Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Because he Loves me..."

Are you seeking wisdom?  Do you have more than 2 minutes to devote to your endeavor....How deep is the water you choose to swim in? 

“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth,
when there were no springs abounding with water;
before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
before he made the earth or its fields
or any of the dust of the world.

I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.

“Now then, my sons, listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
Listen to my instruction and be wise;
do not ignore it.
Blessed is the man who listens to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.
For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the Lord.
But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
all who hate me love death.”  ~Proverbs

'Hold on!' you might think... 'I know, I know.  6 days, He formed the world and mankind, and on the 7th day He rested, yada-yada, but what? What came first, before this blue marble was formed and began zipping around the cosmos?'  

Wisdom.
And it changes everything, doesn't it? Oh Yes!

Because it means that God knew, before He set about creating the Earth and every living thing, that His creation would one day kill His only son...yet He continued to breathe life into Adam's nostrils.

'What kind of wisdom is that?!'  You might say.

It's not your kind.  Mine either.  The Bible says there are two kinds of wisdom, that which is from God, and that which is from the Devil.  One is the genuine article, the other is nothing more than a cheap imitation.  One is a beautiful flower, perfectly scented and dusted with pollen, the other is that feeling you get when you reach out and touch a fake flower, and your sense of touch transmits to your brain that it's just fabric, and your eyes feel cheated, your nose is upset.  There will not be a slow, drawn inhale of beautiful aroma.... 'stupid fake flower'.

Think of it. 
There is Almighty God, and there is Satan, masquerading as an Angel of Light.  
There are the Romans, thinking they've taught the world a lesson in suffering Christ the worst death known to man, putting Him on display for the world to gawk at as they pass by,  and then there is God's account of those nails...

'And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.' ~Colossians

Did you see the descriptions?  He cancelled the record.  He disarmed them.  He triumphed that day!   'Over what?' You ask.  

Over death!

'We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him'. ~Romans

We can think we're so smart, but when it comes to the understanding of God we are no closer than the clay pot in contemplating the passion of the potter.   How can the Romans see victory when really they'd orchestrated their own defeat.  How can the same event yield such different perspectives?

Two kinds of wisdom.  

'Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?   Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?'... 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.'  ~Corinthians

Yet He gave us evidence, so blatant and everyday, so all-around us that it doesn't matter where you look, you see Him.  

'For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,   have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools...'~Romans

Go outside.
Look at the leaves on the trees.
Study a flower.
Pick a blade of grass.
Now tell me, can you make one? 
Can you see the detail in the flower?  Some are colored specifically for hummingbirds, some just for bees. Did you know that? 
Do you see the leaf?  It's network of veins.  It's simple purpose, yet so divinely designed.
Now, consider the stars.  Not all of the billions of them in the endless light-years of the universe. Just pick one. The Sun.  The perfect distance we have for life in those 93,000,000 miles. The level of oxygen in the air. The temperatures. The moon and the tides.  
I don't have to understand it.  I don't have to understand God.  Don't you see?  Even if I strive for the upper echelons of man's knowledge, I will still not have reached the foolishness of God!
I need only to stand in awe, like a child.  It's why Jesus said, that unless we become like them, we'll never gain entrance to the place He's preparing for us.

So Why? 

What is the point of it all? Why does He go through such efforts to prove Himself to us?

Love.

It's the answer to every unknown.  It's the constant we solve for.

Why did He continue to breathe life into man?  He loved us.  'For God so loved the world that He gave his only son...'

So why did God set wisdom in place first?  Love. 
Wisdom allows us to differentiate between the genuine article and the cheap imitation.
Wisdom allows us choice.
He knew He could not force a love upon us.  What wife will truly love her husband if he shakes her out of bed one morning and says, 
"Wife.  Today you will love me, for I have decreed it. I command you."  
He knew that for us to have a genuine relationship, we would need to choose Him. 

And why does it matter if I love Him, if I follow Him, if I want a relationship with Him?

“Because he loves me,” says the  Lord,  “I will rescue him;  I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  ~Psalm

What do you choose today?  It all spins perfectly.  It is all placed just so, so that you might find Him today, and choose Him.  To Love and be Loved.

_________________________


p.s.  I purposefully omitted chapter and verse, but not to confound. Only to dare to you reach into the scriptures and discover, to be in awe for yourself.  

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