Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever. And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.
(Verses 18-19)
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9
I have often thought about his question: How can people see the miracles of God and miss Him? Ancient Egypt had plagues delivered to them on a platter. Frogs, locusts, boils, hail, insects and darkness preceded the deaths of all the firstborn in the land. Granted, magicians were able to counterfeit some of them, but probably because the Lord allowed even that. The acknowledgment of God in the plagues came only after the devastation became personal.
Elijah, the prophet, later stood on Mount Carmel waiting for the god, Baal, to bring down fire from heaven and destroy the ox sacrificed on the pagan altar. The six priests of Baal sweated it out, leaping around in a frenzy calling out to their god to light the fire without a match. Elijah cajoled and teased them: "Where is your god? Maybe he is relieving himself somewhere. Stepped out to take a pee. Perhaps your god is out of the country or asleep?" In a frantic show of loyalty, the priests then yelled louder and cut themselves with swords until the blood gushed out of them. Their Baal? Still sleeping...or whatever. It seems that after high noon, they were kind of out of their heads with the whole worship thing. However, when Elijah took his turn to call fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, he poured so much water on and around the altar it looked even more impossible to set ablaze. Then he prayed: "O Lord, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and I am your servant. Answer me, O Lord, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." Then, fire! Miraculous, immediate and fierce. God Himself swirling in crackling assurance that He is unmatched in power. The rocks, the wood and even the dust was demolished when the sacrifice was consumed. Yet, the people didn't have a change of heart and the queen came after Elijah's life.
God came to us to show us the miraculous. Wore flesh like ours. Touched lepers and raised the dead. Loved on children and ate with commoners. And? We killed Him.
So what is it about the wonders of God in our faces that we reject? His power, I think. For if God is powerful enough to work the miracles only He can perform, that means He could take control of my puny self, and that is power I want. Ultimately, God had His way in all three scenarios above. Because, whether we like it or not, He is sovereign. But, it's clear, that just because God does what only He can do, if our hearts aren't changed, we will reject the idea that God made something happen. Elijah fell into a deep depression after Mount Carmel largely because the magnificent manifestation of the power of God didn't bring the hearts of the Israelites back to God. The revival Elijah expected because God showed up in an extraordinary display of fireworks fizzled with an edict from a wicked Jezebel. Not only had the sacrifice been consumed, but God also sent rain that very afternoon to a land parched with drought. What on earth does it take for people to turn to the Lord?
In our hubris, we think we live our lives to ourselves. Oh, yeah, sometimes the show God puts on is amusing, but we don't want Him messing in our lives, telling us what to do. The stars glistening on the ocean's waters or pink-tinted snow-capped mountains gleaming majestic at dusk will make us wonder at nature or tickle our fancy that maybe there is something bigger than ourselves. We just don't want that something or someone larger than life to meddle in ours. Make us change to fit His rules. So we go on, walking right past the obvious, toward uncertain circumstances of our own making.
But, the glory of the Lord still fills the whole earth. As God showed Moses, His glory is His goodness. Creation shouts to us with every blade of grass and every ray of morning sunshine. The complexity of DNA, which holds every indicator of who each of us is, makes a mockery of those who don't want a Designer involved in their lives. The whole earth is supposed to speak to our senses and encourage our faith in a God Who is involved with us. But it seems we can see the glory of God without the knowledge of that glory. We can accept it as the backdrop of our existence without thinking too much about Who began it and Who will complete its cycle.
One day it will be obvious. The clouds will part and the King of Kings will mount His steed and burst on the scene in full power. And there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree sheds its unripe fruit when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, saying to the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne!" Revelation 6 (italics mine)
Unbelief clinging to a rock, praying to a mountain for salvation, instead bowing to the King coming down out of heaven! Missing the glory of God when it's in our faces rather than be trapped in a relationship with a Creator Who might want to go against our wills to enforce His own. Just because the whole earth is filled with the glory of God doesn't mean it understands what it sees. That takes a different heart.
He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as did receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed on His name....and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. John 1
(Verses 18-19)
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9
I have often thought about his question: How can people see the miracles of God and miss Him? Ancient Egypt had plagues delivered to them on a platter. Frogs, locusts, boils, hail, insects and darkness preceded the deaths of all the firstborn in the land. Granted, magicians were able to counterfeit some of them, but probably because the Lord allowed even that. The acknowledgment of God in the plagues came only after the devastation became personal.
Elijah, the prophet, later stood on Mount Carmel waiting for the god, Baal, to bring down fire from heaven and destroy the ox sacrificed on the pagan altar. The six priests of Baal sweated it out, leaping around in a frenzy calling out to their god to light the fire without a match. Elijah cajoled and teased them: "Where is your god? Maybe he is relieving himself somewhere. Stepped out to take a pee. Perhaps your god is out of the country or asleep?" In a frantic show of loyalty, the priests then yelled louder and cut themselves with swords until the blood gushed out of them. Their Baal? Still sleeping...or whatever. It seems that after high noon, they were kind of out of their heads with the whole worship thing. However, when Elijah took his turn to call fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, he poured so much water on and around the altar it looked even more impossible to set ablaze. Then he prayed: "O Lord, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and I am your servant. Answer me, O Lord, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." Then, fire! Miraculous, immediate and fierce. God Himself swirling in crackling assurance that He is unmatched in power. The rocks, the wood and even the dust was demolished when the sacrifice was consumed. Yet, the people didn't have a change of heart and the queen came after Elijah's life.
God came to us to show us the miraculous. Wore flesh like ours. Touched lepers and raised the dead. Loved on children and ate with commoners. And? We killed Him.
So what is it about the wonders of God in our faces that we reject? His power, I think. For if God is powerful enough to work the miracles only He can perform, that means He could take control of my puny self, and that is power I want. Ultimately, God had His way in all three scenarios above. Because, whether we like it or not, He is sovereign. But, it's clear, that just because God does what only He can do, if our hearts aren't changed, we will reject the idea that God made something happen. Elijah fell into a deep depression after Mount Carmel largely because the magnificent manifestation of the power of God didn't bring the hearts of the Israelites back to God. The revival Elijah expected because God showed up in an extraordinary display of fireworks fizzled with an edict from a wicked Jezebel. Not only had the sacrifice been consumed, but God also sent rain that very afternoon to a land parched with drought. What on earth does it take for people to turn to the Lord?
In our hubris, we think we live our lives to ourselves. Oh, yeah, sometimes the show God puts on is amusing, but we don't want Him messing in our lives, telling us what to do. The stars glistening on the ocean's waters or pink-tinted snow-capped mountains gleaming majestic at dusk will make us wonder at nature or tickle our fancy that maybe there is something bigger than ourselves. We just don't want that something or someone larger than life to meddle in ours. Make us change to fit His rules. So we go on, walking right past the obvious, toward uncertain circumstances of our own making.
But, the glory of the Lord still fills the whole earth. As God showed Moses, His glory is His goodness. Creation shouts to us with every blade of grass and every ray of morning sunshine. The complexity of DNA, which holds every indicator of who each of us is, makes a mockery of those who don't want a Designer involved in their lives. The whole earth is supposed to speak to our senses and encourage our faith in a God Who is involved with us. But it seems we can see the glory of God without the knowledge of that glory. We can accept it as the backdrop of our existence without thinking too much about Who began it and Who will complete its cycle.
One day it will be obvious. The clouds will part and the King of Kings will mount His steed and burst on the scene in full power. And there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree sheds its unripe fruit when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, saying to the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne!" Revelation 6 (italics mine)
Unbelief clinging to a rock, praying to a mountain for salvation, instead bowing to the King coming down out of heaven! Missing the glory of God when it's in our faces rather than be trapped in a relationship with a Creator Who might want to go against our wills to enforce His own. Just because the whole earth is filled with the glory of God doesn't mean it understands what it sees. That takes a different heart.
He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as did receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed on His name....and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. John 1
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