Tag: creator

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It Was Good

Happy Birthday, Aunt Katie!!!

Daily Reading

1Kings 6-7

Daily Thought

I gaze at a sunrise because I am overwhelmed by its beauty and must stop and take it in. I watch hummingbirds because they are fascinating and fun. Delight rises within me as they flitter about. I peer into the intricacies of a rose and marvel at God, thanking Him for creating this world with such wonder. Creation could function, I suppose, without beauty, but that is not the character of our Creator. God is an artist and as he finished each day of creation, he admired his handiwork and “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). It more than works, it marvels! Creation is beautiful and all beauty points to God.

When God created the heavens and the earth, he made a home for us, but more importantly, a temple for the Almighty, where heaven and earth meet. Six days of creation, then God rested, which means his work was done, but rest also means “to take residence,” and that is what God did–“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). This world is his temple and we met him there.

Until we sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Then God chose a people, the nation of Israel, and began preparing them for a new place to meet–“Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, ‘Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel’” (1Kings 6:11-13). King Solomon would build a Temple on earth for a nation to meet her God.

The Temple was constructed of stone and overlaid in cedar and cypress and olivewood, then covered with gold. Grand columns were erected and there were engravings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and gold chains. You could almost hear the echo of Genesis 1 as Solomon would pause at the end of a day and admire the handiwork. He saw that it was good. 

We see good because we are made in the image of the God who created all that is good. God’s image is the mark of humanity. I cannot share the beauty of a sunset with my dog. It has no appeal to her–she was not made in God’s image, but I was. Solomon was a creative artist because God is a creative artist, and so are you and me in our own unique God-given ways. We are creative and our good works point to God because God is the almighty Creator and we reflect who he is.

Daily Prayer

Creator God, I am amazed at Your works, and when I realize I am Your workmanship, I hold my breath. What do You have in mind for me? God, may I make it easy for You to mold me into the person You had in mind when You created me. I submit to Your will because it is good. 

Thank You for noticing me! And delighting in me!! May people see what You have done in me and give You praise.

Amen

Daily Question

What are the things in creation that most turn your thoughts toward God?

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One God

Daily Reading

Numbers 1-2

Daily Thought

We count people, as best we can. “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head” (Numbers 1:2). Today, there are seven and three quarter billion people on this planet, more or less. Best guess is 100 billion people have been born since the dawn of the human race. Approximately 255 babies are born every minute. Right around 18,600,000 birthdays are on February 11. Those numbers are close enough.

God doesn’t guess. God does not know more or less, best estimate, approximately, right around, or just about. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31). God knows exactly, by name. God knows you.

P.S. There is exactly one God.

Daily Prayer

God, Your care for me is wonderful and amazing. David wrote in his psalm, “Who am I that You think about me?” And yet You do. The God of the heavens and the earth thinks of me more than I think of him. Forgive me for that. May I walk with you all day every day.

Father, the value that You have placed in me, may I see that value in others. That each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, a work of art by You, my Creator God. Truly, God I love You as I love others, because they are Your workmanship. You have given me faith to believe in You, a certainty of hope for eternity, and You give me love, the greatest of Your gifts. May I give Your love to others.

Amen

Daily Question

Why is it important to you that God knows your name?

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The Lord is There

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 46-48

Daily Thought

Ezekiel was a prophet to a nation that had forgotten God, but a nation that forgets God destroys not God, but itself. Had God forgotten Israel became Israel’s true fear. He had not, and Ezekiel, a book of hope, closes with the prophet’s final word, “And the name of the city from that time on shall be, ‘The Lord Is There’” (Ezekiel 48:35).

A nation that had forgotten God was first to space in 1961. “Why should you clutch at God?” Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, challenged any who believe. “We have flown into space and saw no God.” 

United States astronaut William Anders responded on Christmas Eve, 1968, as Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit on the first manned mission to the Moon, “We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Astronaut Jim Lovell continued, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Astronaut Frank Borman closed, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”

Seven months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step onto the surface of the moon. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained,” read Aldrin from Psalm 8, “What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitest Him?”

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” ~Romans 1:20

Astronaut John Glenn, who had circled the earth three times on a space flight in 1963, did it again in 1998 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. At age 77, he took time to reflect as he observed the heavens and earth from the windows of Discovery, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible.”

“The Lord Is There” ~Ezekiel 48:35

Daily Prayer

God of Heavens, Your glory shines in all that I see. The whole world speaks of You. Your majesty is seen in the depth of sea and the breadth of space. The world is in Your palm, and You breathe life into me. It makes sense that my thoughts turn to You, but I am amazed that Your thoughts turn to me. Who am I? And yet You delight in me.

God, may I find my pleasure and purpose in following You.

Amen

Daily Question

Do you agree with John Glenn, when looking down at earth from the space shuttle, he remarked, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible”? Why or why not?

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The Concert of Creation

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 28-30

Daily Thought

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.” ~Psalm 19:1-4

Creation is dazzling and delightful, grand and good, loudly and clearly trumpeting the splendor of God. You cannot miss it.

Yet somehow we do.  

Instead, we worship idols. We worship things. We worship ourselves. Presented with the concert of creation declaring the majesty of the Creator, we pick up a mirror and admire ourselves, and Ezekiel calls out the prince of Tyre as a most egregious example. “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor,” accuses Ezekiel (Ezekiel 28:17). 

This was the sin of Tyre; it is the ruin of all who exchange the Creator for the created. Our sin is our self obsession. The worship of idols is the worship of self, for they are made in our image. 

Say to the prince of Tyre, “Thus says the Lord God:
‘Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
yet you are but a man, and no god.’” ~Ezekiel 28:1

The prophet’s purpose is to correct us, to remind us again and again what creation speaks everyday, “Then they will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 28:23, 24, 26; 29:9, 16, 21; 30:8, 19, 26). These are an echo of the first words of the Bible, “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1), and once should have been enough. There is but one God, and it is not me.

Daily Prayer

God, I love You and praise You, and my praise comes first from hearing it in Your creation. The beauty and majesty, the order and truth that is seen in the heavens and the earth make known that there is God. It is You who deserves my allegiance, my trust, my life.

May my life display sacrifice and love toward You. My actions will sing Your praise before my voice does. You are my God; may I live a life that backs it up.

Amen

Daily Question

Why do people worship idols instead of the very real God?

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Baseball Cards

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 51-52

Daily Thought

Boys collect baseball cards, but when we were boys, we didn’t know any better. We liked the clicking sound baseball cards made when you clothes-pinned them to the spokes on your bicycle. It didn’t matter what card; Mickey Mantle made the same noise as Yogi Berra. We did not know that a 1914 Babe Ruth would sell for $717,000, or a 1952 Mickey Mantle for $2,880,000, or a 1909 Honus Wagner for $3,120,000. 

“Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of delusion.” ~Jeremiah 51:17-18

Prophets are seldom subtle. There is one God, proclaims Jeremiah, and “it is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jeremiah 51:15). It is the fool who bows before objects of wood and stone, cardboard and clay, who values things more than the Creator of everything. 

We pinned baseball cards to our wheels because we did not know people would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 2×3” piece of cardboard. 

And we were the foolish ones?

Daily Prayer

Most Wonderful God, I worship You. The galaxies, the stars, the moon and sun, planet earth, oceans, animals, and me. You created it all, simply by Your Word. You spoke and it was, and it was good.

There are times, God, when I value things too much, when creation steals more of my attention than the Creator. Lord, may I never lose sight of You, Your glory, Your wisdom. May I always be foolish enough to disdain the wisdom and the wealth of this world, and find my full value in You.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you decide what something is worth to you?

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Masterpiece

Daily Reading

Ephesians 1-3

Daily Thought

I was a kid taking guitar lessons, and Jack was my teacher. Jack was a master on the classical guitar. Torroba’s Sonatina, Etude #5 by Villa-Lobos, Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie, I practiced and I played as best I could. Then I would hand the guitar to my teacher. Jack would perform the same music, full of plunks and scratches when I played, in his hands something beautiful, heavenly. The guitar was in the hands of the master now.

Paul, in verse 10 of Ephesians 2, calls us God’s workmanship, which is in the Greek, poiema. You can hear our English word, poem. God the poet, and “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). In the hands of the Master now.

Notice it does not say “you” or “I,” but “we,” we together, and not merely by being human, it is the work of Jesus Christ in us. We must be placed in the hands of the Master, and then, we together, the body of Christ, his church, become something beautiful, heavenly, the majesty of God. Every artist has their masterpiece, and God is an artist, and we are his poem, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Daily Prayer

Father in heaven, You are wonderful. Truly wonderful. What a world. What a creation. The heavens, the oceans, the mountains. Fabulous. And me, too. Fearfully and wonderfully made in Your image.

As I return myself to Your hands, making You master of my life, may I respond to Your leading and reflect Your wisdom and truth and love. Mold me again into a vessel for Your glory. Make my life count because it is lived for You.

Amen

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Very Good

Daily Reading

John 1-2

Daily Thought

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1); thus, John opens the curtain of his Gospel echoing the first words of the Bible, “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1), because Jesus was there at the beginning because Jesus is God. Jesus, with his Father and Spirit, holy Trinity, spoke our world into existence and, with each creative Word, declared, “It is good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). It continued to be good until God created man, and it was “not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18), and woman was formed and there came a wedding. and with that, a celebration, “It was very good” (Genesis 1:31), the grand finale of Creation.

It is no surprise, then, a wedding is the scene of the first miracle. “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee” (John 2:1), but “the wine ran out, and the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine’” (John 2:3), to which Jesus responded, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? (John 2:4). It has everything to do with Jesus. In Creation, God filled the earth with “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9), enough for every one to feast, but now there is not enough and it is not good and must be made good again. So Jesus took six water jars, “each holding twenty or thirty gallons” (John 2:6), and turned water into wine, and “the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now’” (John 2:9-10). It was very good.

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. ~John 2:11

This is Jesus, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Our lesson is learned from his mother, who, when the wine ran out, turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). 

Daily Prayer

King of kings and Lord of lords, Maker of the heavens and earth, the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. You have made all things and in You all things hold together.

What a wonderful world made by a Wonderful Maker, but we no longer knew You. The wine ran out, and then You became flesh, human, one of us. Creator took the form of creation, so we could know You and it will be very good again.

Amen

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January 17

Daily Reading

Genesis 48-50

Daily Thought

Moses was called by God, and so was Pharaoh. “The Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth’” (Romans 9:17). God put him on the throne of Egypt. Likewise, the wicked nations attacking God’s people in Israel were doing God’s bidding, “for behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation” (Habakkuk 1:6). They were God’s servants, whether or not they intended to be.

Jews never imagined partnering with the Romans, and yet they did, because salvation required a cross and only the Romans could crucify. “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you [Jews] crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men [Romans]” (Acts 2:23). 

Jesus chose twelve disciples, including one named Judas Iscariot; “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil” (John 6:70). He knew it ahead of time.

And ten brothers were intent on murder, but God was intent on salvation, so Joseph was sold as a slave to be just the right person in just the right place at just the right time. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).

When your world seems out of control, remember who is in charge. God’s plans and God’s promises are a sure thing. “And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob’” (Genesis 50:24).

Daily Prayer 

Sovereign God, the mountains and the oceans, the sun and moon and stars display Your majesty. I hear Your story in the history of my world. I see Your love and Your lordship in, and often in spite of, the events around me. Throughout history, we people try to live without You and against You. How foolish! How foolish we are if we do not call You King of kings and Lord of lords. You are sovereign over the good and the bad. Over all.

Lord, may I live in such a way that people see good works and praise You. God, may I always walk in Your Holy Spirit and do those works You have set before me, good works that reflect Your love to this world.

Amen