Thursday, March 13, 2014

Lenten Devotional – Day Eight

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?

A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” (Heb. 11:3)

The gospel life isn't something we learn ABOUT and then put together with instructions from the manufacturer; it's something we BECOME as God does his work of creation and salvation in us and as we accustom ourselves to a life of belief and obedience and prayer. - Eugene Peterson in Leap Over a Wall, quoted in Christianity Today, March 1, 1999, 64.

  Words, words, words. Our society is full of words: on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted and sung. Words that move, dance and change in size and color. Words that say, "Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me," but most of all, "buy me." With so many words around us, we quickly say: "Well, they're just words." Thus, words have lost much of their power.

character-of-god  In our world words have lost their power to create much other than confusion and frustration, but in scripture and in our answer today for question #9, God’s word has the power to create.

  Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, "I love you," and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, "I hate you," we can destroy another person. Let's watch our words. - Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (HarperCollins: 2006), 11.

  In a Time magazine article called "What was God thinking?" (November 14, 2005), Eric Cornell says, "Let me pose you a question, not about God but about the heavens: 'Why is the sky blue?' I offer two answers: 1) The sky is blue because of the wavelength dependence of Rayleigh scattering; 2) the sky is blue because blue is the color God wants it to be. My scientific research has been in areas connected to optical phenomena, and I can tell you a lot about the Rayleigh-scattering answer. Neither I nor any other scientist, however, has anything scientific to say about answer No. 2, the God answer. Not to say that the God answer is unscientific, just that the methods of science don't speak to that answer.

  A teacher asked her students to list what they thought were the present Seven Wonders of the World. The students cast the most votes for:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall

  While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not turned in her paper yet. She asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."

  The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:

1. to see
2. to hear
3. to touch
4. to taste
5. to feel
6. to laugh
7. to love

  By God’s very word we were created and all that is in both heaven and earth. Attempting to understand the creation and its vastness can overwhelm our mind, body and soul. The creation is more than just nature, animals, or the stars in the sky, it is all the vastness of all the emotions, thoughts, and moments of joy and praise we experience in life. Creation and the wonder of it all can sometimes only be appreciated by its enjoyment alone. Creation is the appreciation that sometimes God might have only created it because God loved the color blue.

  An old Jewish legend gives the origin of praise this way: After God created the world, God asked the angels what they thought of it all. "Only one thing lacking," they said. "It is the sound of praise to the Creator." So, the legend goes, God created music, the voice of birds, the whispering wind, the murmuring ocean, and planted melody in the hearts of men and women.

Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning Psalm: 15, 21
Evening Psalm: 19, 75
Deuteronomy 9:23—10:5
Hebrews 4:1-10
John 3:16-21

No comments:

Post a Comment