Divine Design

I am baffled by those who say there is no God. I am completely bewildered that doubting men can look upon creation and not wonder about the hand that formed it. Creation is mysterious in its intricacy and mind-bending delicacy. With only their eyes as examination tools, man began the task of dissecting creation in his attempt to disprove God's existence. As knowledge increased, so did man's ability to see further into his realm with instruments that brought creation's core within sight. As one horizon was reached, man was driven to reach another. But with each advanced step into the vastness of the universe and its solitary inhabitants, man is still unable to pinpoint the beginning, the source, or the reason for our existence and to explain away the One Who created it.

Sitting in church one Sunday, the Pastor asked the congregation to open their Bibles to a particular passage. As I did so, I discovered lying between the worn and note-riddled pages a single feather I had placed there. While walking my dogs one morning, I had chanced upon the feather and because of its beauty, had picked it up and carried it home. It had once adorned the wing of a Flicker, an often despised bird because of its insect-seeking habit of rapping holes in the walls and roofs of houses. For several moments, my mind wandered away from the sermon as I gazed down upon the delicate orange and brown feather I held. My fingers caressed its softness and traced the pattern the colors made. I felt a strange peace wash over me as I examined what I knew to be something beyond mere chance or cosmic accident.

As I reveled in this brief interlude, the feather gently held between my fingers, I marveled at the completeness of it. The solitary feather bore a pattern solely its own, indistinguishable from the other feathers that once lay beside it to define the whole bird's appearance. It was a single part of the whole, an essential piece of the Flicker's pattern that clothed it and made it unlike other birds. Without it, it would not be complete. And because of each feather's unique and necessary pattern blending one into another, if the feather was removed, the overall design of the bird would be flawed. I saw within this one feather a power and a force beyond anything man could design with his own imagination. Our eyes for detail do not extend to that of God's Who created out of complexity and love. He saw perfection and completeness in every detail of the Flicker and as He fashioned it, His desire was to not have it any other way.

I am in awe of a God Who is able to create with such intricacy. No artist on the face of God's earth is able to create such beauty. The things man makes are only imitations of Divine design. The artist is unable to paint each individual feather's interior pattern as his brush strokes create the outward appearance of the bird on his canvas. His abilities are two dimensional, inhibiting him from reproducing what the Master Craftsman has created on His universal canvas. He can examine each separate feather and copy its pattern, but he can't combine them into the whole as our Maker did.

Man need no longer peer into microscopes and telescopes to explain his existence. He only needs to return to the elementary tool God gave him when he was created by Him. He only needs to open his eyes and behold the beauty of God's Divine Design in all of creation. I did. I found it in a single feather.


Copyright 2007 Karen L. Brahs

Are You Sitting With Jonah Under His Tree?

The title to this post may seem a bit disconcerting to some.  But I think it's an honest question; one that needs to be truthfully answered by many of us who profess Jesus Christ.  If you will take a moment and consider my own personal reflection regarding my witness to unsaved friends and family, you may discover like I did that you are more like Jonah than you are willing to admit.  With that said, let's briefly refresh our memories about his story.  (For the complete account, please click on this link.)

Jonah, a prophet of God, received a message from the Almighty he really didn't want to hear.  He was to go to the Gentile people of Ninevah and tell them to repent or face the wrath of God.  For a Jew, the people God chose to take His message of salvation to all nations, Jonah greatly resented what God was asking him to do.  So he took off in another direction, forgetting that God is omniscient and aware of every thought and move he was making.

Jonah jumped aboard a ship that was headed to Tarshish, so God summoned a great storm on the sea.  While Jonah slept, the pagan crewmen threw everything they could overboard to try and prevent the ship from sinking, but to no avail.  Rousing Jonah, they cast lots to determine who the person was that had brought what they viewed as "evil" upon them, and the lot fell on Jonah.  They demanded he call out to his God for deliverance because they understood Jonah was fleeing from Him and they would be unwilling victims of His wrath.  But instead of turning to God in repentance for his disobedience, and still stubbornly obstinate, Jonah told them to throw him overboard in order to save themselves.  Unwilling to follow through with Jonah's request, they attempted to out-row the tempestuous waves, but the billows and waves only grew more intense.

What follows is interesting, considering that the ship's crew were idol worshiping pagans.  It appears that the people of Ninevah weren't the only ones to receive God's message, and their somewhat disturbing action in throwing a man overboard to drown in the sea, then watching as the sea became calm and their lives were spared, was enough evidence that Jonah's God was, indeed, genuine:

Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”  So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.  Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (Jonah 1:14-16)

Ultimately, Jonah is swallowed by the great fish God had summoned, spends three days in its belly - miserably, I am sure - acknowledging the sovereignty and power of the Almighty, then spit up onto dry land.  The LORD once again commands Jonah to go to Ninevah, and Jonah begrudgingly yields.  The message to turn from their evil ways and repent, lest they suffer the wrath God had in store for them, was given.  The king decreed that the people of Ninevah obey this edict and God relented of the judgment He was going to bring upon them.

One would think that after all he had gone through, Jonah would have exalted God and praised Him for His great love for all mankind.  However,  Jonah grew angry, jealously grumbling that a Gentile would receive such favor.  He even went so far as to once again ask God to take his life.  When it became clear that God had no such intention, Jonah stomped up to the top of a hillside, built a covering to keep the brutal sun from baking him, and sat down to watch the destruction he still thought would be coming to that great city.  As he watched with anticipation, God continued to show mercy on Jonah and caused a plant to grow above his head to spare him from any discomfort.  The next morning, however, God sent a worm to kill the leafy tree, brought a scorching east wind, and an even more scorching sun to beat down upon Jonah.

Further enraged, Jonah once again requested that God let him die.  God's response to Jonah came in the form of a question and should have caused him to realize the compassion God had for all men, including the 120,000 people (which, if we include all the children, could have realistically been nearly half a million people) in Ninevah.

Although I have often wondered if there was more to the conclusion of Jonah's story, it ends there.  We are left to ponder Jonah's response to God's final question.  Did Jonah humble himself and repent?  Did he understand from that point forward the tremendous responsibility the Israelites had been given, to take God's message to the entire world, which meant Gentiles like the Ninevites he so despised?  Or did Jonah make his way back home and keep his trial to himself, fearing the reaction his people would have, thus sparing himself from having to stand up and proclaim God's true plan of salvation?

It's evident from their continued unbelief that God's chosen people have yet to acknowledge this great truth; to recognize their Savior Jesus Christ and take the Good News of His salvation to every corner of the earth.  That will ultimately come, but not until God deems it time.

Ironically, we converted Gentiles have been passed the witness baton.  It's very unlikely God will send a great fish to swallow us, but He can and will send storms into our lives to wake us from our slumber.  I am sure many of you can recall times when your disobedience brought on unwelcome trials.  I sure can.  But we should ask ourselves if we are any more faithful than Jonah in this regard.  Are we obeying Jesus' command to go out and make disciples of men?  Are we faithfully and willingly answering God's call to give the Gospel to a lost and dying world every chance we get?  Are we deeply concerned for our friends and family, even the stranger on the street, who could possibly suffer the wrath God had in store for the unrepentant Ninevah?

Or are we comfortable in our own salvation and running from God in the opposite direction as Jonah did?

An even harder question is this:  have we found ourselves sitting with Jonah under his tree, sulking in unbelief that the message we delivered fell on deaf ears, and waiting to exclaim, "See!  I told you this was a waste of time!"?

These are questions all Christians should ask themselves.  There is a vast world out there that's growing more wicked with each day and desperately needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  God has written that there will be a time when the opportunity to receive salvation will end; a time that is growing closer with each breath we take.

Don't run from Him.  And more importantly, don't fume in anger expecting your own selfish results.  The work of salvation belongs to the Holy Spirit.  We are merely the messengers who, unlike Jonah when called, joyfully respond, then wait with eager anticipation to see how God will work for His glory.

God will have His children drawn to Him, even if He has to use extraordinary means and unwilling servants to achieve it.

Charles H. Spurgeon once wrote,  "If there existed only one man or woman who did not love the Savior, and if that person lived among the wilds of Siberia, and if it were necessary that all the millions of believers on the face of the earth should journey there, and every one of them plead with him to come to Jesus before he could be converted, it would be well worth all the zeal, labor, and expense. If we had to preach to thousands year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul would be full reward for all our labor, for a soul is of countless price."

So, get out from under that tree and go.

Matchless Patience

As I sit and watch the world unravel with astounding speed, even though I know the answer, I often find myself asking God why He didn't end man and his wickedness long ago.  I am sure I'm not alone in pondering the question.  After all, as I pointed out in my last post, man is wretched, depraved, wicked, and often evil beyond our imaginations.  His ability to conjure up new ways to prove that assessment is endless.  If you disagree, I strongly suggest you go back into the Word of God and examine yourself with a microscope.  I'm confident you will find the microbes of sin and debauchery embedded deeply in every fiber of your being.

Not only was all mankind affected by the disobedience of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), but all of creation.  Imagine Yahweh's delight in fashioning every creature that creeps, crawls, walks, swims, and flies in, on, and over the earth.  After He formed Adam from the dust, God gave Him the responsibility of naming each one, and giving Adam "dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  It was Adam's responsibility to be a good steward over all of God's creation, including the plant life that was created to provide food, both for the animals and also for Adam.  (Genesis 1:11-31)

But when the wiles and cunning of the serpent, Satan, convinced the man and woman God had created to disobey, all creation suffered a mortal blow.  Death came upon man and all that had been created, turning the perfection of Eden into a world fallen from grace, and bringing condemnation down upon Adam and Eve who tried to cover the shame of their nakedness from Yahweh with leaves (Genesis 3:7).

What happens next is not often considered, other than the fact that God did it.  He turned to the animals He had so lovingly formed, killed some, then fashioned garments with their skins to cover Adam's and Eve's nakedness (Genesis 3:21).

I've always wondered if it didn't grieve the LORD to have done so.  When He created the heavens and the earth and all that was in and upon them, He saw and declared that "it was good." (Genesis 1:24-25)  In other words, He viewed everything He had done with His own hands and the breath of His mouth as perfection.  Each "living creature" was created with love we are unable to comprehend.   In my mind, it only stands to reason that, when He had to take the lives of some of them to mitigate the damage Adam and Eve had done, the result couldn't have been anything less than sorrow for His creation. Although God's omniscience knew it would happen, they, too, would have to die.

What the secular world ignorantly calls "mother nature," bears the scars of the fall.  Consider that the animals God created were originally vegetarians (Genesis 1:29-30).  After the fall of man, man and some animals became carnivores and began to turn on each other, fighting for position at the top of the food chain.  For those of us with tender hearts, it can be disturbing to watch that cute, fuzzy animal become prey for another creature.  Often, the brutality of the hunt causes me to have to turn away and settle for the explanation that they, too, have to eat to survive.

If it were not for Yahweh's grace given to both man and all of creation, the earth and its inhabitants would have succeeded in bringing utter ruin.  God holds together every atom of this universe.  Without His constant and faithful stewardship over His entire creation, mankind's depravity and wickedness would abound.

When I consider the absolute holiness and righteousness of Almighty God, and recall accounts of Him pouring out His anger on men and justly giving them what they deserve, I have to marvel at His matchless patience.

"Grace is the free favour of God, the undeserved bounty of the ever-gracious Creator

against whom we have offended, the generous pardon, the infinite, spontaneous

loving-kindness of the God who has been provoked and angered by our sin, but who,

delighting in mercy, and grieving to smite the creatures whom He has made, is ever

ready to pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin, and to save His people from all the

evil consequences of their guilt." ~   Charles Spurgeon

As undeserving as we are, but as deserving as we are of His wrath, God's plan of salvation has not yet been brought to completion.  There are still those whom He chose for His Son Jesus Christ, before time began, who have not yet been drawn to receive the gift of pardon and eternal life.   There is still work to be done for His glory and His Name's sake.  In the meantime, God will delay the ultimate justice He has sworn to bring until the work is finished to His satisfaction.

"What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"  (Romans 9:22-24)

Abounding grace and matchless patience.

That's the answer to my question at the beginning of this post.  That's why God, in His sovereign wisdom, delays the inevitable.

That's why He is God and I am not.

While He tarries, all creation must endure what was brought about in the beginning by the first man and woman.

 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.   For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.   For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.   For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.   And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.   For in this hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?   But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."  (Romans 8:18-25)

With the Holy Spirit's help, we, too, are given degrees of patience.  It certainly doesn't equal the patience of our Creator.  But as long as we cling to the hope that has been so graciously gifted to us, the little patience we do have is sufficient to see us through whatever the world brings next.

Almighty God is sovereign.  He is full of Grace.

And thankfully, His patience with His creation is matchless.

Kindle the Fire of Your Reading List

I was given a basic Kindle as a gift a while back.  I'm not one who is into all the new techno-gadgets that flood the marketplace.  There are far too many of them and once you buy the latest, greatest innovation, it becomes obsolete and out-dated minutes after you purchase it.  We've all felt the sting of that marketing ploy with the purchase of a computer that is touted as the best on the market, only to discover that the store you bought it at is only trying to clear the shelves for the next latest, greatest computer waiting in the storeroom to be revealed to the world of suckers flooding through their door.

Cell phones are another burr under my proverbial saddle.  IPhones, IPads, Blue Ray, texting, photo and video-taking, I-can't-live-without-it, doodads are glued to the ears and hands of everyone I know.  A plethora of applications are downloaded onto them to amuse, entertain, compel, and rob their users of the old-fashioned method of communication: eye-to-eye contact and time spent actually speaking to the person in front of them.  I saw a joke a while back (which I considered to be more truth than humor) about there being an application for that, as well.  When you have someone before you wanting to carry on a conversation with you, turn off the offensive thing.

Sorry.  I'm wandering.  Back to the topic at hand.

Although I prefer to hold a bound book in my hand and leaf through its pages, enjoying the feel and smell of the word-filled paper, and relishing the ease with which I can refer back to a particular chapter or page, I have enjoyed the Kindle.  If owning it has changed anything, my overstuffed book cupboard is no longer cluttered with piles of already read books of which I refuse to rid myself.  And Amazon is constantly adding new editions to their growing list of e-books, giving us a wide variety of authors and genres.  I probably would have not purchased a Kindle on my own, but I am glad that I have it.  Mainly because I like to read in bed and the light has always bothered my husband.

After receiving the Kindle, I discovered the inexpensive and free books Amazon has made available to us and downloaded a few free classics.  Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and others have renewed my appreciation for good literature.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that re-reading them has made me realize how much bad literature is in today's market.  It's no wonder that the English language has devolved to the degree it has.  Modern attempts at well-written prose is feeble, at best, and it's a rare occasion that one finds a well-structured story line that's worthy of the time it takes to read it; not to mention the evidence of poor grammar, sentence structure, deplorable punctuation, bad editing, and the inability to convey the plot or purpose to its conclusion.  In short, I highly recommend to all my friends a return to a time when the ability to write a good book was the norm, rather than the exception.

My Kindle has a second, but more important, purpose.  I am fast filling it with Christian apologetics, devotions, and studies from both past and current theologians who were and are devoted to preaching and teaching the truth of God.  I begin and end my day reading the words of Charles H. Spurgeon, the "prince of preachers," whose ministry spanned the early to mid-1800's.  For less than $1.00, I was able to download a collection of six volumes of his work.  These types of books are often put into digital format by groups of volunteers, thus the poor application of punctuation can sometimes throw off phrasing.  But if you are one who understands the correct usage of punctuation, reading becomes easier as you skim over the errors without thinking about them.

One of the books contained in the collection is called "Morning and Evening, Daily Reading."  It contains short morning and evening devotions upon which to meditate and Spurgeon has yet to disappoint me in his application of spiritual content.   The richness with which he communicates Scripture and applies it to our lives and our walk with God feeds the hunger and thirst I have for His Word.  He once said in "Comments and Commentaries," another book in the collection that is taken from his keynote speaker address before a pastoral conference, that he wouldn't walk across the street to hear himself preach (humbleness at its best).  But I beg to differ with Mr. Spurgeon.  I also own a hard-bound 10-volume collection of his sermons that took me over a year to read, and our churches could use more like him.  If you're interested in obtaining this collection for your Kindle, search for "Christian Classics: Six Books by Charles H. Spurgeon."  It will be a dollar well spent.

However, I'm not limited to the church fathers and reformers.  I occasionally enjoy a good Christian fiction, but I advise caution when choosing them.  This post-modern, ecumenical, progressive atmosphere the church is finding itself in has also bookwormed its way into literature.  Amazon graciously will allow you a sampling of the book prior to purchase and I highly encourage everyone to take them at their offer.  Claims of Christian content, titles and synopses can be deceiving.  Don't waste your money, your time, or potentially damage your spirituality by purchasing a book you later find to be full of poor doctrine, or worse, heresy and apostasy.

The only book I'm having trouble deciding to add to my Kindle is a Bible.  I can see some usefulness by having one there and I know the translation I would prefer.  But as is sometimes the case with Kindles, it's frustrating to "thumb" through the pages and find that passage you need.  As it is with my old-fashioned preference of holding a book in my hands, I desire that this Book is cradled there, as well.  There's something about feeling the heaviness of it in my hands and the weight of the words contained within it.  I have become so familiar with its pages that my fingers are adept at locating the verse or passage I desire to read, exerting no more effort than raising my right hand and placing it close to, if not on, the exact spot.  If I do download a Bible, I'm sure that there would be an overabundance of bookmarks and highlights on my Kindle version - if my Kindle would even allow such a number (I've discovered that some e-book publishers have a set number of highlights that can be made).

Whether you own a Kindle, or not, and simply love to read, kindle the fire of your reading list.  Don't limit your reading enjoyment to one genre, or pointless, inane manuscripts that only entertain without purpose, or worse, conjure an unhealthy imagination.  Add to your "collections" those books that are edifying, those that feed your soul, and reject those that turn you away from Godliness.  Choose your authors wisely and the content of your book with discretion, but mix it up for your reading pleasure.

It's been said that everyone has a story to tell and many have attempted to tell it in book form.  Not all have succeeded and only a few have been lauded in history as the greatest story tellers.  But good literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, is available if one is diligent in his search for it.  My latest purchase?  The Complete Novels of Robert Louis Stevenson.  I'm confident it will be another $1.00 well spent.

Somewhere on the horizon are pages filled with words waiting to be read that will enliven your imagination, fill you with adventure and intrigue, take you on journeys untold, and nourish your relationship with God.

All you have to do is turn the page.

Thanks for the Kindle, Mom.

 

Kieran's Mystery Flower

For Mother's Day, my then 5-yr old grandson, Kieran, gave me a little clay pot full of dirt and told me within it there was a flower.  We waited with anticipation for something to grow and when it did, we all wondered what it might be.  Was it a daffodil, a tulip, an Iris?  It struggled in the confined space and didn't appear to be progressing beyond a few slender stalks.  I knew it needed help!

I had a large empty pot that I planted the small mound of dirt holding the foot-long stalks into and added a primrose that managed to survive after bloom for company.  And we continued to wait, all the while pondering what the mystery plant could be.

Almost a full summer went by before it revealed its beauty to us.  My suspicions were correct as it grew into an almost 4-ft tall Gladioli.  I propped it up next to a small bench holding other pots of flowers to keep the stalk from snapping off and waited for it to bloom.

 Our patience and diligent care paid off as we watched the row of buds open into a radiant, sunny, and perfect yellow.  It was all the more perfect  because it came from the heart of my grandson and his love for me.

Because Gladioli must be dug up and kept in storage over the winter or they will perish, I will honor its struggle by trying to preserve it for next year.  Like the love Kieran expressed for me with this simple gift, I will replant it and let it speak of God's eternal beauty and His everlasting love He has so graciously planted in my heart.