Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." What does that mean? 1. It means God alone created. The Hebrew verb for "create" can only use God as its subject in Hebrew grammar. That's for good reason. In English, we speak of an artist who creates something, but in truth, God is the original artist. No wonder Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's "masterpiece." 2. It means God created everything out of nothing. Hebrews 11:3; John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 all emphasize God creating "all things" and creating the visible from the invisible. 3. It means God created by His word. God simply spoke, and it came into being. Repeatedly in Genesis chapter 1 we see the phrase, "And God said... and it was so." Psalm 33:6, 9 emphasizes that God created by speaking the word. No wonder John 1:1 speaks of Jesus as "the word," saying, "In the beginning was the Word." 4. It means that what God created was good. Another pattern we see in Genesis chapter 1 is the constant repetition of the phrase, "God saw it was good." Finally, when God made mankind in His own image, He said in Genesis 1:31, that it was "very good." James 1:17 reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes down from God. If it's good, it's from God, and if it's from God, it's good!
The FBI found handwritten notes in the suitcases of all of the 9/11 hijackers that told them to shout Allahu Akbar, which means "Allah is great!" The letter said to do so, "because this strikes fear in the hearts of non-believers." But Psalm 135 teaches that Yahweh, not Allah, is great. Psalm 135:6 (HCSB): "For I know that Yahweh is great." The psalm is framed by a call to worship leaders in God's house to praise the LORD (Yahweh). The psalm begins with this call in v. 1-3 and concludes with a similar call to worship in v. 19-21. In between, it gives five reasons why Yahweh alone is great: 1. Because of His grace (v. 4 He has "chosen" His people.) 2. Because of His power (v. 6 He does whatever He pleases.) 3. Because He delivered His people (v. 8-12) 4. Because He revealed His name (v. 13-14, and thus by revealing His divine name, He was revealing His character to His people) 5. Because He is real, unlike worthless idols (v. 15-18)
When Isaiah saw the Lord, he was painfully aware of his own sin. "Woe to me!" he cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5) When we see the brilliance of God's glory, we see more clearly the darkness of our own sin. We saw it was an accident, but God says it was an abomination. We saw it was a blooper, but God says it was a blunder. We say it was a case of confusion, but God says it was corruption. We say it was a deficiency, but God says it was depravity. We say it was an error, but God says it was evil. Help me, Lord, to see sin as You see it.
We have seen so much evil this past week. On Sunday, March 8, Terry Sedlacek walked into the early worship service at FirstBaptistChurch, Maryville, Illinois, and shot to death pastor Fred Winters while Winters was preaching. Police later found that Sedlacek had written on his daily planner that Sunday was “death day.”
On Tuesday, March 10, Michael McClendon, 28, went on a shooting rampage and killed 10 people, including his own mother.
On Wednesday, March 11, Tim Kretschner, 17, shot and killed 15 people, mostly high school students in Winnenden, Germany and then shot himself.
On Thursday, March 12, financial schemer Bernard Madoff was sentenced to life in prison for the largest Ponzi scheme in history, as he cheated thousands of investors out of $65 billion.
How are we to respond to these things?
Psalm 37:1 says, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.”The Psalmist is not denying the reality of evil; in fact, he admits that evil men may even succeed in their schemes (v. 7), use violence against good people (v. 14), and borrow money without repaying it (v. 21).
Their end, however, will eventually come. Verse 35 says, "I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil." If he stopped there, the psalmist would seem to be saying that the wicked get away with murder. But verse 36 goes on to say, "But he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found." In fact, five times in the psalm he says the wicked will be "cut off," literally "rooted out." (See v. 8, 22, 28, 34, 38.)
Jesus Himself quoted Psalm 37:11, which reminds us that in the end, "the meek will inherit the earth." (See Matthew 5:5).
So how are godly people to respond to evil?
Refrain from fretting. "Do not fret because of evil men... Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-- it only leads to evil." (Psalm 37:1, 8)
Rejoice in fellowship. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4). If you delight yourself in the things of the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. This does not mean that you will get anything you ask for selfishly. It means that as you delight in the Lord, your desires become God’s desires.
Rest in the Lord. "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." (Psalm 37:7).
Last Sunday, when Terry Sedlacek entered First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois, he met Pastor Fred Winters face to face as he walked down the aisle, armed with enough ammunition to kill 30 people.
According to observers, Pastor Fred greeted Sedlacek, saying, “Good morning.”
How sad that Sedlacek did not really get to know Pastor Fred. Fred Winters faithfully served that same church for 22 years. He went to Maryville in 1987, when the church only averaged 32 people in attendance. When he died, the church was averaging 1,200 in attendance.
Christians all over the nation are still in shock at the news of this pastor’s murder. We search for words to express our feelings. We wonder how to respond. But in Psalm 37 we find our answer again.
Do not fret or respond in anger over evil. Evil men may seem to win now, but in the end, they will lose!
Delight yourself in the things of the Lord. That is why Fred Winters did all of his life. He spent his life touching others for Jesus Christ. What the world needs is for people like Terry Sedlacek and Bernie Madoff to meet people like Fred Winters now.
You and I cannot change what evil has happened in the past. But we can be a lighthouse for Christ in an evil world today and in the future. We can live faithfully for Christ like Fred Winters did, so that when we meet others, they will see Christ in us.
Trust in the Lord. Rest in God, and know that God will make all things right in the end.
Isn’t that the message of the cross? God took an evil event, the murder of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, and turned it into payment for our sin.
If God can do that with the evil committed against His own Son, then God can bring good out of the evil that we face in our own time. In fact, God did that last Sunday. You see, Terry Sedlacek had enough ammunition to kill 30 people, but after he shot Fred Winters, his gun jammed, and two members of the church subdued him. Was that an accident that his gun jammed? I don't think so. It's just another reminder that when evil seems to prevail, God is at work. And ultimately, He will make all things right. Trust in the Lord.
I was attending a writer's conference, and a publisher said that books often sell well because of marketing and famous authors, not because of the quality of the books. Someone asked the publisher to name a book that did not sell well but was such a quality book that he was glad it was published. The publisher said, "Yes, the book is Lord, Show Me Your Glory by Ethel Herr." The book was out of print, so I ordered it from amazon.com. I'm glad I did. I spent the year of 2008 going through this devotional (I finished a month early because I read ahead). A wonderful journey it was. The book is divided into 52 chapters to be used as 52 weeks of devotions. But each "Week" actually has two or three qualities of God to study, so it really amounts to about two or three devotionals for each week. For example, Week Four is a devotional on God is Carpenter, Potter, and a Working God, Week Twelve is on God as Living Bread and Manna, and Week Twenty is on Discipliner, Teacher/Master and Rabbi. You get the idea. Herr has a very descriptive writing style. For example, in Week Eleven she describes God's omniscience by saying, "grace without God's omniscience would be as elusive as a hollow wind whistling through the broken window panes of an empty church" (p. 72). She also has keen insights into the character of God. In Week Eighteen, she says this about God as Resurrection and the Life: "So, when He chooses to let our dreams die so He can give us a resurrection rather than a healing, we sometimes feel abandoned" (p. 114). Each section lists scripture readings for further meditation on that particular quality of God. I found that looking up those scriptures was almost as enriching as the text of her book. The experience of going through this book will help you understand the character of God in a powerful way. If you are looking for a practical devotional that is all about you and how you live your Christian life, this is not it. But if you are looking for a devotional that will make you forget yourself and will leave you in awe of our wondrous God, bowing before Him in worship, then find a used copy of this rare gem of a book online and order it.
The Shack by William Paul Young is the "buzz" book of the year. Young basically "self-published" the book with his own publisher, Windblown Media, and now it has sold over a million copies, mostly by word of mouth. The book is a deeply emotional story about why God allows suffering. I believe that Young does an excellent job in answering this question in the novel, which is probably why it has sold so well. Young imagines that a man named Mack who gets a note from God, asking him to return to the shack where his young daughter had been murdered. The man does, and finds answers to his questions and doubts about God's goodness. However, some things about the book trouble people. I know one church library in Mississippi that has banned the book, and LifeWay Christian Stores sells the book but asks readers to read it with caution. Why? Read the rest of this review in the first comment below...
I have heard Antony Flew's name many times over the years, because every time that I would read about a Christian apologist, it seemed that Antony Flew's name would come up as his atheist antagonist. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my newspaper in December 2004 and read the news that Antony Flew had changed his mind and decided that he DID believe in God. What a Christmas gift to the Christian world! But what it really true? I later read that while Flew now believes in God, he has not accepted Christianity. I wondered, what caused this change, and where was he now in his thinking? Thus I read Flew's new book There Is A God, with great interest to know what caused such an outspoken atheist scholar to change his mind. I was not disappointed. While the book is only 160 pages (plus two appendices by other authors), it is thorough and deep in its content. Flew tells his own story of how he, the son of a Methodist minister in Britain, became an atheist out of disillusionment with how God could allow evil, particularly as he saw the atrocities in Nazi Germany in World War II. Flew went on to become a professor of philosophy and a writer of many influential books espousing atheism, teaching in universities in Great Britain, Canada, and finally in the United States, where he now resides. He followed the thinking of skeptics like David Hume, arguing that we must presume atheism is true and believers must prove there is a God. So how did this atheist scholar convert to theism? Flew explains that one belief he has always held led to the change-- his belief in the words of Socrates: "We must follow the argument wherever it leads." (p. 22). As he debated and argued the issues with Christians, he gradually changed his mind as he "followed the argument" for three basic reasons, which form three of the chapters of the book: 1) The laws of nature indicate they were designed by the Mind of God. Flew quotes Paul Davies: "even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith the existence of a lawlike order in nature" (p. 107). 2) The finely-tuned universe that delicately balances life indicates it was designed by a Creator for us. He points out, for example, that if the speed of light or the mass of an electron had been the slightest degree different, then no planet would be capable of human life (p. 115). 3) The origin of life itself, with the amazingly complex communication systems of DNA cannot be explained by materialistic evolution, and only make sense if designed by God. In addition to these three major reasons, Flew also cites the big-bang theory as scientific evidence that the universe had a beginning (p. 136). As for the problem of evil, Flew leaves the question open, but prefers the popular Christian explanation that "evil is always a possibility if human beings are truly free" (p. 156). So has Antony Flew become a Christian? The best answer is not yet, but he is leaning that way. He says, "I am entirely open to learning more about the divine" (p. 156) and then he expresses his admiration for the person of Jesus Christ and the intellect of the apostle Paul, saying that if you want an omnipotent God "to set up a religion, it seems to me that this is the one to beat!" (p. 157). The book has an appendix by Roy Abraham Varghese, giving a critique of the "new atheism" of bold writers such as Richard Dawkins. Appendix A is good, but even better is Appendix B by N. T. Wright, which explains why we should believe in Jesus Christ. Wright convincingly argues for belief in the authenticity of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in a way that impresses Flew himself as "absolutely fresh." (p. 213). I would agree. As much as I enjoyed Flew's book, I must say that Appendix B by N.T. Wright was worth the price of the book. My prayer is that Antony Flew will finally follow the argument of Wright as it leads him to embrace the claims of Jesus Christ on his life.
I love this quote by William A. Dembski in his book, The Design Revolution. Writing about Darwinists who are skeptics of intelligent design, he says: "Thus, for the skeptic, the world is intelligible only if it starts off without intelligence and then evolves intelligence. If it starts out with intelligence and evolves intelligence because of a prior intelligence, then, for the skeptic, the world becomes unintelligible." (William A. Demski, The Design Revolution, Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2004, p. 202.)
Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." What does that mean?
