Reading: Ecclesiastes 3,4
My Verse: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds, yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
What a packed verse! You, LORD God, do this throughout Your Word. I marvel at how incredibly full each verse, passage in the Bible is - incredibly full of teaching, meaning, purport! There is beauty in this world despite its fallen state. There is eternity in our hearts that none, try as they may, can deny! There is this persistent curiosity that drives us to strive to understand our world. Beauty, eternity and curiosity are innate in each of us!
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." Oh, LORD God, You are the Creator God. You made all that is and You are the source of not only Love but Beauty! Who can match the beauty of a field of wild flowers? The colors, shapes and scents are matchless.
"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these . . ." (Matthew 6:28).
Sadly, as Piper so eloquently states we are blinded by our rebellion to You, LORD God, to Your beauty.
I am often overwhelmed to the point of tears when I see something beautiful. Seeing it and being able to appreciate it in my own limited way reminds me Who, You are LORD God. It reminds me that despite the awfulness of mankind's sin and wretchedness You are still there. You still love us enough to give us those reassuring glimpses of You in the beauty of a blossom, sunset, laughing child, ice crystals, snowflakes, mountains, still waters of a lake . . . Calvin Miller stated, "God lives freest in those whose eyes are snagged by his beauty."
"He also has planted eternity in men's heart and minds" I think this must be the most difficult thing atheists struggle with. How does one deny that sense of foreverness embedded deep within our very souls? There is within us a longing for something that just does not go away - no matter how one tries to deny it, cover it up, dull its constant ache. There is an incredibly powerful desire within to give oneself fully and completely to "something!" I believe this explains why so many desire to be a part of something as evil as the ISIS movement. There is this desperate search for meaning to one's existence. And, there You are LORD God telling us who You are. "I AM WHO I AM!" (Exodus 3:14). "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the LORD God, "Who is and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8)
Finally, you embedded within us that most wonderful thing called curiosity. We want so much to understand our world - it is what keeps us inventing and creating and improving. Thank You for that! You don't allow us, even in our rebellion and denial of you to stagnate., for that would be the most awful dysfunction.
LORD God, thank You for beauty, eternity and curiosity! Thank You for drawing us ever onward towards You and Your Truth!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
My Verse: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds, yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
What a packed verse! You, LORD God, do this throughout Your Word. I marvel at how incredibly full each verse, passage in the Bible is - incredibly full of teaching, meaning, purport! There is beauty in this world despite its fallen state. There is eternity in our hearts that none, try as they may, can deny! There is this persistent curiosity that drives us to strive to understand our world. Beauty, eternity and curiosity are innate in each of us!
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." Oh, LORD God, You are the Creator God. You made all that is and You are the source of not only Love but Beauty! Who can match the beauty of a field of wild flowers? The colors, shapes and scents are matchless.
"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these . . ." (Matthew 6:28).
Sadly, as Piper so eloquently states we are blinded by our rebellion to You, LORD God, to Your beauty.
I am often overwhelmed to the point of tears when I see something beautiful. Seeing it and being able to appreciate it in my own limited way reminds me Who, You are LORD God. It reminds me that despite the awfulness of mankind's sin and wretchedness You are still there. You still love us enough to give us those reassuring glimpses of You in the beauty of a blossom, sunset, laughing child, ice crystals, snowflakes, mountains, still waters of a lake . . . Calvin Miller stated, "God lives freest in those whose eyes are snagged by his beauty."
"He also has planted eternity in men's heart and minds" I think this must be the most difficult thing atheists struggle with. How does one deny that sense of foreverness embedded deep within our very souls? There is within us a longing for something that just does not go away - no matter how one tries to deny it, cover it up, dull its constant ache. There is an incredibly powerful desire within to give oneself fully and completely to "something!" I believe this explains why so many desire to be a part of something as evil as the ISIS movement. There is this desperate search for meaning to one's existence. And, there You are LORD God telling us who You are. "I AM WHO I AM!" (Exodus 3:14). "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the LORD God, "Who is and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8)
Finally, you embedded within us that most wonderful thing called curiosity. We want so much to understand our world - it is what keeps us inventing and creating and improving. Thank You for that! You don't allow us, even in our rebellion and denial of you to stagnate., for that would be the most awful dysfunction.
LORD God, thank You for beauty, eternity and curiosity! Thank You for drawing us ever onward towards You and Your Truth!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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