What's the point?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ecclesiastes 1-4; Psalm 8

TO CHEW ON: "What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?" Ecclesiastes 1:3

'What's the point" Solomon seems to be saying as he begins the little book of Ecclesiastes. This collection of only twelve chapters discusses the purpose of human endeavor. Scholars believe that Solomon wrote it at the end of his life, when he may have returned to God from the state that is described in 1 Kings 11.

Our reading today seems like the ruminations of an old man, or if not old, surely jaded:

- What's the purpose of all one's work, he asks. The next generation comes along and it's all forgotten anyway. (Ecclesiastes 1:4)

- Nature carries on in it its cycles uninterrupted (Ecclesiastes 1:5-7).

- Work is never done (Ecclesiastes 1:8a).

- Desire is never satisfied (Ecclesiastes 1:8b).

- Mankind really has no control over anything; what will be, will be (Ecclesiastes 1:9a).

- Everything supposedly new is really a rehash of something old (Ecclesiastes 1:9b-10).

- We forget the past, refusing to learn from or be changed by it (Ecclesiastes 1:11).

- Even what I (Solomon) learned in the quest for wisdom didn't satisfy (Ecclesiastes 1:17-18).

He seems, in all this, to be driving toward the conclusion that there is no point to anything.

I must admit, especially as I've grown older, that I have had some of the same thoughts. Witnessing loved ones die and seeing how quickly their memory and influence fade from this earth underlines the truth of what the preacher is implying. Does the perspective of increasing age doom one to adopt such a pessimistic outlook? Not at all.

As the writer of the Introduction to Ecclesiastes in my Bible says:

"The Preacher's constant probing of all existence for meaning shows him to be an optimist, not a pessimist, and his failure to discover any absolute, abiding value in this life ("under the sun") does not mean his quest is a failure. Instead, he finds himself compelled (by his observation that God placed order in the universe at the time of its creation, Ecclesiastes 3:1-14) to seek the value he seeks in the world to come (not "under the sun" but "above the sun" so to speak)....

The Preacher's failure to find real value in earthly things and comfortable lifestyles challenges the Christian who lives in this age of greed and materialism to concentrate on the things that are above (Colossians 3:1-2) and not to glorify greed and possessions." William C. Williams, "Introduction to Ecclesiastes," New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p, 844.

Before we succumb to the Preacher's negativity, let's remind ourselves, there is a point. But it's not to be found in this world.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 8

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me not to view this life and human endeavor as ends in themselves. Help me, instead, to view all of life within the context of eternity. Amen. 

The Bible Project VIDEO: Ecclesiastes (Read Scripture series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Articulate creation

 Creation's Fives 

(Photos & collage by V. Nesdoly)

TODAY'S SPECIAL:  Exodus 7-9 and Psalm 19

TO CHEW ON: "The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork." - Psalm 19:1

In this beautiful psalm, David points out two ways God reveals Himself—through NATURE (Psalm 19:1-6) and through HIS WORD (Psalm 19:7-14). Today let's focus on the NATURE message.

Here are some things Bible writers say we can learn about God through creation:

He is a wise and powerful provider

• Job, speaking of God's wisdom and power in nature, challenges his listeners to learn about God from the beasts, the earth, and the sea creatures - Job 12:7-10.

• Later in Job, Elihu praises God in a similar way, illustrating his point with a description of the water cycle - Job 36:24-33.

• Jesus too points out this aspect of creation when He instructs, " 'Consider the lilies…' " drawing our attention to their care-less and beautiful existence -  Luke 12:27.

He is a judge

• Psalm 50:6

• Psalm 97:6.

One can easily see how people could get a judgment message from a sky that crackles with lightning, rattles with thunder, and drops hail and snow.

God is big. We are tiny

• Isaiah describes God: "He sits above the circle of the earth"… while we are the "grasshoppers" on it - Isaiah 40:21,22.

In creation we have enough evidence to believe that there is a God and to know some things about Him.

• Paul and Barnabas waste no time turning the attention of the crowd at Lystra—who want to crown them gods after Paul heals a man—to the God of creation whose witness, Paul says, is the rain and fruitful seasons - Acts 14:15-17.

• Paul speaks clearly about creation's evidence of God in Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

I love how Paul says we can deduce things about God by what is "seen" and "the things that are made." Isn't it true! Our study of natural things—creatures, plants, elements, atoms, our own bodies—shows how wisely and creaatively God has designed them all. Design elements, that repeat across created things (like the five-pointed star shape in fish, flowers, and the core of fruits), show creation's unity—the signature of the same creator.

Man's observation of creation leaves him with no excuse before God

• Paul, in answering his own question in Romans 10:14 ("How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?") says they actually have heard: "But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed." Then he quotes Scripture:  " 'Their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world' " - Romans 10:18. Who is Paul quoting here? Psalm 19:4 (part of our today's reading) that speaks of the fact of God's existence going  "... to the ends of the world." 

Let's look for God and enjoy Him in creation today!

PRAYER: Dear God, I am amazed at Your wisdom, creativity, care, and majesty evidenced in creation. Thank You, however, that you didn't leave us with only that, but also gave us Your Word and Yourself in Jesus. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 19

The Bible Project VIDEO: Heaven and Earth (Theme Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is Jesus "I Am" to us?

Jesus - the Good Shepherd (Image: pixabay.com)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 14:1-14

TO CHEW ON: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" John 14:6

Jesus' words "I am" remind us of the first time God used that expression to identify Himself. It was to Moses at the burning bush when, after getting the assignment to lead Israel out of Egypt, he demurred. One of his objections (my paraphrase) You haven't even told me Your name (Exodus 3:13).

To that God replied: "'I AM WHO I AM' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I Am has sent Me to you" ' " - Exodus 3:14.

"I am" carries a sense of ever-existence and present existence.

["Am"  in Hebrew—hayah, the word used in Exodus—means to be, become, come to pass, exist, be in existence, abide, remain, continue.
"Am" in Greek—eimi, the word used in John—means to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.]

In John Jesus said "I am" seven times to describe Himself. As God incarnate He combined this phrase with tangible earthly things in a way we humans can understand and to which we can relate. We would call them metaphors:

I am the bread of life - John 6:35.
I am the light of the world - John 8:12.
I am the door - John 10:9
I am the good shepherd - John 10:11.
I am the resurrection and the life - John 11:25.
I am the way, the truth and the life - John 14:6 (our reading)
I am the vine - John 15:5.

I love how these seven "I am"s of Jesus in John dovetail with each other. In the one in our reading today Jesus declared Himself "… the way to the Father (for which we need light to find the way, a shepherd to guide us, and a door to enter in). He is the truth about God (for which we need light, and which is a wholesome substance—bread) and the life of God"* (bread, resurrection and eternal life, vine connection). They all work together to express what is almost inexpressible in human terms. They are all parts of the picture that represent truths about God and our possible relationship with Him.

As I consider again who Jesus is in all His fullness, I ask myself, I ask you, have we, are we experiencing His richness? Are we letting Him enter our lives in all the ways He is the essence of what we need? Are we finding in Him the destination of our deepest longings?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, these metaphors of who You are help me understand You and who you can be to me. Help me to experience their reality in my life today. Amen.

*quote from  Siegfried Schatzmann, study notes in John, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1469.
 
MORE: Feast of St. Philip and St. James
Today the church celebrates the Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James. Philip's request in our reading "Lord, show us the Father…" (John 14:8) elicited a gentle rebuke from Jesus: "'Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known Me, Philip?'" (John 14:9). Then Jesus went on to explain His oneness with Father (John 14:10-11).

Here is the collect that begins the liturgy of the day:

"Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

"Doubting nothing"

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Acts 11:1-18

TO CHEW ON: “‘Then the Spirit told me to go with them doubting nothing.’” Acts 11:12

“In my lifetime I have had certain, if few, remarkable instances of the presence of God,” writes David Adams Richards in his book God Is: My Search for Faith in a Secular World. “From my very earliest days, I recognized this presence now and again…These instances most often came in ways I least expected from the time I was a child.” (God Is. David Adams Richards, Location 732 – Kindle Version)

Richards goes on to relate incident after incident where happenings from his life spoke to him of divine providence, with events dovetailing in amazing ways.

• As a youth he was in a high speed car crash but escaped without a scratch while a school buddy was killed in a freakish traffic mishap going a mere 30 miles per hour. 
• He came across a gift he had meant to give his dying mother 20 years to the day after her death. 
• A stray paper poking from between books on his shelf turned out to be a photograph. It was a picture of a little girl and her mother – the girl he and his wife helped look after when her immigrant mother discovered she had brain cancer. In the picture, the mother, whose cancer had just been discovered, was still beautiful. He found it years after the mother’s death, but only an hour before the girl, her father and grandmother were to arrive to visit (they had moved back to Europe).

In our reading today Peter, when called to task by the Jerusalem apostles over eating with an uncircumcised Gentile (Cornelius) had exactly such a miraculous “coincidence” to relate. His vivid vision, followed by Cornelius’s servants at the door, and the readiness of Cornelius and his family to hear what Peter had to say convinced the apostles that this new development was actually a God-thing: “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God saying ‘then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” Acts 1:18.

Have you had such evidences of God in your life? I have. For example, I often find that things I read or hear relate directly to something I am writing. I will find a quote that catches my eye in a book or internet article and the next day that very idea presents itself in the Bible reading for this devotional or some other piece I’m writing.

Let’s watch for the many ways God tells us, “I am here – right beside you, going with you through this day.” Let’s gratefully accept the signs of His presence “doubting nothing.”

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank you for these little assurances of Your presence. Help me to be alert to them, and acknowledge You in them today. Amen.

MORE: Looking for God
David Adams Richards is an award-winning Canadian writer. He is most known for his fiction. His writing, which has been compared to that of William Faulkner, has won many awards (Governor General’s, Giller Prize).

Links to articles about God Is.

"Canada's literary community gets religion all wrong" by David Adams Richards - excerpts from God Is.

"Author finds God is in the details" by Stuart Laidlaw

God Is by David Adams Richards (available from Amazon.com)

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Are you a fool?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 14:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "The fool has said in is heart, 'There is no God.'
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good." Psalm 14:1

Why would someone deny the existence of God?

I can think of several reasons:

• He is invisible. He appears and feels absent because we can't apprehend Him with our senses. Even believers sometimes grapple with this (Job 13:24; Psalm 89:46).

• The way He is defined and the way the world runs appear to conflict. A big objection I  encounter for the existence of God is "How can an all-loving, all-powerful God permit evil?"

• We don't want anyone, not even God, to tell us how to live. We want to be god unto ourselves, to live like we please. My Bible's footnotes allude to this reason in its explanation of Psam 14:1:

"The fool is not someone of diminished intellectual capacity nor a court jester, but one who makes an intellectual decision to choose moral perversion as a lifestyle" - K.R. "Dick" Iverson (in the study notes on Psalms) New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 694.

How does David expand on his psalm's opening statement?

The rest of the psalm seems to be his attempt to explain the behavior and outlook of the people around him. Why do they act the way they do? Because they don't believe God will ever hold them accountable. But, David reassures himself, time will change all this. When the fortunes of the poor man who has stayed true to God turn around, when God shows Himself true to His word by restoring His people (the Jews), then 'we'll see who's laughing.'

In many ways our situation is like David's. In our society the majority of people either deny the existence of God outright or have redefined Him. Very few are open to being convinced of His existence. When it comes right down to it, the reason for that is because of the lifestyle implications ("If He really exists, then the way I live my life will have to change—and I'm not ready for that!").

Of course God has His ways of intervening in lives to convince people of His reality. That is, in the end, a job the Holy Spirit does, not you and me with our apologetics and arguments (though those things may help).

The caution for me in this verse is the possibility that I might say I believe God exists, but then live as if He didn't. Fools may come in more than one guise.

PRAYER: Dear God, I believe You exist and have revealed Yourself through Jesus and the Bible. Please help me to live my life consistent with what I say I believe. Amen.
 
MORE: An argument from logic

In his article "The Presumptuousness of Atheism" Paul Copan makes the following four points to counter atheist Antony Flew's statement that the "onus of proof (for God's existence) must lie with the theist," and  Michael Scriven's assertion that "The lack of evidence for God's existence and the lack of evidence for Santa Claus are on the same level":

1. First, even if the theist could not muster good arguments for God’s existence, atheism still would not be shown to be true....

2. Second, the "presumption of atheism" demonstrates a rigging of the rules of philosophical debate in order to play into the hands of the atheist, who himself makes a truth claim.... The atheist assumes that if one has no evidence for God’s existence, then one is obligated to believe that God does not exist—whether or not one has evidence against God’s existence...

3. Third, in the absence of evidence for God’s existence, agnosticism, not atheism, is the logical presumption...

4. Fourth, to place belief in Santa Claus or mermaids and belief in God on the same level is mistaken...

Read all of  "The Presumptuousness of Atheism."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Our setting according to God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 2:4-25

TO CHEW ON: "This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created; in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." Genesis 2:4

When a science fiction writer sets out to spin her tale, she describes early on in the story the setting, letting us observe her made-up universe and explaining its rules. In some ways our reading today does that for our home — the earth. We find at least seven foundational pillars that hold up and explain, according to God, the way life on earth came about and functions best:

1. God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 2:4).

2. God formed man and gave him life (Genesis 2:7). Out of the lowliest, commonest part of creation — dust — God shaped him and intimately "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

3. God gave man work — a purpose for living as the keeper of a garden (Genesis 2:15).

4. God set boundaries for human behaviour — an opportunity for man to exercise his will to obey and live or disobey and die (Genesis 2:17).

5. God created animals and charged Adam with the task of naming them (Genesis 2:19,20). This implies a human precedence over the animal kingdom. We're not the same. For example, killing an animal is not murder, like killing a human being is.

6. God made woman and Adam recognized her as his "comparable" (Genesis 2:22, 23). "'Comparable to him' denotes complementarity. The needed help is for daily work, procreation, and mutual support through companionship" - Russell Bixler, notes on Genesis,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 7.

7. God established marriage (vs. 24).
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother..." Leave tells us there is a change of priorities here. Mom and Dad (Mom-in-law, Dad-in-law) are no longer the focus of this relationship.
"...and be joined to his wife..." They are to be joined in passion and permanence.
"...and they shall become one flesh." One flesh implies sexual union, conceiving children, being spiritually and emotionally intimate, and living with each other in the same way one does with one's blood family of birth.

These pillars have been under attack from the first Eden days ("Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die.'" - Genesis 3:4) till now. However, ignoring or flaunting any one of them in belief and behaviour does, I think, put us on a wrong track and cause our lives to be out-of-kilter with the way God designed us to work best.

The challenge for us is to stand firm on God's order of things in spite of society's clamouring against aspects of it, like the questioning of God's existence, the fact that He is the creator, the existence of an objective moral standard, the eternal implications of disobeying God, and the sanctity of marriage, to name a few.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for laying out our setting so clearly. Help me to stay focused on the way You say things are and not be distracted or swayed by the world's arguments against Your order. Amen.


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Enter 2014 with confidence

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "…And He has put eternity in their hearts…"  Ecclesiastes 3:11

In his book Despite Doubt, Michael E. Wittmer explores the realm of belief, doubt, who or what we believe in and why. He starts out at the ground level, showing how a belief in God is embedded in our very DNA, as it were.

He shows that without a god, two things we instinctively do would make no sense:

1. Make judgements between right and wrong.
Wittmer says:

"If God does not exist, then everything is permitted. You may not like an act, and that's your preference, but that's all it is. Without God, you cannot explain why anything is ultimately good or evil" - p. 46.

2. Trust that we are rational.
We assume that our minds and senses function properly and correspond with the way the world is. However, if we're all a product of random chance, how can we have any such guarantee? Wittmer concludes: 

"Here's the point: we assume God's existence every time we think, utter an intelligible sentence, or declare that some act is right or wrong. Everyone who relies on their minds and morality in this way assumes the existence of God. As even the skeptical Voltaire admitted: 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him'" - p. 48.

As we enter 2014, let's reassure ourselves that God is real and His presence will be with us in the moments, days, weeks and months of 2014. The God of the Bible—who Wittmer goes on to connect to the God we instinctively "know":

• Loves us with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3; Psalm 25:6; John 6:44.

• Knows the way ahead - Job 23:20, Psalm 32:8; Psalm 33:18.

• Has good plans for us - Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 55:8-12.

• Is able to work even the seemingly bad, painful stuff together for good in our lives - Romans 8:28-30.

We can go into 2014 with confidence and hope.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for evidences of Your existence all around me, even within my own mind. Help me to grow in knowing You, trusting You and obeying You in 2014. Amen.

MORE: Holy Name Day

Today the church celebrates the naming of Jesus, called Feast of the Holy Name. This prayer begins the liturgy of the day:

"Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Foundation Faith

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 11:1-16

TO CHEW ON: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

In a world where we can't see into the future, it's impossible to live without faith. I believe, when I take my next step, that the ground will still be there to step on. At the traffic light, I believe you, coming from the opposite direction, will stop when your light turns red so I can proceed safely on my green. We make plans for tomorrow believing that we'll be around to carry them out.

Similarly our view of spiritual reality is based on faith. Whether we hold to evolution or creation, a materialistic no-God universe or a universe created by an intelligent deity, we hang onto those beliefs by faith. We do more. We use those beliefs to filter all our experiences.

Tucked in the middle of the Hebrews 11 series of examples showing us what faith in action looks like, is a statement about faith in general (Hebrews 11:6). From it we learn four important things about faith:

1. Our faith in God pleases Him.

2. Our faith starts with a belief in His existence.

3. We can't even come to God or know Him without faith.

4. He rewards us when we seek Him.

We live our physical lives without a lot of agonizing over whether or not the ground under our feet will remain solid, we can trust each other in traffic, or tomorrow will arrive. Do we live our spiritual lives with the same level of confidence?

There is a point in life, where we decide what we will believe. Once we have decided for God, do our lives exhibit the same certainty about spiritual realities as physical? Do we believe in God's existence as surely as the ground beneath our feet? Do we take Him at His word that He is approachable and knowable? Do we live with hope, in the firm belief that our search to know and please Him will be rewarded?

PRAYER: Dear God, I have staked my whole belief system on Your existence. Help me to live my life consistent with this belief and with the faith that pleases You. Amen.

MORE: Michael Card -The Poem of Your Life

"We are living letters that doubt desecrates
We're the notes of the song of the chorus of faith"
(all lyrics)

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

I AM—God's name forever

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Exodus 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is His name?" what shall I say to them?'
And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you ... This is My name forever."'" Exodus 3:13-15

What a curious name God calls Himself: I AM WHO I AM. My Bible's notes explain, "This name is related to the Hebrew word meaning 'to be,' and so implies the absolute existence of God" James Carroll Tollett,  Notes on Exodus, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 80.

Another Person used I Am a lot in describing Himself. Jesus said I am...

• Messiah - John 4:25,26.

• from above - John  8:23.

• before Abraham was i.e. the Eternal One - John 8:58.

• the Light of the world - John 9:5.

• the Door - John 10:7.

• the Good Shepherd - John 10:11-14.

• the Son of God - John 10:36.

• the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25.

• Teacher and Lord - John 13:13.

• the Way the Truth and the Life - John 14:6.

• the True Vine - John 15:1.

• Alpha and Omega - Revelation 1:8.

• the First and the Last - Revelation 1:17.

In our reading Yahweh answers Moses' question "Who am I...?" (vs. 11) with "I AM" (vs.14). It wasn't about who Moses was or what he could accomplish (in carrying out God's assignment to lead Israelites out of Egypt) but who would be at work in and through him.

Jesus has left us with an assignment and a promise:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that  I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always (look! another I Am!!) even to the end of the age" - Matthew 28:19-20.

PRAYER: Dear I AM, thank You for being eternal and my one Constant. Help me to weave the realities of who You are in Jesus into my day-to-day life by the help of Holy Spirit. Amen.

MORE: You are Alpha and Omega