|
"But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36
What happens when we do not live according to the wisdom of God? What happens when we reject God's view of things - beginning with His work in creation - and then widening to include an ever greater rejection of what He says and commands? That is what today's Proverb tackles. This proverb meantions two views of God's wisdom. The first is to sin against wisdom. The second is to hate it. This speaks progressively of where we go in life as we convince ourselves that it is OK to reject the wisdom of God. The first step is to sin against wisdom. The word used for "sin" here means to miss the mark. Things begin as we miss the mark concerning what God says. It starts as simple as rejecting a command of God - or questioning whether we can even trust what God says. We miss the mark. The Hebrew word is "hata" and it means to miss the mark - but it also means to go wrong, to sin. The word was used of those who would miss the mark as archers or slingers. They would miss the target. But it also meant someone who would fail to reach a goal. Some miss wisdom by simply being ignorant of it - or not having any desire to read or study God's Word so as to grow in it. Their missing the mark, though unintentional at first - grows into a basic level of ignorance which is willfull. They see no real need to get God's wisdom - seeing that they think so highly of their own. They will do just fine in their own thinking - therefore to spend time studying to know God's viewpoint is silly and unnecessary. When we live like this, the Bible tells us that we "injure" ourselves. Injure is the Hebew word "hamas" and it means to be violent - or to act violently or wrongly. It was used to describe unethical behavior. When we miss wisdom - we are hurting ourselves. It is not just an error we are committing - we are hurting and injuring ourselves. To reject God's wisdom is injurious to our well-being because God's ways are always best for us. This comes back to seeing that God created us - and therefore knows exactly what we need and what is the way we should live. If we are just the sum of purely accidental happenings over billions of years - it really does not matter what we do. Everything is meaningless anyway. But if we are the creation of God - there is not only a purpose - but a plan for us to follow to become what we were created to be and to do what we were created to do. The latter stages of mankind's rejection of God is to eventually hate wisdom. At first the wicked are just annoyed by the wisdom of God. They are annoyed at a being who would claim absolute power, wisdom, and authority. But soon that annoyance would grow to become anger - and anger will give rise to hatred. The hatred grows out of a rejection of the notion that anyone or anything besides us have the right to control or even comment on our lives. The more one runs up against God's commands and against the consequences of rejecting them - the more they resent the God Who wrote them. That is why any sin - embraced long enough will bring us to the point of hating God. It is alway why the Word of God says in James chapter 4 that friendship with the world is enmity against God - the one who loves the world, hates God. We are told that those who follow their sin to this point are ones who "love death." God came to give us life and life abundantly. His Word and His wisdom are filled with life. When we embrace it we receive an abundance of life and joy. But when we reject it - we begin to love death. It is fascinating to see how the more a society rejects God - the more it begins to embrace self-destructive, even death-loving behavior. This makes perfect sense when we see that a rejection of wisdom is the love of death. May God give us grace to learn to love His wisdom. May we learn to treasure what He says to us - and to also treasure what His Word relates concerning the origins of all that He has made. These choices will lead us to love and embrace God's wisdom. To do otherwise is to love death. We've watched our society reject God's wisdom over the years - and also embrace a culture of death more and more. May we be those who embrace wisdom - the the overflow of life that comes with it.
2 Comments
“For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.“ Proverbs 8:35
Wisdom is the One we should seek in life. It is not just information - but a person. God wants us to have a relationship with Him - not just a reading habit with a book. Wisdom calls us to know God - to find life by knowing God - and to obtain favor from Him. Oh, how we need to see that what we are being called to by Wisdom is a relationship with Almighty God. This is not merely religion - nor is it s body of material that we are to learn - like Biology or Physics. This is the living God calling us into relationship with Himself. It is God telling us the way of life and the way of obtaining His favor. The idea of favor is one that overflows with the idea of relationship. We obtain favor - so that we can grow in intimacy. More amazing to me is what I read in 1 Corinthians chapter one. I read that God has made Someone Wisdom unto me. Not just wisdom - but also sanctification and redemption. The One Who is all these things to me . . . Jesus Christ. Thus we have a call both in 1 Corinthians 1 and in Proverbs 8 that knowing wisdom is knowing Christ - for a truly wise man will turn to Jesus Christ. We find that when we do this - when we embrace God's wisdom - we will also embrace the life and favor that God offers to us through the gospel. If you will - let me connect a few dots - and maybe answer a few questions as well. What we have seen in Proverbs 8 is that God made wisdom - so that He could communicate Himself to us. Then God embarked on creating this world that we see. What Proverbs 8 has shown us again and again is that God's wisdom is in perfect sync with what we actually see in biblical creation. Wisdom reminds us numerous times that this world did not evolve into higher and higher organisms - culminating in man - and with promise of even a more wonderful evolution into something higher than man. God spoke this world into existence by the power of His Word. Thus, what we see is that the heavens (if seen in a biblical worldview) are declaring the glory of God. The earth and all its works are also resounding with praise for their Creator. Men, though, deafen themselves to this glorious song by providing themselves with pseudo-scientific myths about a creation making itself. If we would listen to wisdom - we would find life - and come to a place where we have favor with God. Now, let me start connecting dots. Wisdom is manifest by the glories of God seen in creation. If we would listen to creation and hear her song correctly - creation would point us to the creator - God. If we would follow this path - we would come to the Word of God to learn more about God. More wisdom would be given to us - eventually pointing us to the reason God gave His Word - to reveal what He has done to provide salvation through Jesus Christ - to His own glory. Wisdom would then even further counsel us to repent and believe - putting our faith in Jesus Christ - who was crucified for our sins - Who died, and Who resurrected the third day - all to pay for our sins and offer a way for us to be made right with God. Thus, in the end, we would find wisdom speaking through creation to lead us to Christ - so that we might be declared righteous through faith. This would then give us favor with God and life when we would be born again through Jesus Christ. I have some who ask me about the heathen who do not have a testimony of God - or who do not hear the gospel. Would God send them to hell and judge them - even if they have not heard. The problem is not with God - but with the fallacy of the question. They have heard! Wisdom shouts out about Who God is through creation. Every day and night the heavens and the earth are declaring to us a message about a glorious God. But men reject that message. Romans 1:18-23 says, " For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Here is Proverbs 8 right before our eyes. God is speaking within men by conscience - and all around men by His creation. God's invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature have been CLEARLY SEEN through creation itself. When men reject the wisdom that is available to them through creation - they have no excuse before God. They choose to ignore the wisdom of God - and instead choose not to honor God as God - they choose not to give thanks to God. They choose instead to make gods for themselves - either in their own image - or by making God a bird, or some other kind of animal. They even say God is a bug of some sort. Having rejected God's wisdom - and His very person - they have made a much more manageable god - one they can control - and one who will be far more understanding of their wickedness and sin. Thus they are under God's wrath. They rejected wisdom - thus they reject the revelation of God in nature. This rejection therefore leads them to making their own god - and rejecting the true and living God. What we have in Romans 1 is a re-write of Proverbs 8. What we need to do in response is to return to the Word of God - which will return us to God. That will be handled by bringing us to Christ, Who is the wisdom of God - as well as our salvation through being our righteousness and our redemption. Hmmm . . . the gospel right here before our eyes - in Proverbs 8. “Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.” Proverbs 8:34
Wisdom had regaled us with tales of creation and what it was like to watch and be a participant in the very creation of all that God has made. We have seen from Wisdom's statements and from an examination of the world around us, that we can trust Wisdom and what God says to us through His Word. Now we hear Wisdom calling us to be a listener - to be one who watches and waits for what God has to say to us. Just as God has been true about His creation of this world - so He is now calling us to listen to what He has to say to us about life itself - and how to live it. Blessed is the man who listens to me. This is God's promise of happiness for those who listen - who heed what He has do say. The word for blessed means one who is happy. The happiness experienced is not a transitory happiness based on getting our own way and living for what we want to live for day to day. It is a happiness at a much deeper level - more than happiness. This is about a deep-seated joy that comes from knowing and walking with God. It comes from knowing Him - and knowing His blessing in our lives. But this blessing is conditional - it is for those who listen to Him. We need to open our ears and more than that, our hearts, to what God desires for us. There needs to be more than basic hearing. Let me explain with a less than gracious example from my own experience. I am a guy - which usually means there are times I have "listening" issues. My wife is very gracious in spite of my listening disorder. There are times when she is talking to me (come to think of it - I also have four daughters who struggle with this "lack" of mine as well) that she will pause and ask me if I am listening to her. My response is to repeat the last sentence she has just said. This is not amusing to her at all. She did not ask if I heard words that she was saying to me - she wanted to know if I actually listened to her. This, my dear fellow males, means was I listening for the purpose of furthering our relationship. Was I listening so as to hear more than just words - was I hearing her heart. If I had honestly answered that question I would have had to say no. I was not listening - I heard some stuff - but I was not really hearing with understanding. I was not hearing to have a relationship. To put it in a way that maybe we can understand - I was not truly "getting her." That would have required listening. It would have required zeroing in on what she was saying with an intent to know what she said, why she said it, and respond in an intelligent and caring way that expressed that I loved her . . . more than the football game that I was currently watching. (Wow - that was far more cathartic than I thought.) God wants us to LISTEN to Him. He wants us to do two things each day. First He wants us to be "watching at His gates." The "gate" was the place where important decisions were made. This was serious stuff - because it was at the gate that the wisest and most influential men gathered. God wants us to listen and watch for the really important stuff in life. We need to watch for Him - because He will give us guidance on the major decisions and major life choices that we face each day. But he also calls for us to be "waiting at His doorposts." What a wonderful picture that this is. The doorposts referred to the opening of the house. This speaks of two things. First it speaks of intimacy - of a relationship where we can talk about everything in life. God tells fathers to talk to their children in this way. He wants us to speak to our kids when we get up and go to sleep each day. He wants us to talk to them about Him when we go out and come in. He also wants us to write on our very doorposts the Word of God - so that is what we see when we go out and come in. This is every day life - and the wonderful blessing of having a friend with whom we can talk when we are going through our day. The second thing this points to is redemption. We wait for God at the doorposts of our house. This was the place where every year the Jewish family would put blood for the Passover. This blood was left on the doorposts overnight. Over time the obedient Jewish family would wind up with permanent blood stains on their door frame. But oh what a wonderful picture this is of how we wait for God. Wisdom reminds us that we are God's people. We are bought with a price - and we are redeemed. When we wait for Him here - we experience intimacy - but we also are reminded that we are intimate because we are redeemed. Wisdom calls us to walk with and know God. This is done in every area of our lives. It is in the big stuff - and in the little stuff. It is in the huge decisions that will direct our lives - but it is also in the little decisions that set the daily course of where we will walk today. The thing wisdom asks of us is that we listen. That does not mean being able to quote Bible verses by rote - but not really know what they mean. Listening means coming before God and hearing Him with a bent to know His heart. When we do that - we will see that this is the true way to a deep abiding happiness that will last throughout a lifetime. “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways. “Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it. Proverbs 8:32-33
After wisdom has spoken to us about all that God has done and how wisdom has not only watched creation, but God created manifesting that very wisdom in all that He made - now God makes an appeal that we walk by wisdom. Since we have compared God's wisdom to the thinking and mindset involved in evolutionary therory - we will once again compare the way this worldview and philosophy compares to that of God's wisdom as well in the conclusions we come to at the end of this chapter of Proverbs. Wisdom offers an exhortation, through the father, to his sons. Just a quick hit here, dads. It matters what you believe about origins. It matters what you teach your sons - and it matters what philosophy they wind up seeing life through as they live their lives. If you have the wrong view of origins - you will wind up with a philosophy of life founded on false precepts. This in turn will lead you and your sons to make bad decisions in life. Wisdom says through the father that the ones who keep the ways of wisdom will be blessed. They will have a wise foundation which in turn will lead to a blessed way of life. God tells us that this world is NOT an accident. It is His creation – and it functions according to laws that He has set in place. He then revealed Himself to His creation and gave them His Word. This revelation of Himself gives us the purpose for which we are to live – and very specific morals which we are to embrace. We are made for God’s glory – and His pleasure. Therefore we have a very strong purpose in life. We know that the answers are going to be found in God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible. We know that we are made for God’s glory – and that when we live for His glory our lives will be filled with meaning and purpose. That is why God can say to us that we need to listen to Wisdom – heed God’s instruction – and keep God’s ways. When we do – we will be blessed. The other option is that of evolutionary theory. The enlightened ones in the scientific area who hold to this view get very offended when we press them on the ramifications of what this view means philosophically. They want to tout their superior education which has brought us such so-called scientific enlightenment on matters concerning the origin of the earth and space. The problem is that their pseudo-science makes for horrible philosophy and absolutely no reason to live. Let’s explore why this is so. One’s origin matters – because it tells us much about what purpose there is for that person. Purposeful origin means a life filled with purpose. But an origin that is chalked up to pure accident and utterly random chances does not make for a pleasant ride when it comes to a philosophy of life. The reason Christianity has morals and purposes is because God, Who created us, gave them to us in His revelation of Himself (which also contains the revelation of our origin – which is Him). But what purpose is there for a being – or a world – that happened due to completely random chance? Actually, there is no meaning or purpose in such a situation. Philosophically – you wind up with Nilhism – if you are going to be philosophically honest. If you try to account for some moral code – or some purpose in that world – you are fudging. There are no morals in a purely Darwinian world. There is no purpose for a purely Darwinian world. You are left with no reason for existing – no reason for living – and no basis upon which to conclude that a moral code exists. You are left with the survival of the fittest. You are left with a motivation for pure survivalism. Therefore whatever will make for the survival of your species – DO IT! If a race or a group is in danger of polluting the gene pool – exterminate it. To leave it in tact makes no sense whatsoever if you are wanting to advance the evolution of your species. Therefore – according to evolutionary thinking and the honest philosophy that comes out of it – Hitler was doing the world a favor in exterminating the Jews – especially if, as he said, they were an inferior race. Any kind of code by which someone should live, that goes against the ultimate survival and advance of your genetics to the next level – should be soundly rejected. This is HONEST philosophy according to an evolutionary view of origins – and it really ticks off the evolutionist to face it. But the truth is the truth. This is why issues about our origin are important. They can determine how we live – and whether we have any meaning or purpose as we do. To ignore these things is to ignore the happiness that can be ours when we know the truth. Our other option is to admit that there is NO truth – at least upon which to build a worldview and its subsequent moral code by which one lives. There is only random emptiness and a dark void where things like meaning and purpose are not only rejected – they just do not exist. Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men. Proverbs 8:31
What is important about the earth? What is important in the universe? Is there something about the current ecosystem of the earth, and for that matter the universe, that should be more important than anything else? That particular question is very important because there are arguments that are being proffered today that the system itself is most important. This leads to conclusions that make many in the "Green Movement" state that we need to seriously deal with the problem of overpopulation in our world. They hold that humans have become too populous and that the resulting problems caused by . . . us, should be dealt with by depopulation efforts such as the one child only policies of China - as well as forced abortion. Some even speak of ways that the human population can be culled to lower levels. Granted these are the more extreme in the movement, but still such ideas gain traction because false premises continue to be promoted among thinkers - and eventually accepted in society. So we come back to the question of whether anything is more important than the ecosystem itself? God speaks to this in the way that Wisdom informs us about the creation and what God valued in it. If God created wisdom itself, then we should see the priorities of God reflected in what Wisdom values and what Wisdom delights in the world that currently exists. What we find in Proverbs chapter 8 is a fascinating statement made by Wisdom about what wisdom considered most valuable - and most delightful. Wisdom rejoiced in "His earth." This is the first revelation to us. The earth is the Lords - and the fullness thereof. God owns earth - it is His. He created it, and as its Creator - He owns it and can define for us how we should view it. What is interesting is that Wisdom speaks of the world and the earth. The words used here speak of the "inhabitable portions of the earth. These are the places on earth where man dwells. The Hebrew word for world is "betabel" which comes from the root word "yabal." This word is used for the inhabited places of the earth. Specifically it is used to speak of places like Jerusalem and Babylon - thus pointing to the fact that it speaks of the areas of the earth where men dwell. This fits perfectly with the next statement made by Wisdom - the fact that Wisdom delighted in the sons of men. Now let us consider what this means. God's wisdom rejoices in the inhabited parts of the world - where men dwell. Wisdom delights in the sons of men - and the Hebrew word used to describe this is about as intense a word as can be used to describe this delight. It is an super astounding intense delight that God's manifest wisdom has in men. This, along with the way God makes it clear in the creation accounts that man is the crowning creation of all God made, finds itself in complete contradiction to the view that the ecosystem is what is ultimate. God made this world for His glory. But His glory is seen clearest in man - whom God made in His own image. The work that God is doing in the earth is for the sake of bringing man to repentance and redemption through the salvation He provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore - the ecosystem is not what is most important. Man is what is most important. What will blow your mind is that God told man to be "fruitful and multiply,and fill the earth." This runs counter to the whole environmental movement. Now please understand that God does not give man the freedom to destroy the environment with foolish and overtly destructive behavior. God calls us to act with wisdom in what we do - but He also gave us the freedom to exploit the earth's resources for the benefit of mankind. It truly is a radically diffrerent worldview than usually promoted by the world and its dominant philosophies. There is one thing that also should be touted here that often is lost in the battles among competing philosophies about the world. The Bible teaches us that this is a fallen world in which we live. It is fallen because mankind has rebelled against God and His ways. The number one resource that should concern us most IS man. Lost humanity needs to hear the message of the gospel - needs to repent - and needs to be redeemed. The gospel instructs us to glorify God chiefly - proclaim His message of salvation - and seek to bring men and women to Christ. When we learn to live with this as our center - with this as our ultimate goal - we will join with true wisdom and also find our delight in God's world - in delight also in the redemption of the sons of men. Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Proverbs 8:30
As we come to the close of this section of Proverbs that relates for us the viewpoint of wisdom as God created this world, we come to a description of this process that begs a very fundamental question. I will pose this question in scientific terms. Was the second law of thermodynamics a fundamental part of this world immediately after the fall - or did this law only come into place after our world had fully developed into what it is today? Why would I ask such a question? It is because those in the field of Physics (and honestly every other field except philosophy nowadays) tell us that there is a fundamental law at work in our world that says that things go from a state of order to disorder. Said another way - the world around us - and we ourselves - are gradually falling apart and getting into a more disoriented state every day. This is the second law of thermodynamics. The reason I say that this question begs to be asked - is because for evolutionary theory to be right as an explanation of origins of this world - this fundamental law would have to have been suspended for billions of years. Instead of things moving from order to disorder, evolutionary theory states that things are getting better and better. There is another reason why this question begs to be asked, and that is because of what God says about His work of creation - even here in Proverbs 8:30-3. Here we read that wisdom worked beside God as a "master workman." The term here means someone who is a master artificer - or a master builder. Thus this presents a very difficult problem for those who would like to fuse God with evolutionary theory for their understanding of origins. The fundamental problem is that God represents creation as a work of perfection. In Genesis we read that everything God made was good. He did not make something and then decide that it needed to be continually improved over billions of years. He said that the way He made it was good. This means that it was perfect - until the fall of man into sin. At that point we see that things begin to deteriorate quickly. There is a fundamental breakdown of what God made as good - as sin - and as death enters into our world. There is a fundamental breakdown of DNA so that diseases and problems result. God's version of origins is that things were made good - but sin has caused a systematic breakdown of all things as they move toward more death and more disorder. What I find fascinating about all this is that God's view of things fits perfectly with the second law of thermodynamics. Things are - and have pretty much always have been moving from tha state of order to disorder. God explains this by introducing us to the event where man sinned and grieved God - and death entered into our world. Under the description that wisdom gives us things fit quite well with the "laws" of the universe. But that should not really shock us all that much - because just one verse earlier we had learned that these laws were written by none other than our God Himself. Amazing how those things go together isn't it? When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Proverbs 8:29
Wisdom tells us that when God made the world, that He did so by making the sea with a boundary that the sea could not go past permanently. In Job 38:8-11 God spoke of this to Job saying, "Or Who shut in the seas with doors when it burst out from the wombn, when I made clouds its garment and a thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall yur proud waves be stayed.'" In Jeremiah 5 we read that God placed the sand as a perpetual barrier that the ocean would not pass - though it's waves toss and they roar. The scientist might scoff at this, saying that the height of the land mass determines whether it is above or below sea level. That is true - but how does this work on a planet that is spherical - where its flatness is not the measure of all things. Yet, were it not for gravity - the waters of the earth would run to the southern most parts of the earth - and honestly - would run out into space, making this planet utterly uninhabitable. Now, I can hear the scientific types laughing in the background as I state this - yet I have a question for them. Their laughter is because they would view me as a moron - who knew nothing about gravity. Therefore my question to them is this, "How did we get the basic law of gravity - or for that matter - any of the laws upon which our orderly planet functions? Here is my point. Wisdom tells us that God is the One who set the boundary for the waters. He told us earlier that He is the One who make our earth circular - and made it to where the waters would conform to that circular pattern. He did not use the word gravity - but that is what He is describing. In this same passage where God speaks of setting boundaries for the sea - God also speaks about marking out the "foundations of the earth." The word "mark" used here is the Hebrew word "haqaq" which means to inscribe or engrave something. The word was used of marking and stating decrees - writing them down. The idea here is not that God set up some kind of foundation for the world - like we would build a foundation for a house. For that a different world would need to be used. God says in Job that He hangs the world on nothing - describing gravity wonderfully. Here what God is telling us is that there are inscribed decrees that God has given that makes the world function like it does. This same word is useed to speak of the written decrees of God. Let us go back to the reality that there are "laws" written into the very fabric of the universe in which we live. Scientists did not write these laws - but their orderly experiments have allowed them to discover these laws. We even call them "laws" - with such names as the law of gravity - the first and second laws of thermodynamics - as well as numerous other laws by which the universe itself functions. In every world except that of the evolutionist, the idea of an orderly universe with remarkably orderly laws coming in a completelly random fashion with no author behimd them, is crazy. For there to be a law - there has to be a law-giver. For their to be a decree - someone has to have made that decree. And for the waters to obey laws of gravity - someone had to command that law - and therefore command that water adhere to such a law. The statement of wisdom therefore makes far more sense than that of the pseudo-scientist. It makes more sense because wisdom recognizes that behind the inscribed foundational statements of this world (which includes that which establishes gravity and the whole idea of "sea level") is the Master and Commander - who wrote them. He enforces them each and every day - simply by the exercise of His almighty will. What does NOT make sense is to ask someone to believe in an astoundingly ordered universe with laws and structure - that came from no one - using no intelligence - and yet forming a world in which genius level scientists find themselves completely blown away by its glorious wisdom and intelligently ordered ways. When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, Proverbs 8:28
Wisdom is telling us here what the early atmosphere of the earth was like at creation. We are also being told of springs that existed in the oceans - but they were held in place. Therefore, if truly the wisdom of God is being told to us - and this wisdom relfects the creation of God's world - then there should be some sort of evidence of this in the record of the earth. The atmosphere above us is a wonder, being made of seven layers - and consisting of various gases at varying pressures. The word that is used for this description is "amas" which means the skies were made strong, and that they would prevail. Our atmosphere is the result of water vapor and other elements that are in the skies above the land and water on the earth. They are held in place by gravity that keeps them in place around the earth. But the early atmosphere of earth most likely was even more "firm" with water - due to what we find in the fossil record on the earth. This record includes the amazing story of a planet that had a tropical climate pretty much worldwide. The Biblical record also records for us an aging process that enabled men to live far longer than they do now. The size of plants and animals was far greater than presently experienced. But there is evidence that some catastrophic event changed all this - and left us with the climate that we presently experience with temperate as well as frigid zones on earth - with the climate changing more drastically as we approach the poles of the earth. Wisdom presents an interesting picture of the early earth. This fits well with the Genesis account - as well as with the catastrophic flood of Noah. The pre-flood climate could easily have been due to a much more prolific water layer surrounding the earth. This canopy of water would have drastically affected the climate of earth making it far more like a tropical climate worldwide. This water canopy would have also severely limited the ultraviolet rays that bombarded the earth - which would have radically affected the aging process on earth. The catastrophic change for earth would have involved some kind of piercing or emptying of this water canopy around the earth. Such an event would have involved a tremendous anmount of rain happening over a long period of time (maybe like 40 days and nights?). The Bible records this in Genesis 10 as the Noahic flood. During this time additional water problems would have caused the earth to be innundated beyond the rains caused by the emptying of the water canopy. God reveals to us that during this time He also allowed the fountains of the deep to be broken up - and for a tremendous amount of water to be released from underneath the oceans. Such a combination of water canopy release and sub-crust water eruptions would have been sufficient to cover the earth in water. Of course, if that were true we would find sea creatures in the fossil records on mountains. Amazingly enough, that is what we have found - even finding sea creatures in the fossil records in the Himalayan Mountain range - and even on Mount Everest - the tallest peak on earth. Some will read this and say that such a view of things is obtained by having pre-conceived ideas of our world and its origin. I would answer such assertions with a resounding, "Yes!" I would only argue one point. These are not "my" preconceived ideas - they are more "biblically" conceived ideas that come from reading and seeking to understand God's revelation of what He has done - and is doing in the world. The evolutionist hides behind such attacks, because if the truth were to be fully revealed, he too has preconceived ideas upon which he bases his research. His ideas are that of a materialistic worldview that negates the concept of God or creation from the start. This is why his conclusions MUST support a world that simply exists due to no outside causes. He starts with no God - and must come to a conclusion that supports his presuppositions. At least I am honest about my biblical preconceptions. The evolutionist feigns pseudo-scientific objectivity - yet his quest is not for truth as much as it is for information that will allow him to continue to negate God - and therefore permit him to live his life according to his own wisdom - rather than the Wisdom of God. “When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, Proverbs 8:27
What does God's wisdom have to say about the heavens and the earth? What would God's wisdom have to say to even other issues - like say - gravity and the way our earth not only looks - but the way it functions? Some criticize the Bible because of statements and beliefs that churchmen of the past have held. Among these are the views that the earth was flat. What we might have to ask is whether these churchmen were coming to these conclusions due to a study of the Bible, or were they coming up with conclusions from their own imaginations and thinking? The wisdom that God created before He made the world testifies that God was the one who established the heavens. He was the one who set them in place. Elsewhere in the Bible we read that God states that He hung the world on nothing. This statement went against early scientists who did not yet understand the whole idea of gravity or how it worked with various gravitational pulls in the universe. Yet we find the Biblical record very consistent with how things actually are in our universe. The second half of this proverb states that God had "inscribed a circle on the face of the deep." This speaks of how the earth looks and functions - and amazingly - how gravity affects our planet. The word "inscribed" is actually a word that speaks of writing or carving words into something - and it spoke most often of the writing of laws and decrees. God wrote something into the very existence of the earth. There was a circle written into the waters of the earth - which was what this term, "the deep" meant when used in Scripture. According to the wisdom of God - the earth should take the form of a circle or sphere. This is because of what God had inscribed - or written into how the earth functions. What is spoken of here is the law of gravity. The gravity which functions all over our planet comes from the very cener of our planet - which tends to pull all things to that center. This is why when you look at our globe - all the water does not run off the bottom of the planet when it should rush there. Instead you see gravity pulling all things towards tthe center of the earth - thus making our earth a globe. The water responds to the law or inscribing of the Lord which holds all the waters in place. What I find fascinating is that long before earth's fallible scientists ever grapsed gravity - the wisdom of God spoke of a situation where a round planet would be able to have water all over it - all equally held as gravity pulls all things toward the center of this planet. Thus we have a circular world - with the ability to have things pulled toward it equally from every direction. This is what the wisdom of God tells us long before Newton ever propounded on gravity or any of its laws. The reason for this is because God, who created this world, spoke of something like gravity over a thousand years before man ever fully understood how this world works. It works - according to God's wisdom. The churchmen who postulated such preposterous theories as a flat earth - should have been better students of the wisdom of God. Then they would have gotten things right - or at least biblical - but to be honest they are both the same thing. "While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world."
Proverbs 8:26 Wisdom was also there before God made the earth, the fields, or the very first dust of our world. Here again the Lord reveals not just His wisdom, but also the truths that He created this world because of the facts that He lays down for us. This has to do not just with the mighty mountains and their formation, but also of the manifestation of something as simple and unnoticed as dust. If God made the world that we see and all that is in it by the Word of His power - by simply speaking it into existence - the earth would be relatively young. It would not have taken billions of years for all this to come together - it would have taken less than 10,000 years. And if God had created this world by His wisdom, which He made and manifested before He created all this - then the world around us would reflect that wisdom and understanding in what we find on this earth. Thus, we turn to the issue of dust. Dust comes from many sources - from erosion due to wind and also due to volcanic eruptions on the earth. Some of our dust even comes from the solar system and its doings - and we are told some is even from comets, meteorites and space dust. Altogether, scientists have measured the dust that we experience and have come up with a figure around 43 million tons of dust that fall on the United States alone. This measures our to about 40 lbs. of dust per home. The problem that this causes for us is that we don't have enough dust on the earth to account for billions of years. If the first dust of the earth came during creation only several thousand years ago - then we are right on target for dust accumulation. Scientists argued that other factors in our atmosphere and planetary history could account for our horrific lack of dust. But when we went to the moon, we went to a place where these factors would not be present. Thus as moon exploration was planned, one of the things that they were deeply concerned about was the depth of space dust that our astronauts would experience upon landing - and in navigating the moon. Concerns of literally feet of dust into which our lunar vehicle would sink were considered. When we landed though we found an embarrassing lack of dust once again. Actually, we who believe in a young earth creation were not embarrassed at all - because dust levels were consistent with a universe that is vastly younger than the billions of years concocted by the evolutionists. The dust levels testified of a world created by God only thousands of years ago - which His wisdom testified to in Proverbs to us quite plainly. It truly is a wonder to see the wisdom of God borne out again and again in what God has made - so that the world around us is without excuse in their rejection of God and of His truth in the Bible. It is almost as amazing as the efforts to which fallen man will go in trying to reject that same wonderful wisdom by thinking up ridiculous theories that will allow man to continue in his rebellion and lack of acknowledgement of God. |
 Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. 
Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
Archives
August 2018
|
RSS Feed