Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The World Itself Knows God

wow... read these words
7"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
These words come from the book of Job. Job 12 to be precise.

Job knows that God's hand is involved with everything.

He knows it. He has that certainty that just sits within him.

He is so confident in this that he tells his listeners, go ask the animals of the earth. They will tell you the same thing. The hand of the Lord has done this!

I read this, and knowing the calamity that had befallen Job, it seems such a huge statement of faith. Job knows God.

Was Job perfect? no, we find that as we continue to read Job. But here, he knows that God is responsible for all things.

ON a side note, this passage reminds me of how there is general and specific revelation.
General revelation is the world around us proclaiming to us that God is real.
Specific revelation is the bible proclaiming to us that God is real, and tells us the works he has done, how we know him and so forth.

Which is better?
Specific revelation tells us in detail what the world around us is proclaiming.
We shouldn't ignore either.

I find that too often people are quick to disregard both or either. That God's world doesn't really tell us anything, and that his word is unreliable. Both views are wrong. God's world reveals him in SO many ways. Ways that, if we stopped and thought about it, would see point to a greater and higher power than simple "random" chance would give us. Ways that showcase his glory...the mountains....wow...mountains are so cool. Deserts...how the plants wait for water and then just burst forth. Not the slow coming that we find here in Ontario, but that quick burst of colour and growth...that's God's planning, not random chance.

The bible itself tells us that he plans it all. He set the sun and moon on their courses, he sends the water that nourishes the ground and so forth.

Read and study his word. Study the world around, see how it proclaims God.

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