GOD'S NATURE REVEALED IN CREATION

"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard." (Psalm 19:1-3, NKJV)

Devotion 2 of 6

LOOKING AT THE CIRCUMSTANCES

Let us look at the circumstances. Humanity is the "offspring of God" ( Acts 17:29). He created men, and placed them in His world--a world He created with His Word (Hebrews 11:3). The chief occupation of all people is to seek the Lord; to engage in a conscientious effort to know and understand the One that made them. The Word of God states this requirement in these words. "And he made from one [man] every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27-27). Simply stated, God made all people groups from one man, Adam. He determined the time frames and continents in which they would live. All of this was designed to encourage men to seek and find God--to find Him personally. That means He desires for men to be aware of Him--to be acquainted with Him and live with Him. This is not an impossible task, because God is "not far from each one of us." He can be found, and He can be known! You can experience God. That is what life is all about!

The irony of the situation is that men ceased their quest for God. They settled for idols and false gods, or worse than that, no god at all. The Bible refers to this historic tragedy. It explains why mankind ended up creating his own gods -- idols.

Humanity also descended into moral degradation, practicing the most despicable sins because they did not find the true God. This is the subject of a rather lengthy passage in the first chapter of Romans.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth BY their wickedness, SINCE what may be known about God is plain to them, because GOD HAS MADE IT PLAIN to them. " [There is a consistent and resounding testimony being given by creation. It makes sin and wickedness inexcusable.] "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been CLEARLY SEEN, being understood from what has been made, so that men are WITHOUT EXCUSE." [An honest evaluation of the creation, of nature, will lead one to a consideration of the Living God. Such a consideration will yield the conclusion that God is powerful and Divine. Only dishonesty and a penchant for sin will cause one to miss these things.] "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." [God will not allow men to ignore the evidence of Himself with impunity. He will cause their heart to be darkened, rendering the testimony of creation unintelligible and inaccessible to them.] "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." [These actions were not the expressions of brutish people. They made a profession of wisdom; i.e., their idolatry was a deliberate attempt to create their own gods in the rejection of the One to which creation testified.] "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen." [Deep immorality and stupid idolatry are the result of rejecting the plain truth of a powerful and Divine God. It is evidence of Divine judgment. God has consigned such to their state, and only God can extricate them from it.] "Because of this, God GAVE THEM OVER to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, HE GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do what OUGHT NOT to be done." [Sodomy, or, as psychology would call it, "homosexuality,' is a depraved and degenerate expression. It is the result of being given over to a depraved mind, which allows individuals to do what ought not to be done.] (Rom 1:18-28).

The magnitude of both the sin of man and the judgment of God are owing to the clarity of the revelation of God in creation. While that testimony is not thorough, it is adequate to constrain men to seek the Lord.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in Jesus' name, open my ears to hear the testimony of nature, and to comprehend it within the blazing light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

-- TOMORROW: DIVINE JUDGMENT --