Without Excuse By Ginger Garrett On a recent pre-dawn flight - TopicsExpress



          

Without Excuse By Ginger Garrett On a recent pre-dawn flight from Atlanta, a young businessman occupied the window seat next to mine. After about an hour in the air, he lifted the window shade to reveal a burst of glorious gold rays piercing the white clouds outside. We weren’t just watching the sunrise—it felt as though we were in it. The man began quietly reciting these words from Psalm 19: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” I joined in as we flew through the majestic vision just beyond our grasp. What began as an ordinary commute became a sacred moment of corporate worship, when we appreciated the beauty of our world and acknowledged God’s artistry. In the Psalms, King David frequently contemplated the beauty of the heavens, including the sun, stars, and moon. Beyond mere aesthetics, the beauty described in Psalm 19 was a witness, testifying about God’s abiding presence and character. The sky “pours forth speech,” and “reveals knowledge,” the king wrote, believing creation revealed the Lord’s glory to all mankind. This beauty was more than a spectacular light show: it was an invitation to acknowledge God’s existence—and tremble in awe. Application: We all know that without sun, nothing grows. But new scientific information is emerging, telling us that nothing grows without the night sky, either. Scotobiology, or the study of darkness, is only now beginning to unlock the mysteries of why God created the evening sky, including the moon and stars. There are many such mysteries yet to be solved, but they still come with a promise regardless: “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name” (Isa. 45:3). When you are afraid and feel like a child alone in the dark, try to identify how He might be growing you too (see Psalm 16:7-8). Approximately one thousand years after David wrote Psalm 19, the apostle Paul used a similar illustration to convict the hearts of those who refused to accept the gospel message: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Both Paul and David wanted us to remember that beauty serves as an announcement to the world that our sovereign God reigns over the entire universe. The spectacular beauty of creation reveals a God who is present, with an infinitely complex character. He is the gentle Artist of the dawn, when dew hangs on the roses. He extends this tender compassion to those who love Him, “to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:77-79). He is also the God of the raging volcano and blazing lightning, the God of judgment, who punishes sin and has prepared a lake of fire for the Evil One: “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30-32). Displays of the Lord’s power draw us toward Him, even as we realize how fearsome He is. Standing before the heaving Atlantic, at the foot of a white Swiss mountain, or under a churning storm cloud on the open Western prairie, we feel our knees go weak with the realization of our own frailty and the power of the Almighty. Read More: One day, this world and all we see above us will be destroyed. For an idea of what that moment will be like, see 2 Peter 3:10. But don’t stop there. Read Isaiah 65:17, Acts 3:21, and Revelation 21:1-3 for hints about the new heavens and earth. Under the vast open sky, the mighty King David was wonderstruck, just as we are, and he recognized that such an immense God had no obvious reason to care for tiny mortals: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” the king wrote in Psalm 8:3-4. Yet because this same majestic Lord is also the Father of all mercy, He does care. He who calls the stars out by name (Isa. 40:26) knows the most intimate details of our own design, even down to the number of hairs on our head (Matt. 10:30). God wants us to know both a holy fear of His presence and the pure delight of exploring His character. How can that be possible? Psalm 19, in moving quickly from praising the beauty of the heavens to praising the revelation of Scripture, suggests that the key is the written Word. “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Context: To the biblical writers, light symbolized spiritual life and darkness represented spiritual death. Light in the eyes meant a person lived, both physically and spiritually. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.” (vv. 7-9). Glorious creation does not serve its purpose if we admire the blazing stars but return to darkened homes and darkened lives. If earthly beauty is a declaration that there is a powerful God who wants to be known, then the Bible offers the fulfillment of that promise. Through the understanding and obedient application of Scripture, we begin to live daily in the delicate balance of trembling awe and childlike trust. We are given the incredible gift of partnering with God, to bring beauty into a broken world and act as His witnesses that He adorns the fallen with wisdom and grace. We are no longer just distant admirers of His character; we become reflections of it. As the psalm closes, David prays that this would be true of his life too. “Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me,” he wrote (vv. 12-13). And like David, as we meditate on God’s breathtaking creation and perfect law, we are moved to humble personal examination. All this beauty has come full circle. It’s not enough to see it in the skies; we want it to be within us. It’s not enough to know that there is a God; we want to understand Him and obey His laws, to be cleansed from disfiguring sins. In closing, the king added the following supplication: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” (v. 14). David’s reminder is that while we contemplate the heavens and their divine declaration, God is contemplating our words and even what’s in our hearts. We can partner with God and bear witness to what is written in the stars, but only if we allow His perfect love to penetrate deep within us, until even our unseen lives reflect His beauty. The splendor of the skies is not a mere distraction or a cosmic accident. It is the intentional work of the Master, who calls everyone to know and obey Him. God’s beauty always keeps us looking up, away from ourselves. Whether we feel enthralled or insignificant, or both at the same time, we rejoice that we have been invited into this grand design.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 05:18:51 +0000

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