Wednesday, October 19, 2016

October 19, 2016: God’s Wondrous Creation

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 293  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …   Please take the time to take in a glorious YouTube video of images arising as Brian Doerksen sings his beautiful song … Creation Calls, poignantly singing of how we are surrounded by the reality of God when we take in all that He created for us … His glorious creation.


Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 136:5 [NKJV] …  
5 To Him Who by wisdom made the heavens, … For His mercy endures forever … 
… One man standing in the presence of God’s creation realizing that through God’s mercy it all was created for us.
============
Highlight Context: Psalm 136:1-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… A Psalmist’s prayer in light of being surrounded by God’s mercy of creation.
===========

Reference Passage #1 … Genesis 1:31 [NKJV] …  
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. 
 … God, on the sixth day of creation saw all that He had made and declared it’s goodness for His purposes in sharing it with His foremost creation, … mankind.

Reference Passage #2 … Psalm 14:1 [NKJV] …  
1  The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” … 
… King David declares in song the reality of denying God.

Reference Passage #3 … Hebrews 11:6 [NKJV] …  
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 
… Even surrounded by God’s creation, it still takes faith to believe His is.

My Journal for Today:  … Our Daily Bread author, David Roper, uses an illustration from nature to teach on the reality of God and His creation. He wrote: Desert Solitaire is Edward Abbey’s personal history of his summers as a park ranger in what is now called Arches National Park in Utah. The book is worth reading if only for Abbey’s bright language and vivid descriptions of the US Southwest. 
But Abbey, for all his artistry, was an atheist who could see nothing beyond the surface of the beauty he enjoyed. How sad! He lived his entire life in praise of beauty and missed the point of it all. 

I was once like the atheist author, Abbey, … a doubter as to God’s existence. But I refused to call myself an “atheist” back in my days as a young, searching adult. No, I used the self describing term, “agnostic;” … because, when I saw the complex wonders of creation surrounding me, such as the national park Abbey described (see photo above), I could not declare that all of creation was an accident. Creation screamed, by its wonder and complexity, of a Creator. And ultimately my seeking after answers about God, I came to surrender to what Brian Doerksen so beautifully sings in the song linked here today, declaring, “I believe!”

When one looks around and sees the magnificent glory of God’s creation, I have to agree with King David’s declaration in Psalm 14:1, that only “the fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” And it would be good for us to look around this day and declare our thankfulness of all that God has given to us and declared “GOOD.”

My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … What You have created for Your children is so wonderful. Thank You!! Amen  

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

No comments: