is creative is no guarantee that stuff won't backfire. On the contrary, surprises and disappointments await anyone who ventures into the unknown.
But the fact is, the alternative is worse. Can anything be worse than boredom? Is there an existence less challenging and more draining than the predictable? I don't think so.
More importantly, God doesn't seem to think so either. As I read through the biblical accounts of His working in the lives of His people, the single thread that ties most of the stories together is the unexpected. Need some examples?
After aging Abraham finally got the son God had promised to him, after he cultivated a father-son bond closer than words could describe, after fixing his hopes on all that God had said He would do through that boy to whom Sarah gave birth, God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain.
Even though the prophet Hosea had lived righteously before his Lord and had been faithful to his wife, Gomer, she left their home and family and became a harlot in the streets of Israel. God's instructions? Go find her and remarry her.
Even though the prophet Hosea had lived righteously before his Lord and had been faithful to his wife, Gomer, she left their home and family and became a harlot in the streets of Israel. God's instructions? Go find her and remarry her.
When it came time for God to send His Son to earth, He did not send Him to the palace of some mighty king. He was conceived in the womb of an unwed mother—a virgin!—who lived in the lowly village of Nazareth.
In choosing those who would represent Christ and establish His church, God picked some of the most unusual individuals imaginable: unschooled fishermen, a tax collector(!), a mystic, a doubter, and a former Pharisee who had persecuted Christians. He continued to pick some very unusual persons down through the ages. In fact, He seems to delight in such surprising choices to this very day.
So, let God be God. Expect the unexpected.
God likes surprises. Breaking molds is His specialty.
God likes surprises. Breaking molds is His specialty. So let God be God, and expect the unexpected.
— Charles R. Swindoll
The Victory of the Resurrection by John MacArthur
The Victory of the Resurrection
“‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ . . . but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55, 57).
The Resurrection seals what we could not: victory over death.
Death is the great enemy of mankind. It comes to everyone without exception. It violates our dominion of God’s creation, breaks apart relationships, disrupts families, and causes us to grieve the loss of loved ones. However, Christ’s resurrection has broken the power of death for Christians because “death no longer is master over Him” (Rom. 6:9).
In today’s passage the apostle Paul reminds us of the final victory over death that results once we have been transformed into our resurrection bodies. To make his point, Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Hosea. In using Hosea’s sting of death metaphor, Paul implies that death left its sting in Christ, as a bee leaves its stinger in its victim. On the cross Jesus bore all of death’s sting (sin), so we wouldn’t have to bear any of it. When sin’s penalty has been removed, death merely interrupts our earthly life and ushers us into the heavenly realm, where we will worship and praise God forever.
Paul concludes (v. 57) by thanking God, who provided us the triumph over sin and death. We also should be thankful to God who, through Christ’s redeeming work, gave us what we could never have obtained by ourselves. God promises to all believers the heavenly in exchange for the earthly, and the immortal in exchange for the mortal.
With Jesus Christ’s triumph over death, we have no reason to fear what death can do to us. Instead, we should rejoice concerning the Lord’s promise to us about the next life: “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire . . . and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Rev. 20:14; 21:4).
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God that in His sovereign wisdom and power He has defeated death and removed all reasons for the believer to be afraid of it.
For Further Study
Read 2 Kings 2:9-14 and 4:18-37.
- What do these passages preview about Jesus’ control over death, His own and ours?
- Do they remind you of any particular New Testament stories?
Monday, April 29, 2019
Gracious Uncertainty by Oswald Chambers
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A Mind Set on Christ by Charles Stanley
What occupies your thoughts? That’s a challenging question and one we should not ignore. In many ways, we are what we think. If our thoughts are focused on the concerns of this world, we will become like the world. But if our minds are set on the things above—in other words, where Christ is—we’ll become more like Him.
The point isn’t merely to think about heaven but to think on Christ, who is in heaven. When we do this, changes will start to take place:
We will gain an eternal perspective. Instead of being distracted by trivial pursuits and discouraged by hardships and pain, we’ll be devoted to living for Christ. Then we will be able to rest in our loving Father’s choices for us.
Things of the world will lose appeal. The more aware we are of Jesus, the less we tolerate sin, because we know it doesn’t fit us anymore. Instead of chasing the passing pleasures and goals of the culture, we’ll pursue a lifestyle of obedience to the Lord.
We’ll realize our security is in Christ. Right now we are “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This speaks of our eternal security and also gives us a sense of safety since nothing comes our way without passing through God’s hands.
We look forward to a glorious future. When Christ is revealed, then we will be revealed with Him in glory (v. 4). Even when everything looks dismal, we have a reason to hope because our time here is infinitesimal compared to eternity with Christ.
Your beliefs determine your perspective on life, and that shapes your priorities and attitudes.
A High Calling by Chuck Swindoll
A High Calling
by Chuck Swindoll
Many professions draw public attention like warm watermelon draws flies. Those who practice them are constantly in the news. If it isn't the money they make, it's the company they keep or the trends they set or the controversy they spawn. Their notoriety is somewhere between amazing and appalling.
There is one profession, however, that is neither notorious nor controversial. Although essential to our future as a nation, being inseparably linked to the home as few other professions are, it has been treated like a stepchild.
Those who make their living in this field press on against overwhelming odds. They live with criticism they usually don't deserve. They invest extra hours for which they are never compensated. They maintain a standard of excellence regardless of resistance. They remain enthusiastic in spite of daily discouragements. They apply creativity and every motivational technique they can muster without applause or thanks from their recipients.
Fueled by hope, these brave men and women shape minds, stretch imaginations, challenge thinking, and model consistency. They have one major enemy they fight with tireless energy: ignorance.
Who are the relentless, courageous heroes I'm describing? By now you know. They are those who teach.
The tools of their trade may not seem that impressive—a piece of chalk, a book, an overhead projector, a homework assignment, a smile of encouragement, a nod of affirmation, a strong word of warning, a question to answer, a problem to solve. How powerful are those adept with such tools!
Teachers. Tough-minded, clear-thinking, ever-learning educators who gave me their time and their attention, who early on overlooked my immaturity, who saw raw material behind my boredom, overactivity, and mischievousness, who held my feet to the fire and dared me to grab the challenge, who had enough wisdom to drop the bait in just the right places to hook me for life.
So to all of you who teach, hats off. Yours is an invaluable profession, a calling sure and high and noble, a model we cannot live without if we expect to remain strong and free.
Don't quit. If ever we needed you, we need you today.
Think about those who taught you. Thank God for them and the lifelong value of their investment in you.
The Unpayable Debt by Billy Graham
The Unpayable Debt
Years ago King Charles V was loaned a large sum of money by a merchant in Antwerp. The note came due, but the king was bankrupt and unable to pay. The merchant gave a great banquet for the King. When all the guests were seated and before the food was brought in, the merchant had a large platter placed on the table and a fire lighted on it. Then, taking the note out of his pocket, he held it in the flames until it was burned to ashes. The king threw his arms around his benefactor and wept. Just so, we have been mortgaged to God. The debt was due, but we were unable to pay. Two thousand years ago God invited the world to the Gospel feast, and in the agonies of the cross, God held your sins and mine until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.
Daily Prayer
In gratitude I kneel before You, Lord Jesus Christ.
“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
Galatians 1:4 KJV
God won’t sign this peace treaty! by Adrian Rogers
God won’t sign this peace treaty!
APRIL 29
“Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
One of the strangest verses that ever fell from the lips of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is this: “Think not that I have come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.” That’s incredible, because the Bible calls Him “the Prince of Peace.” What is He talking about, then?
He is saying, “I came with a sword to put a line of demarcation between truth and error, between light and dark, between sin and righteousness.”
When God’s standard of righteousness is set, there will always be division. Without righteousness there can be no peace. Peace can never come where sin remains. God will never make a peace treaty with sin, never!
Some people think when others act righteously that they are acting religiously, and sometimes not very peacefully. How can you stand in the gap for peace AND righteousness?
April 29 / Streams in the Desert
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are (James 5:17).
Thank God for that! He got under a juniper tree, as you and I have often done; he complained and murmured, as we have often done; was unbelieving, as we have often been. But that was not the case when he really got into touch with God. Though "a man subject to like passions as we are," "he prayed praying." It is sublime in the original--not "earnestly," but "he prayed in prayer." He kept on praying. What is the lesson here? You must keep praying.
Come up on the top of Carmel, and see that remarkable parable of Faith and Sight. It was not the descent of the fire that now was necessary, but the descent of the flood; and the man that can command the fire can command the flood by the same means and methods. We are told that he bowed himself to the ground with his face between his knees; that is, shutting out all sights and sounds. He was putting himself in a position where, beneath his mantle, he could neither see nor hear what was going forward.
He said to his servant, "Go and take an observation." He went and came back, and said--how sublimely brief! one word--"Nothing!"
What do we do under such circumstances?
We say, "It is just as I expected!" and we give up praying. Did Elijah? No, he said, "Go again." His servant again came back and said, "Nothing!" "Go again." "Nothing!"
By and by he came back, and said, "There is a little cloud like a man's hand." A man's hand had been raised in supplication, and presently down came the rain; and Ahab had not time to get back to the gate of Samaria with all his fast steeds. This is a parable of Faith and Sight--faith shutting itself up with God; sight taking observations and seeing nothing; faith going right on, and "praying in prayer," with utterly hopeless reports from sight.
Do you know how to pray that way, how to pray prevailingly? Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may, but pay no attention to these. The living God is still in the heavens and even to delay is part of His goodness.
--Arthur T. Pierson
--Arthur T. Pierson
Each of three boys gave a definition of faith which is an illustration of the tenacity of faith. The first boy said, "It is taking hold of Christ"; the second, "Keeping hold"; and the third, "Not letting go."
God's Love for a Prodigal World by Stephen Davey
God's Love for a Prodigal World
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?
The Hubble space telescope has been re-engineered with a new wide-field camera that can take pictures of objects twelve billion light-years away. Astonishing, isn't it? But even as unbelievable as this technological advancement is, a question quickly comes to my mind: "What exactly are we looking for?"
Newsweek basically answered this question when it stated, "Radiation from so far away, and hence so long ago, should carry messages about the universe's childhood and shed light on how the cosmos began and grew." There you have it, plain and simple!
Humans are looking for some kind of clue which will tell us where we came from and how we got here. Like an adopted child who searches for his biological parents, humanity is searching intensely for its true Father. We have an inborn desire to find the answer to the age-old question, "Out of whose womb did we come?"
The truth is obvious... and the newest discoveries of our universe are pointing to a Designer.
Tony Rothman, a theoretical physicist, wrote, "When confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it's very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am sure many physicists want to. I only wish they would admit it."
One such astronomer, George Greenstein, actually did come close to admitting it in his book, The Symbiotic Universe, wherein he writes:
As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?
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We know the answer to be a resounding, "Yes!" Sadly though, our world continually looks for God in the far reaches of the universe, using man-made telescopes that will always fall short of finding Him.
Praise God for giving us His telescope— His Word—through which we catch amazing glimpses of His glory, His attributes, and His plan for the world. If you want to see God, you don't need to look twelve billion light years into the vast universe. Pick up the Bible . . . and in His Word discover the God-Man who walked among us, died for our sins, and restored our relationship with Him.
The inhabitants of our planet should cease looking to the stars for answers and look toward the Son. Would you like to see Him? The Bible is the telescope through which we discover the Creator of the cosmos . . . this prodigal world we live in.
Prayer Point: Read the passage from Psalm 8 again and consider the enormous depth of God's kindness toward us. He is not obliged to love us, rescue us, or to think upon us with joy; yet He does it anyway. Think also upon the trillions of light years that stand between our world and the rest of the universe, and thank God for stooping down to rescue sinners on His prodigal planet. We should never cease to be grateful.
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