What's Next?

 

I think one of the most difficult things that we go through in this life is the quest to find reason for the events that make our life exactly what it is... Our life.

We can reason away so much and then there comes a point on the path that our reasoning just stops dead in it's tracks and we choose to walk a different path or we lay claim to God and we trust His reasoning.

There have been times when I have come to this point and have reached out with a bold confidence to God's reasoning, and there have also been times when my feet have been introduced to a path of my own design. These are not steps that I am proud to admit that I have taken, but they are steps that I have taken.

I think the most common point that defies our reasoning of allowed circumstances is the point that involves the suffering of those that we love.
We pray, we plead, and we beg but the clouds remain silent and the mountain refuses to move and the suffering remains, completely defying our reasoning.

I speak from experience when I say that during these times it is not the promises of God that contain our strength as much as it is the God who made the promises.

I was reading recently a very familiar passage and I came across one of the most beautiful verses that I have ever read. It is not beautiful because it is a new verse, in fact, this verse is one that most everyone who can read knows or has heard at least one time in their life.

The beauty of this passage was lifted out to my heart and I want to share it with you before this week and all of it's events will unfold for you and I.
 

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

 

Before you read further, please go back and re-read this passage slowly and on purpose.

 

Isn't that beautiful?

 

The heaven and the earth

One is where we are, and one is where we are going.

God made the earth to bring glory to him while at the same time creating the earth just for us to enjoy, and the heavens were made to declare the glory of God

 Isaiah 6:3 tells us that the, “Whole earth is full of his glory.”

 The psalmist says it this way;

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” ~Psalms 19:1

It is hard to look around for more than a few moments before it sinks in how awesome God is. It does not matter if you start with the most intricate flower petal or the most majestic mountain, the creativity and genius of God is forever on display.

As someone who draws and paints I am very much interested in visual detail in art and as a person who has that particular gift from God I am forever amazed at the insane detail that the creator put within all of His creation!

I have a friend in Virginia that posts pictures of the view from her and her husband's porch.

The pictures amaze me partly because of the beauty that is on full display out there and partly because when I look out my back door I cannot help but see the commode my neighbor has flowers growing out of in his backyard. (Another blog post in itself I assure you.)

Everything he has created has so much detail. People spend their whole life trying to replicate the look and color of one of his sunsets and almost as if to show them who the true artist is, each morning, he puts out another one equally as impressive.

 

 

 

He does not sell the canvases, He gives them to us! Poets spend years, and countless hours trying to put into words the picture of a rolling landscape,  a sullen stream, or a grassy meadow.

God created those with the spoken word. The thought, design, and purpose all brought into harmony in the words… “Let there be…”

I love to watch the discovery channel, and see all the beauty that my God created. How scientists will go to great pains to discover what God thought up. A defense mechanism of a small insect or the mineral properties of a rock planted miles below the surface of the earth. Those were designed by God.

There are moments and places that take your breath away, because the earth truly does shout glory to God.

The part about this that rocks my socks is that God did not create the earth because he needed a place to dwell.

Solomon made the statement in 1 Kings 8:27 that revealed a lot, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee…”

As if to prove the point, in Acts 7:48-49 God says, “Howbeit the most high dwelleth not in temples maid with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven in my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye buid me? Saith the Lord: or what is my place of rest?"

In other words, "As massive as the earth and heavens are I needed a place to sit down."

 

That is saying something, because the footstool is the smaller part of that furniture set.  We think that the earth is so big, not according to the one who created it. I find an amazing amount of comfort in Genesis 1:1 because of that.

I want to encourage you this morning, before the week even starts and all of it's drama unfolds for you that God is bigger than whatever rolls into your life. This familiar passage gives us the comfort of  knowing that the things that seem over our head, truly are under his feet. Yes, to us the problems seem very large, but God is a whole lot bigger.

In the spiritual sense, I have to admit I am glad that the two are listed together like they are.

When I get tired with the things that happen on this earth…I am reassured that there was another place created and that place is for those that are His. It is called Heaven.

 

 

The earth has: Pain, sickness, sin, heartache, sadness, trials, lust, deception, tears, worry, anguish, anger, hate. It is overpopulated with greed and selfishness. It nearly overflows with pride, malice, discontentment, war, famine, and cruelty. Foolishness abounds alongside of its counter agents, Godlessness and rebellion.

 

I love life, it is a wonderful gift, that I do not deserve to have been given, but there are times when I look around on the news, or in the community around me and I just get overwhelmed at how corrupt the world is…

 

Then I remember that the earth is not the end of the line. No, not by a long shot. God knew that, that is why he did not stop with the creation of earth alone. He went on to create a heaven.

 

In John’s Gospel, and verse 12 Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

 I do not know what this week holds for either one of us, but I do know who holds us both. God is in Control, and Jesus is Lord!

 

 

Climbing with you,

~Dan