Poetry Saturday—The Praise Of God

FullSizeRenderSpeak, lips of mine! 
And tell abroad 
The praises of my God. 
Speak, stammering tongue! 
In gladdest tone, 
Make His high praises known. 
Speak, sea and earth! 
Heaven’s utmost star, 
Speak from your realms afar! 
Take up the note, 
And send it round 
Creation’s farthest bound. 
Speak, heaven of heavens! 
Wherein our God 
Has made His bright abode. 
Speak, angels, speak! 
In songs proclaim 
His everlasting name. 
Speak, son of dust! 
Thy flesh He took 
And heaven for thee forsook. 
Speak, child of death! 
Thy death He died, 
Bless thou the Crucified. —Horatius Bonar

How Wolves Change Rivers

wolfThe beauty, inter-depdence and resiliency that our Creator masterfully designed into His creation is breathtaking! As I watched this video, I couldn’t help but imagining God’s smile as scientists learn what He knew all along!

 

Thursdays With Oswald—The Uncommon Attitude Of The Bible

Oswald ChambersThis is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Uncommon Attitude Of The Bible

     It is not necessary for a man to understand things before he can be a Christian. … Theology is the science of religion, an intellectual attempt to systematize the consciousness of God. Intellect systematizes things to a man’s mind, but we do not reach reality through intellect. Theology comes second, not first, and ought always to be open to dispute. … 

     The attitude of the Bible to the human race is not a common-sense one. The Christian aspect deals with the a specimen of a human race which is a magnificent ruin of what it was designed to be. Supposing the view of the Bible to be right, to whom it is it ‘up to’ to right the wrong? The Creator. Has He done it? He has, and He has done it absolutely single-handed. The tremendous revelation of Christianity is not the Fatherhood of God, but the Babyhood of God—God became the weakest thing in His own creation, and in flesh and blood He levered it back to where it was intended to be. No one helped Him; it was done absolutely by God manifest in human flesh. God has undertaken not only to repair the damage, but in Jesus Christ the human race is put in a better condition than when it was originally designed. … 

     The highest standard God has is Himself, and it is up to God to make a man as good as He is Himself; and it is up to me to let Him do it.

From The Shadow Of An Agony

It’s amazing how much we argue over theology! Especially because theology never saved a soul. Theology simply is a science that organizes our thoughts about God.

But God confounds those who merely want to analyze and systematize Him. I love Chambers’ thought: “The tremendous revelation of Christianity is not the Fatherhood of God, but the Babyhood of God.” Who would have ever conceived such a harebrained idea?!

Theology has value, but it comes second. First comes faith. Never let arguments over theology sway you from your childlike faith in a God Who loved you enough to single-handedly lift you back up to Him!

8 Quotes From “Today’s Moment Of Truth”

Today's Moment Of TruthThere is so much excellent content to digest in each day’s reading from Today’s Moment Of Truth. Be sure to check out my book review by clicking here. Below are th first set of quotes I’m sharing from this book.

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” —Robert Jastsrow, founding director of NASA’s Goddard Institute For Space Studies

“As astronomers have discovered, our sun and moon are much more exceptional than once thought. Our sun is far from ordinary; it has exactly the right mass and composition and is the ideal distance from the earth to enable life on our planet. If it were much smaller, its luminosity wouldn’t allow the high-efficiency photosynthesis necessary in plants; if it were much closer, the water would boil away from the planet’s surface. Similarly, our moon is just far enough away and just the right size to stabilize the Earth’s tilt. Without the moon’s stabilizing presence, the Earth would experience wild temperature swings, with devastating consequences for life.” —Lee Strobel

“I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there’s an Intelligent Designer. —Walter Bradley, co-author of The Mystery Of Life’s Origin

“An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” —Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner

“It is my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. It was only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.” —Allan Rex Sandage, cosmologist

“The beginning seems to present insuperable difficulties unless we agree to look on it as frankly supernatural.” —Sir Arthur Eddington

“Secular scientists often talk as though life came about through this formula: Matter + Energy + Time = Life. However, when scientists go into their labs and try to produce life, they add another ingredient—one they often don’t think about. The formula they really use is: Matter + Energy + Time + Ideas = Life. 

“In other words, they’re not just throwing all of the ingredients into a blender, switching it to the highest setting, and hoping life will pop out at the end. Rather, they’re applying the best of scientific knowledge to selecting the elements necessary for living matter as well as the conditions that will be conducive for life to flourish.

“Putting it another way, they’re trying to replicate what God did. And if they finally succeed, it’ll only serve to reinforce what the Bible says—that God created life.” —Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith

“When this church service is over, I’m heading to the airport to fly back home. But it’s not enough for me to sit in the terminal and believe that airplanes fly. Just acknowledging the soundness of aviation science will never get me home. I have to go beyond mere belief that airplanes fly to a personal belief in the particular airplane that’s heading to my city—demonstrated by climbing on board. It’s that active trust that will ultimately get me where I want to go. Similarly, we all need to go beyond merely believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the Cross for our sins. We must take the next step and trust in Him personally, asking Him to forgive our sins and to lead our lives.” —Mark Mittelberg

If you would like to know when I post more quotes from Today’s Moment Of Truth, you may enter your email address in the form to the right, and you will be notified by email as soon as new content is available.

Also be sure to follow me on Twitter and Tumblr, where I will be sharing quotes from this book, along with lots of other material I’ve been studying.

God’s Lovingkindness Revealed In The Cosmos

T.M. Moore“God’s lovingkindness extends throughout the vast cosmos, reaching to and sustaining every part of it and all of it together. He never fails in His upholding and sustaining love for His creation, in maintaining all its wondrous diversity, intricate functioning, strange beauty, startling vibrancy and vitality, frightening power, mystifying complexity, and mysterious greatness.

God loves what He has made, and He is faithful in sustaining it in whole and in part. In this He reveals His righteousness, which is high above us, fearsome and foreboding, yet beautiful and beckoning. We are drawn to it in fear, and we seek to surmount it with joy and anticipation.” —T.M. Moore

Isaac Newton On Atheism

Isaac Newton“Atheism is so senseless & odious to mankind that it never had many professors. … Whence is it that the eyes of all sorts of living creatures are transparent to the very bottom & the only transparent members in the body, having on the outside an hard transparent skin, & within transparent juyces with a crystalline Lens in the middle & a pupil before the Lens all of them so truly shaped & fitted for vision, that no Artist can mend them? Did blind chance know that there was light & what was its refraction & fit the eyes of all creatures after the most curious manner to make use of it? These & such like considerations always have & ever will prevail with mankind to believe that there is a Being who made all things & has all things in His power & who is therefore to be feared.” —Isaac Newton

Handling Life’s Pauses

John Ruskin“There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. During those rests, we foolishly believe we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were ever there. God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the rest. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will only look up, God Himself will count the time for us. With our eyes on Him, our next note will be full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, ‘There is no music in a rest,’ let us not forget that the rest is part of the making of the music.” —John Ruskin

Week Of Prayer—Tuesday

WOP_2016_Slide_TueOur week of prayer continues today with this prayer focus for Tuesday—

Seek God for strength to keep moving forward even in the midst of discouragement or suffering, knowing that faith to persevere strengthens character and kindles hope.

I love to pray God’s Word. Perhaps today you could pray something like this:

Heavenly Father, this time of life I’m in right now is tough. But I trust You. In fact, I also glory in my suffering, because I know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. And hope does not put me to shame, because Your love has been poured out into my heart through Your Holy Spirit [Romans 5:3-5]

So I trust in You entirely, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. You will never grow tired or weary, and Your understanding is higher than mine. You give strength to me when I’m weary and You increase my power when I’m weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young people stumble and fall; but when my hope is in You, You will renew my strength. In You, I will soar on wings like eagles; I will run and not grow weary, I will walk and not be faint [Isaiah 40:28-31]

While I’m in this difficult time, Father, I place my trust and my hope in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Links & Quotes

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“Those of us who are married need to ponder again and again how mysterious and wonderful it is that God grants us in marriage the privilege to image forth stupendous divine realities infinitely bigger and greater than ourselves.” —John Piper

“Have we any work to do now that we can set about at once? If we have, whatsoever our hand finds to do, let us do it. Let us not be asking for greater abilities than we have. If we can get them, let us do so; but meanwhile let us use what we have. … The best preparation for it will be, renew your dedication to Christ, be much in earnest prayer, seek the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, and then go forth in your Master’s strength with this as your resolve—that as portraits of Jesus Christ it shall be said of you, ‘He went about doing good’ [Acts 10:38].” —Charles Spurgeon

“The only difference between the Christian life and any other life is the matter of where we stand as we encounter the everyday trials and difficulties of life. … Even though the circumstances of a Christian’s life change, and even become adverse and cumbersome at times, this does not alter the fact that the Christian stands in—has access to, come what may—the glory of God. Believers may, under all circumstances and in every situation, slump down into the loving arms of the Lord and find glory and strength to help them bear up with joy and peace through even the worst life can throw at them.” —T.M. Moore

“Better to ask twice than to lose your way once.” —Danish Proverb

Sad to see how abortion providers target minority communities. Two-thirds of abortions in Michigan are done in the Detroit area, where only 40 percent of the state’s population is.

Eric Metaxas has some great advice for talking to your atheist friends about the problems with Darwin’s theories.

 

Links & Quotes

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“The time for speaking seldom arrives, the time for being never departs.” —George MacDonald

David Wilkerson has some encouraging words for those in a dark place: “When we’re in the midst of a trial, we must get our eyes off our troubles. In just such times, we need to encourage ourselves, saying, ‘My God can do anything—and He hasn’t forgotten me. He has His eyes on me right now….’” Read more of his post on trusting God here.

And Max Lucado remind us, “We need to know that God is near. We are never alone. In our darkest hour, in our deepest questions, the Lord never leaves us!” Read the rest of his post He Is In Charge.

J. Warner Wallace shares yet another way the existence of consciousness demonstrates the existence of God.

Alan Shlemon tackles a heavy question with some sage advice: Should same-sex attracted Christian men be in a platonic relationship?

Tim Elmore writes, “Our society today unwittingly encourages our kids to simply ‘blend in’—to do what’s asked of you, but only what’s asked of you. In fact, we condition them to do the bare minimum requirement to get by, to look for loopholes and shortcuts. As a result, too many of our gifted young athletes, academicians, and other performers carry this ‘good enough’ mindset with them. They are fine with being ‘average.’” Read the rest of Tim’s post here, and check out a poem I shared earlier about being average.

[VIDEO] Ken Davis always cracks me up—