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
Hope
The Greek word translated “hope” literally means “a triumphant rejoicing confidence,” or “a happy certainty.” In Christ we have the happy certainty that God is at work in our tribulation.
The old Saxon word for hope combined two word meanings: “desire plus expectation.” To hope is to have desire plus expectation.
The surest way to keep hope alive is found in the most commonly used word in the world. It is used in many languages. It is the Hebrew word “amen.” It is the word for “belief.” By concluding our prayers with it, we are affirming, “Lord, I believe.” Therein is hope.
The ancient word “amen” was used to signify a covenant commitment in which you agree with God.
To be most effective this hope must be Christo-centric. Timothy expresses this in four all-inclusive words: “Christ Jesus our hope….” (I Timothy 1:1).
Piety Among the Masses
We can learn a thing one of two ways. One, intellectually and the other experientially. We can learn from the conduct of others intellectually by studying what they did and the result thereof. Or, we can engage in their conduct hoping for a better result. For a culture to change and a new culture emerge an old one has to die. Most often it decays from within or is killed.
For generations Israel was basically a stable culture. Then a leader emerged who changed it dramatically. Historian Flavius Josephus gave this description of the change:
“Herod went still farther departing from the native customs, and through foreign practices he gradually corrupted the ancient way of life, which had hitherto been inviolable. As a result of this we suffered considerable harm at a later time as well, because those things were neglected which had formerly induced piety in the masses.”
Herod used “foreign practices” that “corrupted” formerly “inviolable” practices and the people “suffered” at a “later time.”
He used the tactic of providing for his base what they wanted by taxing the wealthy. What he provided was entertainment. He started the athletic contests in Caesarea to rival the Olympic and Corinthian games. To accomplish this he built large stadiums in Jerusalem and the new city he developed and named for Caesar called Caesarea Maritima (Caesarea by the Sea).
It took a while for the people to realize as Josephus wrote, “… it seemed a further impiety to change their established ways for foreign practices.”
Oops! Too late. Capitulation to Herod’s Roman mentality compromised the customs as well as the conscience of the country.
Neglect and abandonment of virtuous foundational practices on which the culture was built resulted in deferred suffering.
Deferred payment is on what modern America has been built. A pay later mentality only postpones the result. It is the principle now being employed to garner support of a part of society at the expense of the future.
Replacing the free enterprise with socialism, a good work ethic with an entitlement mentality, abandoning known standards for a belief there are no absolutes, and giving preference to a foreign religion while restricting the foundational faith of the country will inevitably result in deferred suffering.
Let the games begin!
Current leaders prefer not to use the word “war” as related to our present conflict. It is a word that needs to be used regarding our current “cultural war.” To lose this war would mean losing our birthright of freedom and with it our blessed way of life paid for by the blood of our predecessors and current courageous countrymen and women.
We must not like ancient Israel neglect those things “which had formerly induced piety in the masses.”