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Here is today’s Scripture
Psalm 119:2-3 (KJV) – Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
Aloha, Beloved. Today I am thinking about the ways God has shown us what is true about Him. As I reflect on that, I can see at least three ways God has revealed His existence. First, there is what I could call the Natural Way. A rational person can look at the entirety of creation and see that there are patterns, a sense of order, and conclude that what they observe implies that there is a unifying manner in which all matter in the universe fits together. Despite the entropy and ensuing chaos (or is it the other way around?) which we can measure throughout what we call Nature and the Universe, we can conclude that there is continuity and elegance in what we can observe and measure, and that this continuity is evidence of a primordial source. Humanists and so-called agnostics will call that evidence “Intelligent Design,” or “a Higher Power,” or maybe “The Force,” or even “The Universe.”
In this Natural Way of observing what is around and within us, each of these things named is the expression of what is Divine. For example, “The Force” does not come from somewhere or something or even someone. It simply “is.” And in order for it to have purpose and influence, The Force has to be in balance so there is The Force and “The Dark Side.” Of course that implies that there is also “The Light Side.” Or maybe it would be called The Bright Side or The Right Side. Without something more specific and solid to hold onto, “The Universe” is capable, somehow, of deciding our fate, directing our lives, answering our questions, blessing or cursing our decisions, and at the same time contains all of creation because the Universe is all of creation. As an integral but infinitesimal and probably insignificant part of The Universe I can exercise no influence over the outcome of any event because The Universe is doing it all. I’m merely part of the order – or part of the chaos, be that as it may. That’s kind of a pessimistic understanding of what’s going on in our lives.
The second way God has revealed His existence is through Scripture. Scripture comes to us through direct exposure (Abraham and Moses conversed directly with God in His presence, for example), through inspiration (Paul’s instruction to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God, …), and it also comes to us through Tradition in that it is handed down to us from those to whom God has been present either directly or as an inspirational Spirit.
Scripture helps us find God by describing a path, a trajectory, and gives us a set of vectors which point us in the right direction. The ambiguity of the Natural Way is replaced by a more rigorous and better-defined set of criteria which have inherent continuity and integrity. Not only can we see the presence and action of God in Nature and The Universe, but also we can understand how Nature and the Universe are related to each other and to God. God is the Creator. Nature and The Universe are His creation. Nature is the set of “laws” that govern the events of The Universe. The Universe is the tangible, measurable result of creation and its existence is perpetuated through the Laws of Nature. God, however, is not Nature and not The Universe. He is outside those things – and they are things, not gods – and separate from them. He is Creator God. Nature and The Universe are His Creation. Although he inhabits His Creation, he is not the same as His creation. If a man builds a house, do we say that the house is him and he is the house? No. The man inhabits the house, but the house does not inhabit the man. The house and the man are separate. For something that simple, it is relatively easy to see what makes sense. For the Infinite Presence of God – well, that is a bit beyond the range of human comprehension. It is Scripture that puts it enough within our understanding that we can better perceive and comprehend what God is telling us when He shows us Who He is and how He works.
The Scriptures are God’s “testimonies.” The word David used in this passage is`edah {ay-daw’}. It is always plural and always indicative of laws as divine testimonies. “Testimonies” is a word that also means “witness” and directs us toward every scrap of evidence God has given us in Nature, in The Universe, and in the Word. These testimonies include all of our evidence of the Mind and Hand of God. They direct us to demonstrable evidence of His love and grace which we experience through the Salvation won for us through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. They direct us to The Law which is a testimony to God’s Wisdom, Justice, and Mercy, the ways we understand His perfection, faithfulness, and integrity, and especially His Love. The Tablets of The Law were originally stored and transported in the Ark of the Covenant – and a Covenant is a legally-binding agreement, a law. The Ark was also called the Ark of The Testimonies. Along with The Law, God gave us the Prophets who reminded God’s chosen earthlings, Israel, that their part of the Covenant was to obey the Law and to demonstrate to all other earthlings not so highly-favored that God is Great, God is Good, and God alone is worthy of adoration, praise, and glory.
Even though The Law and, later, the Prophets, were the basis for Scripture, today we know that there is more to Scripture than The Law and The Prophets. We have been given The Living word, The Living Bread, The Way, The Truth, and The Life. All of that is discoverable only in the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ, The Anointed One, the Holy One of God. Jesus told Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) And so we see that the third, but perhaps not the last, way God has revealed himself to us is in and through His Son, Jesus. Do you remember the cumulative tale and nursery rhyme called “The House That Jack Built?” (read it here) Maybe we could hijack (no pun there) that story as an example.
• This is God.
• This is Israel, the House that God built.
• This is the Law that guided Israel, the House that God built.
• These are the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• These are the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• These are the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• These are the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• This is the Bible which is entirely the story and revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• This is you, encountering God through His Word, the Bible which is entirely the story and revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
• This is your Eternal and Complete Joy in discovering that your Salvation through Jesus Christ is clearly explained to you by encountering God through His Word, the Bible which is entirely the story and revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees who were servants to the Kings and Priests who ruled the Kingdoms that persecuted the Prophets, that proclaimed the Law that Guided Israel, the House that God built.
Jesus is the Son of the Living God. He is from God, He is with God, and He is God. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God. How can you see Jesus? In Scripture Jesus is revealed to us as He reveals to us His Father. So, let us then take a moment to lift up this offering to our God who has so lovingly endowed us with these Gifts of knowledge about Him and about his Nature, His Universe, His Son, and even His Very Being.
Holy and Almighty God in Three Persons,
I offer You this day, and my entire life, as a sacrifice of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise. Bless and approve this offering; sanctify it, and make it Holy so that it becomes for you a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable to You, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer; an offering made in Spirit and in Truth.
I offer You this day because You are my God and I am Your servant and this is my reasonable service of worship.
I offer You this day because You are my Creator and I am Your creation, and all creation rightly gives You thanks and praise.
I offer You this day because I love You, and I love You because You first loved me.
Thank You for this day, this life, this love; and help me to share it with whomsoever or whatsoever Your will allows. I offer you all of this day and all of my life in Jesus’ name. I offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
Beloved, let us also thank God for His giving each of us to all of us. The inexpressible love I feel for you is yet another way for me to know that God lives and moves among us, because I find and see His Spirit working in you. Seek Him with your whole heart. Blessed be God forever! AMEN.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
chick
