| From
the Church on the Hill
by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church As I conclude this brief survey of Proverbs 30:18-19 I want to focus on just two ideas. First, God is the One who choreographs the wonderful events described in the passage. Second, Man is given the opportunity to participate in the grand adventure of life - even allowed a staring role in the cosmic drama. However, participation depends upon learning to think as God thinks and to act as he acts. To fully participate in the cosmic drama we need to accept that God carefully controls the powerful forces of creation on a moment by moment basis in order to bring about His desired ends. Even if God's hand is not readily recognized the effects of His power are seen by those who care to accept His agency. You see, "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Prov. 25:2). He does this to invite the scrutiny of those who desire to know more about Him. Those who are curious and sensitive, able to "read between the lines" will be drawn to find out more about this Being who displays such tremendous ability even while remaining out of sight. On the other hand, nothing in life seems really interesting to those who have become jaded to the daily display of the Almighty's power. For instance we think nothing of a ship navigating the sea - we simply take it for granted. I think one of the reasons for this is that most of us have been educated in the godless state institutional system, and so we've been taught to consider the wonders which surround us as natural events: they just happen. We never stop to consider the dynamics involved in everyday occurrences. Yet if we hope to think as God thinks we must first learn that the forces undergirding "everyday events" are no more "natural" than the power which brings about the new birth. Even when we learn better it is often hard to remember that all things in heaven and earth are under God's immediate control. We find it difficult to understand that He delights in harnessing potent forces to accomplish delicate goals and so we miss out on much of what this life has to offer. Our passage also tells us that as we work at uncovering the majesty of the Creator we will discover that God is a "complicated" personality. We might say that He enjoys difficult, procedures and apparatus (difficult for us anyway). Moreover, this challenging personality is not comprehensible to the unbeliever or intellectually lazy Christian. For instance it took mankind thousands of years to understand the physics of flight. We think nothing of it today, but in our familiarity we never stop to wonder at what other things God has dreamed up that we have not yet begun to understand. Even those things that we partially comprehend hold mystery for us. Consider the unusual physical traits which enable the common gecko to walk on walls and ceilings; we may understand the quantum dynamics but we are currently unable to fully duplicate it. If the created realm holds such mystery, how much more so the mind of the Creator. Thus in imitation of our heavenly Father (Eph. 5:1) we must endeavor to cultivate the abilities that He has given us and labor to master the difficult situations He brings into our lives. We should do so in a way that does not draw undo attention to ourselves but brings glory to God. In short we should learn to think as God thinks and act as He acts. |
 |