OUR LIVING HOPE

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Hi all,

Have you come across people who say they don’t believe in God? What do you say to them when they make such statements? Have you thought of asking them what they do believe? Many do not know and have never tried to find out. Others talk about our having evolved from a mysterious “big bang” many billions of years ago! 

The problem with that is where the “space” came from. If there was no time or space, how did it get there so that a big bang could take place? Moreover, even if the universe and its contents were compressed down to the size of a microdot, how did the microdot get there? Some suggest that the entire process is “circular”. i.e. A bang followed by expansion and then a contraction back down to the same microdot. Thus there have been umpteen big bangs since …… Well, if that’s true, where did the “matter” come from in the first place? 

More than that; what about the “laws” that started it all going? Why is anything repetitive? Why would the microdot explode? Why didn’t all the little bits not be happy to stay where they were? For an explosion to take place, there must be a “law” to cause the explosion. The only possible way is to attribute it to intelligent design. We call the intelligent designer God!

I’ve mentioned it before but it deserves mentioning again. The reason why people don’t believe in God is because they have decided not to believe in Him or in intelligent design. Their problem is that if there is a God, they would be answerable to Him. That is totally unacceptable. Their alternative is random actions coupled with evolution! This is illogical. Let’s say I have a pile of logs. I plant a bomb under the pile of logs. I then detonate the bomb. What are the chances that after a period of time the explosion will produce Cape Town city? It’s ridiculous. 

For the world around us to have come about as the result of a big bang is equally ridiculous. The chances that God made it are better than in any big bang you could name! If there was a “big bang”, that bang was the irresistible command of the voice of God!

Today’s meditation is on our dependence on God!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 24 April 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	OUR LIVING HOPE
Do you depend on God? “Depend on Him; what for?” is the usual answer. It’s not a bad answer! At least it suggests that they rely on Him for something. What that something is; that’s another matter! Speaking to the Athenians in the Areopagus Paul said: 28 "For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:28 TNIV According to this statement, asking if God really exists, is a bit like asking a fish if it believes in water. It doesn’t ask the question because it is unnecessary. Its life depends on the water in which it “lives and moves and has its being” Take away the water and quickly there will be lots of dead fish. Think for a moment what would happen if God went away. The entire universe and everything in it would cease to exist. It would be as though we had never been. The writer to the Hebrews expresses this more forcibly. 3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. Hebrews 1:3 NLT. We are here because He said so. It will continue the same way until he issues a different command. I recall a preacher saying that when Jesus commanded “Lazarus, come out!”, if He had not prefixed the command with the name, “Lazarus”, every person who had ever been born and had died would have come forth. 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" John 11:43 TNIV To return to our question about our dependency on God, perhaps a closer look at these Scriptures will help us see that we are already totally dependent on Him. He is omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present. We are creatures. He is the Creator. We are not here because of some random event which happened billions of years ago. We are here because God, the Master designer, spoke all creation into existence. We are told 3 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. Genesis 1:3 MSG Substitute anything good in place of the word “Light” and it was so. This is the God we believe in and serve. This is no “man-made superstition or belief system”. We are speaking of the Living God on whom we depend for everything! We are not speaking of some cosmic accident or random chain of events. We are speaking of dependence on the Almighty, and Ever-Living Creator. Jim & Phyllida Strickland.			15 The eyes of all creatures look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. Psalms 145:15 GW 24 The God who made the universe and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in shrines made by humans, 25 and he isn't served by humans as if he needed anything. He gives everyone life, breath, and everything they have. Acts 17:24-25 GW 8 The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation. Psalms 145:8-9 NLT 26 "Look at the birds of the air. They don't plant or gather crops. They don't put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than they are? Matthew 6:26 NIrV 11 Scripture says, "The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:16) 12 There is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is Lord of all. He richly blesses everyone who calls on him. Romans 10:11-12 NIrV A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the LORD. 1 I look up to the hills. Where does my help come from? Psalms 121:1 NIrV A Song of Ascents. 1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us. Psalms 123:1-2 ESV 18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30:18 ESV 9 It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9 ESV 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:25 ESV	Absolute dependency; Do we depend on God? Or do we think He’s chasing us to beat us with His rod? The reason why I’m asking this, is we cannot depend, Upon some vicious deity who’ll thrash us at the end. We need to change our thinking about the Lord Most High. He’s the One Who sent His Son to come to earth and die. He is not vindictive. He fashioned us by hand! He loves us with undying love we’ll never understand. The eyes of every creature look to Him each day. Knowing He will feed them regardless, come what may. They do not need instructions, to know the special time, When, by His hand of mercy, each one of them will dine. They seem to know instinctively, that He’s compassionate. Slow to anger, merciful on all He did create. The birds don’t plant and gather crops, nor put away in barns. They do not have to harvest to turn cotton into yarn. They know the Father feeds them. They do not ask Him, “Why?” They’ll have all they ever need, from birth until they die. They seem to have a trust in Him that we should emulate. For we would rather trust ourselves or leave it all to fate! Even though He’s told us, on Him we can rely; We are so proud and arrogant that some would rather die, Before we put our trust in Him. We think He cannot be, Because He is a loving God whom most of us can’t see. Of course He’s “disappointed”, in Him we move and breathe. But many are not willing. They simply won’t believe! The do not have a reason, except that if they do, The God they don’t believe in will tell them to be true! Their thinking is pathetic; Darwin’s heresy Convinces them, they came about somehow quite randomly! But He’s a God of justice. He will not interfere, Until the Day of Judgement is actually here. Those who choose to love Him and call upon His Son, Will see the One they waited for and know that all He’s done, Was not just wishful thinking or pie up in the sky. But sent us by the Living God on Whom we can rely. We’ll know His great salvation. Our hope then truly seen, For surely He will be the King and we will be His Queen. Jim Strickland Written 23rd April 2012