God created the earth with elements that have properties that make them useful. It may not be immediately apparent what their use is, but that is the point, God put them there to be discovered.
Think about soap. This is an essential for us. It is hard to imagine life without soap. Yet mankind did not find bars of soap laying around on the ground. So where did soap come from? Early records preserve for us a formula for soap that people were using in Babylon around 2200 B.C. The ingredients were water, alkali, and cassia oil. Soap has advanced over time, and much use, but who first decided to put those ingredients together to make soap? God put those ingredients there to be discovered.
Metal is another fascinating subject to consider. Mankind did not stumble upon iron tools and weapons one day. They were fashioned and crafted. Who first figured out that you can heat it and shape it? Who first learned that metal can be used for farming? Who first found it, since it is buried in the ground? Different kinds of metals were discovered throughout history as man dug, explored, and found uses for the metals. How did that metal get there? God put it there to be discovered.
God designed the earth with these elements that are hidden, waiting to be discovered. Mankind has dug up and examined and experimented and fashioned these discoveries. Today at the grocery store they can ask, “Paper or plastic?” because mankind has discovered and learned that both have properties that make them useful bags. We have clothing, and medicine, and buildings, and pretty much everything else, because God gave us these useful materials. Their usefulness is often not immediately apparent in their raw form, but as mankind examined and experimented, we learned how useful they can be.
This is important and fascinating to me because it parallels our spiritual life. God has revealed Himself to us in a way that we get to discover Him!
Paul tells us in Romans 1 that creation clearly point mankind to the fact that God exists. We may not see a sign that says “God” with a big arrow pointing up, but we do see a world and a universe that tell us there is a God. Majestic redwoods are so tall because they are pointing us to God. The heavens are so vast because they are declaring to us how big God is. The further we explore with the telescope and the deeper we look in the microscope, the more we find the evidence of God’s existence. God has revealed Himself to us in creation in a way that we get to discover Him!
That is not the end of our discoveries. Once we discover that God exists, now we get to discover who He is and what He is like. Through a relationship with God, and reading His Word, and spending time with others who know Him, we discover Him. God said that we would seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all of our heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
When we seek God and discover Him we also discover His amazing characteristics. What did you first discover about God? His love? Or maybe His forgiveness? His grace or mercy? Paul tells us that it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Whatever it was that you discovered about Him, it was not minor. God revealed Himself to you in a way that you needed the most. You were overwhelmed by this amazing discovery of God’s goodness.
That is just the beginning of our discovery of God. Like an explorer landing on the shore of an uncharted territory, there is a vast amount to be explored. A whole continent of discovery awaits. Even more than that when it comes to God, He is so infinite, we get to spend eternity discovering Him. (Ephesians 2:7)
As we begin this journey of discovering God, we learn to hear His voice and we discover a relationship with Him through His Word. We do some digging and find more and more about God. We dig…find forgiveness!!! We dig some more…find grace! Wow! Grace is awesome! We keep digging and digging, discovering more and more about God.
Somewhere along the way, many Christians stop exploring. We say or think things like, “I already read the Bible”, “I’m going to skip this passage”, “I’ve heard that message”, etc. We come to a place where the thrill of discovery is gone, and we feel like we already know what there is to know. We have learned about all the doctrines, listened to so many teachings, served in different capacities, what more could there be?
We need to know that there is so much more. We need that sense of discovery again and the excitement of finding out about this amazing God. God has revealed Himself to us in a way that we get to discover Him, and we have not yet discovered His fullness. The word manifold is a good reminder of this. Manifold speaks of a great number of varieties, or “many folds.” The Bible speaks about God’s manifold mercies (Nehemiah 9:19), His manifold works (Psalm 104:24), His manifold wisdom (Ephesians 3:10), and His manifold grace (1 Peter 4:10).
So you have discovered God’s grace, but really you have only discovered one fold of His grace, and there are many more folds of grace to be discovered. It is so exciting to discover that God’s grace even extends to the situation I am in right now!
If it helps, think about it in terms of the physical world again…The first time mankind discovered metal they did not plan to build an automobile. Maybe a tool, or a chariot wheel. It was only after much time and experience with metal, mankind learned more and more how useful it is.
In the same way, the first time we read a passage, or learn about an element of God’s nature, we have only scratched the surface. Even after much time and experience with the characteristics and nature of God, we have not exhausted the revelation of our infinite God!
God has revealed Himself to us in a way that we get to discover Him! And no matter how long we have been walking with Him, there is still a vast frontier waiting to be discovered. It is exciting and fresh! I want to encourage you to be renewed in that excitement of discovering who God is.
In John 5:39 Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” The Scriptures testify of Him and that is why there is life in the Scriptures. If your devotional time is dead, if the Bible seems lifeless, it is time to discover Jesus again. Take some time today and look to Him with an expectant heart. Expect to discover Jesus. He has revealed Himself to you in such a way that you get to discover Him!
Sent from my iPhone so please forgive the brevity and disregard any
typos, punctuation errors, capitalization mistakes, etc.
There is no right way to do a wrong thing. But there is a wrong way to do a right thing. I was reminded of this in reading through the account of Jacob and Esau. Do you remember their story? They were the twin boys of Isaac and Rebecca. Isaac favored the firstborn Esau, he was an outdoorsman. Rebecca favored Jacob, he hung out with mom in the tents.
Jacob and Esau had a sibling rivalry from the very beginning. Rebecca was worried because they “struggled together within her”. God said that the twins would become two nations and “the older shall serve the younger.”
Now fast forward to a time when Isaac thinks he is about to die (Genesis 27). He calls Esau to make him some food and then he will bless him and give the inheritance. Esau goes, but Rebecca quickly makes Jacob feel and smell like Esau and sends him in to Isaac to receive the blessing.
They took matters into her own hands. They knew what God said, but it did not look like it was going to happen that way. So they made it happen whatever way they could and Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau.
Here is what I found interesting... After all that deception to get the blessing from Isaac, Jacob leaves with only the clothes on his back! After he got the blessing, he feared Esau, so he fled to Haran with nothing! No flocks, no herds, no possessions. They were crafty and deceptive, but the result was the same as if Isaac had blessed Esau!
Many years later Jacob returned and God had blessed him greatly. He had flocks and herds and possessions, but they were not a result of Isaac’s blessing.
The only thing Jacob gained from the deception was hurt and heartache. He never saw his mom again, he missed out on 20 years with his dad, and his relationship with Esau was forever strained. There is no right way to do a wrong thing. Even if you know the end result is what God promised. We hurt ourselves and others when we take matters into our own hands. Do what is right, and let God worry about the end result.
Pastor Cisco and I were walking down Lincoln one day and we saw a pomegranate tree right next to the fence. Cisco loves pomegranates, so we asked permission of the owner, climbed up the fence, and got him a few of them. They were hard to reach, we had to tug on the branches, pulling and bending them over to grab the fruit.
I recently heard a similar story about a farmer who had an apple tree on the border of his orchard. Half of the tree's branches hung on his side of the property and the other half hung over the fence. Each autumn as the young boys would start back to school, they would walk under that tree and see those apples. When the apples started to ripen, the boys would beat on that tree with their sticks trying to knock those apples down before the farmer could get them.
The farmer was also watching that tree, and when the fruit started to ripen, he would go out there and beat on that tree so he could get his apples down before the boys did. The farmer said that the tree on the border of his field was the most beat tree in his whole orchard.
Many Christians are like these trees. They live on the border, near the edge of the orchard. And as a result, they are beat. They have enough branches in the world that they cannot be at peace in Christ. They have enough branches in Christ that they cannot be at peace in the world.
Is this tree a picture of your life? The world comes around and beats on you, the Spirit comes convicting you. And there you are in the middle, getting pulled on and beat from both sides. You do not have to be beat in that way. Move yourself away from the border. Fully devote yourself to the Lord and become like the tree in Psalm 1…
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
It has been a long process for us, with many peaks and valleys. During the last four months we have toured about 66 homes, driven by many more, and researched a ton more online. We made offers on about 20 of the homes. Some of them were long processes, others were quick denials, some we had great hopes for, others we just bid on out of desperation.Maturity Analyzer (Hebrews 5:12-14)
The author of Hebrews gives us a powerful tool here in chapter 5. He gives to us a way of evaluating our spiritual maturity. You would think that a person who has been in church for a while would be mature, but that is not always the case. There needs to be growth, and growth comes from a healthy spiritual diet. Spiritual maturity can be analyzed by looking at the place of milk and solid food in your life.
Milk – Milk is preprocessed food. A mom eats food, her body processes the food, puts the appropriate nutrients into milk and then the baby receives it. Milk is essential for a baby, and without milk the baby will not grow. Milk is also good for older children and adults.
Spiritual milk is preprocessed spiritual food. When we listen to a Bible study, we are receiving milk. The teacher prepared, studied, God spoke to them, they broke it down into an easy-to-digest format and delivered it to us.
Spiritual milk is good for every Christian, but there is a problem when the whole diet is milk. Hebrews 5:13, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” Spiritual food from the radio, church, TV, commentaries and devotional books are all wonderful things, but if that is your whole spiritual diet, then you are immature.
Solid Food – Solid food then is just the opposite of milk. It is not preprocessed food, but food that is processed by your body. You put the food into your mouth, chew it, swallow it, digest it, and your body processes it to abstract the nutrients.
Spiritual solid food is food that you prepare and consume. It happens when you take the time to read the Bible, to meditate on it, consider it, study it, and allow God to speak to you from it. Maturity comes by “reason of use”, so use the Bible as God has called us to.
If your whole spiritual diet comes from others feeding you, the author of Hebrews says you are immature, a babe. If your spiritual diet includes milk, but also includes solid food, congratulations! You are on your way, growing in Christ and coming to spiritual maturity.
Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food belongs to those who are full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
God is bigger than you are. He is smarter than you are. He has more resources, more wisdom, more strength, more power, and much more. And yet, amazingly, this infinite God has chosen to interest Himself in you. The psalmist explains in Psalm 18 that He relates to us according to how we respond to Him. He takes the characteristics we possess and does them better than us, towards us.
Psalm 18:25, With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
Do you want God to be merciful towards you? The psalmist says, you be merciful and God will show you His mercy. No one can claim they are more merciful than God, His mercies are new every morning!
The word “blameless” means “whole, complete, entire”. Do you want the fullness of God? Be fully devoted to God. As you draw near to Him, He draws near to you (James 4:8). Give yourself completely to God and you will experience the complete plan, purpose and power of God.
Psalm 18:26, With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
Have you ever thought God to be impure or unjust in His motives and actions? God will prove that He is pure and holy and righteous to the ones who purify themselves.
There are also those who try to outsmart God. Those who insist on their own way and refuse to listen to Him. They are devious, twisted and cunning. With them, God will show Himself to be even more cunning. No scheme against God will succeed. No plan contrary to Him or His Word will be fulfilled.
God will always outdo you. You want to run like Jonah? God shows you He can run faster. You want to harden your heart like Pharaoh? God shows you that His plans will prevail. Be merciful, blameless and purify yourself, and God will show you how wonderful He really is.
