“Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
Psalm 119:89
I grew up on the gloriously scenic central coast of California where I also met and married my husband Tom, who was a youth pastor in the quant little beach town of Cayucos at the time. For one rather large youth event he had procured a popular Christian band from Detroit who made it enthusiastically known how excited they were to play in such a beautiful setting. “How can anyone in California not believe in God? In Detroit, it’s easy not to believe in God, but here, it’s just too obvious!”
I understood his point. California indeed contains unparalleled scenic wonders, from the highest peak to the lowest desert, the biggest, and the tallest, and the oldest trees in the world, rolling grasslands, fertile valleys and of course, it’s extensive and diverse stretch of coastline. Yes, God’s handiwork is on clear and concentrated display in this great state. Detroit might not have access to all those wonders, but according to Romans 1:19,20, Detroit is still without excuse.
Even in the most populated, polluted, nature-starved place on earth, or the most barren, windswept landscape you can imagine. Even in Detroit, there are still at least 2 obvious, clearly perceived witnesses to not only God’s existence but His invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature. Every person on earth from the beginning of time to its end has seen the faithful rising and setting of the sun, or even without eyes, has felt its warmth.
We, all of us, from Detroit to Dubai, live under the same glory declaring, righteousness proclaiming, knowledge revealing sky. And from the poorest shepherd boy to the wealthiest king, we like the Psalmist, have known the Imageo Dei. Who of us can look up at that sky and not ask the God whose image in which we are made, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3,4
Easy not to believe in God? According to Romans 1:18,19, it’s only as easy as suppressing the truth by unrighteousness, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” Yes friend, God has made Himself known (Psalm 9:16). Now, when was the last time you went outside and looked up at His message to you?
Really enjoyed today’s devotional.
Sandy
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Oh I’m so glad! Thank you for following along with us!
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The other day my brother-in-law, Garry, asked me the name of someone I had referred to in a Bible study I gave many years ago. Since it compliments so well the wonderful material you are covering I’ll share this story. We must remember that the shepherd boy, David, saw God in His works in the heavens and he also praised God because his own body was so “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa. 139). God reveals Himself in many different ways. The name Garry wanted was Whittaker Chambers.
In 1925 Chambers became a Communist. He then began working for the party in minor ways as a newspaper editor in NYC. His autobiography Witness, published in 1952, details his life as an espionage agent in the Fourth Section of Soviet Military Intelligence from 1932 to 1938, where he coordinated espionage activities with high-ranking United States government officials. During the years 1939-1948 he was an editor with Time Magazine. Witness also movingly explains Chambers’ departure from Communism and his conversion to Christianity.
He married a woman who was an anarchist, but not a member of the party. Abortion was common practice for those involved in Communist espionage. When Chamber’s wife got pregnant he insisted she must have an abortion. She broke into tears and said she couldn’t kill her baby. Rather than becoming angry, Chambers found himself feeling joyful. She said “We could not do that awful thing to a little baby.” The little girl, named Ellen was born. It was through this child that he found God in this way:
As portrayed in Witness, as his affection for the worldwide Marxist cause was beginning to diminish in 1938, Chambers wrote: “My daughter was in her high chair one morning. I was watching her eat. She was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened in my life. I liked to watch her even when she smeared porridge on her face or dropped it meditatively on the floor. My eyes came to rest on the delicate convolutions of her ear – those intricate, perfect ears. The thought passed through my mind: ‘No, those ears were not created by any chance coming together of atoms in nature (the Communist view). They could have been created only by immense design.’ The thought was involuntary and unwanted. I crowded it out of my mind. But I never wholly forgot it or the occasion. I had to crowd it out of my mind. If I had completed it, I should have had to say: Design presupposes God. I did not then know that, at that moment, the finger of God was first laid upon my forehead.”
Chambers was on his way to becoming a Christian. He would eventually be attending the meetings of Quakers, where he felt God moving among the souls.
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Thank you for sharing that great testimony about God making Himself known through creation! It also tied in very poignantly to last week’s Devo 21.
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