Tag: science

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He Knows All Things

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“Would not God find this out?  For He knows the secrets of the heart.”  Psalm 44:21

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  Matthew 10:30

Of all the blog posts I’ve written so far in this series it’s this one that I’ve spent the most contemplating.  It’s not for lack of material to work with; no, it’s the abundance that has caused me to ponder my focus.  

God’s omniscience shows up in scripture in various ways, both in the obvious and not so obvious.  It’s why I chose the two pieces of scripture to get us started.  One exemplifies the idea of God knowing exactly what we think and feel.  While the other represents God’s knowledge of everything in the natural world.  He is not only everywhere and all-powerful; He sees and understands all.

“By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him; for whenever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”  1 John 3:20

The Apostle John apparently was paying attention during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  If you drill down into all that Jesus taught and can be found in Matthew 5-7, He’s talking about God knowing our thoughts and hearts.  Even back in the book of Isaiah God told His people not to come with empty sacrifices; He wants our hearts.  This was the downfall of Cain.

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good.”  Proverbs 15:3

There is no place to hide, as the post on God’s omnipresence reminds us.  He is both physically everywhere and knowledgeable about all.  To truly grasp God’s mercy we must understand this. 

No one gets away with anything.  God is a just God and cannot let sin go unpunished.  We should be thankful for that.  Conversely, we should be eternally grateful that the punishment for our sins has already been paid.  As Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.”  We may not understand it all but we don’t need to.

“God does not require us to understand His will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable.”  Life Principle #5, Charles Stanley, 30 Life Principles

When we completely accept as truth the “3 O’s of God,” as I once titled a blog post on His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, we let go of our wills and submit gladly to the power of Christ.  When we accept that the Holy Spirit is not just the angel on our shoulder balancing the red devil on the other, we move into a Christian life free of bondage to sin. 

His Eternal Wisdom and Knowledge

“Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?”  Isaiah 40:13-14

When James tells us in His book to seek God’s wisdom if we are lacking, he’s simply building on the truth of God’s omniscience told throughout the Old Testament.  From the creation of the world to leading His people out of Egypt and the wisdom books to prophets foretelling both the first and second coming of Christ, we can see God knowing what came, what is happening and what is to come.  All knowledge and wisdom finds its source in Him.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33

Friends, when we realize this truth, we can laugh when scientists “discover” something “new.”  In fact, I read there are at least 10 major scientific ideas found in the Old Testament.  For example, long before explorers circled the earth pronouncing it round, Isaiah tells us, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).

Rest In His Insight

Honestly, when we feel lost, unsure, unseen, unheard, unloved by those around us in this physical world it can be very discouraging.  But God.  He sees you, has wisdom and knowledge to impart to you, and loves you.  He has a plan laid for you and for me.  And it is good.  

Countless Stars: At a time when people believed the stars could be easily numbered, Scripture declared the opposite: “As the host of heaven cannot be counted…” (Jeremiah 33:22). Modern astronomy reveals billions of galaxies each containing countless stars. The more we look, the more we discover that it’s truly an innumerable multitude sparkling in our night sky.  Science and The Bible, Bible Hub

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Bricks and Mortar

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“You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11

According to Wikipedia, the first attempts at dulling pain for medical related procedures were most likely herbal remedies. Drinking alcohol was one of the oldest known sedative methods used in Mesopotamia. Before the birth of Christ, the Chinese are believed to have used some sort of herbal concoction for a general anesthesia. As time progressed, plants, elements and gasses of all sorts have been the subject of experimentation in helping humans and animals experience less or no pain during surgical procedures. With each “discovery” scientists and doctors have learned how to induce a safe state of unconsciousness and a stillness in the patient.

You may be thinking this is a strange way to start off this Soli Deo Gloria devotional series but I, for one, am incredibly thankful for the work these scientists have done over the last few thousand years — because yesterday I had two wisdom teeth removed. Today, I thankfully have no memory of the cutting open of my gums and the pulling of those two teeth. I didn’t feel a thing. And although I look like a chipmunk that’s a small price to pay for the pain free experience of modern anesthesia.

Who is responsible for this amazing scientific work? Was it Joseph Priestly who discovered the gas, nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas?” Or maybe it was William Thomas Green Morton, a dentist who studied and used diethyl ether. Then later, physicians Samuel Guthrie and Eugene Soubeiran who made chloroform famous. While these men and thousands of others must be recognized for their tireless work in helping us all enjoy pain free surgeries we need to step back and remind ourselves of the people living on the plain of Shiner. Yes, those Tower of Babel folks (Genesis 11).

They took God’s created elements and built themselves a tower to reach the heavens. They wanted to be known, to make a name for themselves, to get all the glory. They didn’t seek to use God’s gifts for His glory — imagine the different outcome if they had! Instead, they were cursed, suddenly unable to understand each other and scattered across the earth. The city they began in cooperation could not be finished because confusion reigned.

During the so-called “Age of Enlightenment” (17th and 18th century) scientists and scholars began building a world wide “Tower of Babel” That tower was built not with brick and mortar but on knowledge and scientific discoveries. You see, until then universities and other places of study put God at the top of all things. From God came the studies of the earth, the body, the mind, and the arts. Everything was understood to come from God. But as the scholars began placing God to the side as just another thing to study they removed Him from all other areas. “New” plants, “new” species, “new” medical discoveries were all down to man’s knowledge and talent — making names for themselves. And God, He has become relegated to a mythology for so many in the sciences. We can all see the confusion that now reigns around us.

But my friend, as faithful followers of our beautiful Triune God we can know that scientists can never fulfill their ultimate target of the “why” of all things. There is no brick or mortar that scientist “discover” that hasn’t already been created by God. I heard recently that God, in fact, makes science possible. Without Him there would be nothing for man to discover or study. God and science are not in conflict. As usual, it is man’s fleshly desires that are in conflict with both.

So today, while I am thankful to all the people who, with God’s hand, made anesthesia what it is today and to my doctor who put in thousands of hours studying oral surgery, I am most thankful to God. Giving all glory and honor, as the 24 elders in Revelation 4 are quoted, to the Creator. To the one who made every single brick in existence yesterday, today and what will be “discovered” by man tomorrow. He is the first and ultimate physician and scientist.

To Him give the glory. Amen

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Miracle Worker

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23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. Revelation 21:23

Father in Heaven, you are a God of miracles.  You bring light when I am in darkness through your healing powers and in ways I can never fully understand.  Help me to see even the tiniest miracles that you perform throughout my day so I can lift up my voice in glory to You. Amen

If you were asked if you believe in miracles, what would you say?  Your answer would probably depend upon how you define a miracle.  Some might call it a rare event.  What if instead, you changed your perspective and recognized that God works miracles in our lives every single day?

A standard definition of a miracle is  “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.”  And again, how would you define “extraordinary?”  As I’ve grown closer to God and understanding His ways, my view of the world has certainly changed.  When seen through the lens of creation being the work of God, we can find any number of impossible things made possible.

37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

I’ve been blessed with being pregnant and giving birth twice.  Each time I marvelled at what was occurring in my body.  A tiny human being built from microscopic pieces of the universe in a body that itself is the perfect factory for human creation.  The parts all fit perfectly, just about every single time for thousands of years, millions upon millions of instances.  You don’t need to know statistics to grasp how impossible that should be.

Many say “that’s just science.”  Of course it is!  Science is the study of God’s amazing work – where the impossible happens all the time.  But let’s set human biology aside.  I can state for a fact that miracles happen regularly because I have experienced them.  Oh, if you had only known me 30, 20 or even just 10 years ago. You wouldn’t have seen Christ in my life.  You would have seen a woman desperate for peace.  Longing for joy.  Fearful of not being loved or appreciated.  A couple of years ago, a friend who has known me for some time commented how she could now see the work of Jesus in me.  Truly a miracle.  I’ve seen the same work in a few friends.  Ones I thought would never change.  And the change that has occurred is one that only the hand of God could’ve accomplished.

When you think “miracle” do you only think of cancer being healed?  A death avoided?  A financial windfall?  If so, you need to rub the scales from your eyes.  Just the fact that the sun rose again today was God’s miracle of creation.   His glory is revealed in so many ways.  Some include our continuous acts of human creation.  While other times through the medicines He has placed here for us to “discover.”  His miracle work is revealed each time a sinner recognizes their sin and asks God to change her and He does.  And yes, whenever we are blessed financially when we need it most. 

Friend, God’s glorious miracles are at work right now in your life.  Like our future Eden, He doesn’t need any outside source to cause the light to shine because He makes impossible possible.

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The God Spark

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So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Recently, an archeological site in Jordan was determined to be the site of the ancient city of Sodom – destroyed by a meteor of fire.  That fact is now added to the 1000s upon 1000s of texts and archeological finds supporting details found within the Holy Bible.  As author Eric Metaxas explains in his new book,  Is Atheism Dead? , science, rather than moving us farther away from proving God’s existence, is actually moving us closer.

The desire by scientists to prove or disprove God does prove something else – our human desire to be connected to something greater than ourselves.  In fact you could argue there is really no such thing as atheism.  If we haven’t submitted ourselves to the one and only God and savior then we have most likely submitted our lives to something else.  In our yearning for connection some turn their job into their worship.  While for others it is nature, money, self-improvement, the mystical, and all other manner of things the Creator has created.

Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. Jeremiah. 2:28

Since the beginning of time we humans have sought not just the answers to the universe but a connection to it.  I’ve heard it called the “God spark.”  Something within us that seeks Him, not always knowing who or what we seek.  It’s the work of the Holy Spirit moving in and out and around us whispering to us to look heavenward.  Far too many turn a deaf ear and instead seek the world for this connection and are never fully satisfied.

I was recently asked why I started going to church.  About 25 years ago my oldest daughter, then around 4 years old, started drawing angels.  And singing about angels and asking about angels.  We didn’t attend any church or even talk about God.  It wasn’t during Christmas season.  Her questions were so innocent and yet deeply yearning for answers.  It sparked me to start asking those same questions.  Mind you, even though I came from an atheist household, I always believed God existed.  I just didn’t know anything about Him.  But with that innocent child’s questions our family began a journey.

I am so thankful that God put some of Himself in each and every one of us so that we would have that yearning to be re-connected with Him one day.  So many of us just need to be directed to the Creator instead of His creations.