What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O Earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, Who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
(Verses 5-8)
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything to hard for Me?" God, Jeremiah 32:27
How big is God? I watched a documentary with my family over the holidays, "The Star of Bethlehem." Mike Cunningham has spent years researching the star the Bible says stopped over Bethlehem the night Christ was born. Using mathematical calculations with the help of the internet, which can now show us the actual position of the stars centuries ago, Mr. Cunningham was able to pinpoint the day the star appeared and why it was followed by astronomers. Why it stopped. Where the star was in the constellations. And why not everyone was as aware of it as were the magi who came seeking a king. The facts of the heavens and their use by God to foretell His will is mind blowing.
Not only was Mr. Cunningham able to solve the mystery of the star of Bethlehem, but he also was able to pinpoint the day of the crucifixion based on the fact that there was a total eclipse of the sun and the moon was blood red. April 3, 33 A.D. If you have an hour, download it and watch. (You tube: The Star of Bethelem) I was in such wonder that it was difficult for me to sleep that night. We sometimes have God way up there or out there, uninterested in our time zones and struggles. But if Cunningham and the Bible are correct, the stars even tell His story.
Is it possible that the God of all communicates with us through the glory of His creation? If so, isn't it reasonable to believe that He can bring water from rocks and something from nothing? In fact, what could a God so big not do? Perhaps it is just those of us who are flesh who have trouble understanding there is nothing too hard for Him. The earth and stars, the tides and weather patterns, the seeds and the sprigs, and the oceans and mountains do what God tells them to. Earth knows that were its axis off by only a fraction, all things balanced would shift and change. Monarch butterflies know to go to Mexico. Gray whales know to retreat to Baja. But God is also the God of all flesh. Us. And the question He has for our human souls demands an answer. "Is there anything too hard for Me?"
I know this has been a really tough year for many people. Loss. I think that sums up death, financial ruin, abandonment, failing health. We grapple with that when we try to answer God's question. If nothing is too hard for Him, then why did she die, why are we in such need, why are we alone? I know this much. When God came as He promised to live in a fleshy body, He experienced all of these things with us. So He knows. Even that is too hard for false gods. An impossibility for our idols. Only the God of the Universe came to hold us in His arms, relieve us of our diseases, find taxes in the mouths of fishes or feed us when we were hungry. But all of that was to allow us to understand the greater truth: God came to save us forever. Our free ticket out of the shadow of this reality and into the glory of the real. Here we watch life as if it were a reality show. Wondering at the good and the bad. And no matter how large the screen on which we view it, the whole story isn't revealed. Only a picture limited by the inches of our LG. We are scripted to move about, engage and disrupt, love and hate, but without a consistent view that only the Writer has. She knows how it all plays out in the end. What it's all for. Those of us who know God will someday take a look from the other side of His epic story. See the picture from beginning to end, on the widescreen provided by the Alpha and Omega. And I know I'll be in awe of how it all fit together. The whys answered. If I even care then. For all wrongs will be made right. Even that is not too hard for Him.
This dance we do with our Beloved Savior. This moving in and out of with the rhythm of His songs. This trust we have in the warmth of His hand guiding our every move must assure us that if things are not as we hoped, it's not because He can't. There is no can't with Him. Perhaps with our Savior, it's not always about the earthly outcome. His certainly wasn't pretty. But Jesus finally did the thing "too hard." He strangled death, vanquished the enemy of our souls and opened the doors of heaven in order to give us access to the God of All as our Father, here and there. Jesus rose up from the dead to enter heaven as the Lamb of God Who even now has the destiny of this puny world in His control. Just like the stars tell the story of His will, displayed and revealed to men, so God holds our lives close and we must trust that getting us safely to Him, a thing impossible for us to do alone, will be accomplished by the wondrous God of all flesh.
(Verses 5-8)
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything to hard for Me?" God, Jeremiah 32:27
How big is God? I watched a documentary with my family over the holidays, "The Star of Bethlehem." Mike Cunningham has spent years researching the star the Bible says stopped over Bethlehem the night Christ was born. Using mathematical calculations with the help of the internet, which can now show us the actual position of the stars centuries ago, Mr. Cunningham was able to pinpoint the day the star appeared and why it was followed by astronomers. Why it stopped. Where the star was in the constellations. And why not everyone was as aware of it as were the magi who came seeking a king. The facts of the heavens and their use by God to foretell His will is mind blowing.
Not only was Mr. Cunningham able to solve the mystery of the star of Bethlehem, but he also was able to pinpoint the day of the crucifixion based on the fact that there was a total eclipse of the sun and the moon was blood red. April 3, 33 A.D. If you have an hour, download it and watch. (You tube: The Star of Bethelem) I was in such wonder that it was difficult for me to sleep that night. We sometimes have God way up there or out there, uninterested in our time zones and struggles. But if Cunningham and the Bible are correct, the stars even tell His story.
Is it possible that the God of all communicates with us through the glory of His creation? If so, isn't it reasonable to believe that He can bring water from rocks and something from nothing? In fact, what could a God so big not do? Perhaps it is just those of us who are flesh who have trouble understanding there is nothing too hard for Him. The earth and stars, the tides and weather patterns, the seeds and the sprigs, and the oceans and mountains do what God tells them to. Earth knows that were its axis off by only a fraction, all things balanced would shift and change. Monarch butterflies know to go to Mexico. Gray whales know to retreat to Baja. But God is also the God of all flesh. Us. And the question He has for our human souls demands an answer. "Is there anything too hard for Me?"
I know this has been a really tough year for many people. Loss. I think that sums up death, financial ruin, abandonment, failing health. We grapple with that when we try to answer God's question. If nothing is too hard for Him, then why did she die, why are we in such need, why are we alone? I know this much. When God came as He promised to live in a fleshy body, He experienced all of these things with us. So He knows. Even that is too hard for false gods. An impossibility for our idols. Only the God of the Universe came to hold us in His arms, relieve us of our diseases, find taxes in the mouths of fishes or feed us when we were hungry. But all of that was to allow us to understand the greater truth: God came to save us forever. Our free ticket out of the shadow of this reality and into the glory of the real. Here we watch life as if it were a reality show. Wondering at the good and the bad. And no matter how large the screen on which we view it, the whole story isn't revealed. Only a picture limited by the inches of our LG. We are scripted to move about, engage and disrupt, love and hate, but without a consistent view that only the Writer has. She knows how it all plays out in the end. What it's all for. Those of us who know God will someday take a look from the other side of His epic story. See the picture from beginning to end, on the widescreen provided by the Alpha and Omega. And I know I'll be in awe of how it all fit together. The whys answered. If I even care then. For all wrongs will be made right. Even that is not too hard for Him.
This dance we do with our Beloved Savior. This moving in and out of with the rhythm of His songs. This trust we have in the warmth of His hand guiding our every move must assure us that if things are not as we hoped, it's not because He can't. There is no can't with Him. Perhaps with our Savior, it's not always about the earthly outcome. His certainly wasn't pretty. But Jesus finally did the thing "too hard." He strangled death, vanquished the enemy of our souls and opened the doors of heaven in order to give us access to the God of All as our Father, here and there. Jesus rose up from the dead to enter heaven as the Lamb of God Who even now has the destiny of this puny world in His control. Just like the stars tell the story of His will, displayed and revealed to men, so God holds our lives close and we must trust that getting us safely to Him, a thing impossible for us to do alone, will be accomplished by the wondrous God of all flesh.
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