Archive for May, 2021
Up and at ‘Um Able Ant!
“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8
The ant is an industrious creature. Small in size, but wise in its ability to optimize its time, skills and resources. Here are some important characteristics of the ants.
1. DILIGENCE: Ants are never lazy! Neither are they poor or hungry! Their efforts, and hard work sustains them! The same diligence will result in you being blessed physically, spiritually and financially!
2. DETERMINATION: “Get ‘er done” must have originally been an ant byword. They need no captain, they are self starters. They seem to manifest an attitude of: If not me, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?
3. DISCERNMENT: They store their food during seasons of plenty, so that they will have adequate amounts in times of scarcity.
4. DEDICATION: Teamwork and unity are apparent. Ants accomplish more by working together than by working alone. Often a number of them will be seen moving an object much too heavy to be moved alone.
5. DEVOTION: They are all out for the Ant Kingdom. We too should live an all out life for the Kingdom of God. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
Pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in Heaven.”
There Are Things You Can See When You “Just Can’t See”
With World War II looming on the horizon King George VI of England included these words in his Christmas broadcast to the nation:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
“That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
May that inspire you as it did England in their dark hour. Bolstered by that wisdom Sir Winston Churchill challenged his countrymen with his immortal lines which have been distorted from this actual presentation: “never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
Tenacity of will reaches its zenith in this text: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” II Corinthians 4:16 – 18 Got it? Let that text be your spiritual night goggles.
When “we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen,” that is a good time to “…put your hand in the hand of God.”
For a person of faith the weight on you is not to be compared with the strength within you.
Adversities Can Become Advantages
Have you had those times when you could say, “I just can’t see…,” meaning I can’t understand what to do, or say? In that hour things happen that we can’t understand. Then we must exercise faith in what is unseen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
It is then we can relate to Isaiah 50:10, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of His servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”
Instant replay, “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”
Play that over and over on the soundtrack of your mind until you can repeat it in your sleep — or in your hours of sleepless agony.
Our sovereign Creator, the Lord God, made a choice to give human beings a free will. With that came another choice. A paraphrase of a statement by Augustine says it well: “God thought it better to bring good out of bad than not let the bad exist.”
God is not out to bring about bad things for us, but to bring the good out of the bad things that happen to us.
Consider that in light of Isaiah’s comment regarding walking in the dark where there is no light, some things can only be seen in the dark. For example, the darker the night the brighter the stars. The more difficult our circumstances the more precious is our Lord. It is when we can’t see we must “trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on … God.”
Then our adversities become our advantages.
Creation: Light
(It takes a complicated answer for a complex issue. This explains how God created light before He created the sun and moon.)
How can the Bible concept of their being light before the sun was created be reconciled?
That antinome has puzzled me as it has many. Therefore, I researched over thirty sources and reached the following conclusion.
On the first day of creation it is said, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’” Genesis 1:3
On the fourth day of creation it is noted, “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament… Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night…’” Genesis 1:14 & 16
Is there a conflict in these passages? How could there be light before the sun and moon?
There is no conflict.
Genesis 1:3 translates the Hebrew word “owr,” anglicized as “light,” a word for luminescent energy. When we think of light we think of the optical light we see. However, there are many unseen forms of light.
Spectrum indicates the rate at which light oscillates at a standard frequency per second. Various frequencies are known as Hertz, KHz, MHz, GHz, THz. Each is used for a different purpose.
The “frequency” of the electromagnetic wave determines the form of waves. Examples are, radio waves have a low frequency with the peaks being far apart. Microwaves are next followed by infrared light. Next is the visible spectrum. The human eye can only see light with 430-790 THz frequency, called the visible spectrum. Following in order dependent on their frequency are ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays.
Exahertz (EHz), the gamma ray portion, goes all the way to infinity. Though not visible to the human eye these are all forms of light. Visible light is also scored on this scale. Above the visible portion of light are Gamma Rays, Ultraviolet Rays, and X-Rays.
This poses the question, can light be transformed into matter? The answer has experimentally been proven to be yes.
Visible light as well as all other forms of electromagnetic radiation like X-rays, radio waves, and microwaves are carried by photons.
All electromagnetic waves are the reference in Genesis 1:3. Both visible and invisible forms are in reality “light.”
Scripture notes, “For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible….” The first was light which possesses both qualities.
In 1934, two American physicists, Gregory Breit and John A. Wheeler, theorized that if one could make two protons collide, the collision would produce two positron-electron pairs— and thus convert light into matter.
Science has now progressed to the point where two experiments, one by the Imperial College of London and one by Stanford’s linear collider, have proven light has been converted into matter.
Therefore, it is logical that light was created first. From it He created all matter including the sun and moon.
Dr. George F. Smoot III, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, conducted an experiment for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) that resulted in the measurement “of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.” He spoke of the finding as showing the first light of creation. Of it he said, “it was like looking at the face of God.” If it was not the radiance of God it was radiance from God.
God is the Luminary from which comes luminescence.
Genesis 1:14 describes the subsequent creation of the sun and moon which became future sources of light.
Jesus Only – Powderville
There is a sign along a state highway that reads:
“Powderville, Montana – Population 1:
Mayor, Joe Hodge – Sheriff, Joe Hodge – Fire Chief, Joe Hodge.”
Drive carefully, the life you save may be — Joe Hodge.”
So, in our world Jesus should be everything to us.
The essential thing “in heaven and earth is … that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and always has resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.” -Nietzsche
That “something” is really someone, and that someone is everything to us: Jesus Christ.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 ESV