Day: August 21, 2019

“This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” Ecclesiastes 2:24b-26a

God, through the author of Ecclesiastes, has told us several things in these verses.  First of all, we find out that only from the hand of God can we receive sustenance. We may get our food in many ways. Some buy it, some grow it, some raise it, and some even go out and kill it. But ultimately we are just the middle man between God and our plates. When we give thanks before a meal, it should not be a generic utterance, a formality that just seems like the right thing to do, but a genuine recognition of the founder of the feast. Unfortunately, the secular recitation “Good bread, good meat, good grief, let’s eat,” or “rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub, yea God,” might have more sincerity than some of our dutiful Christian utterances before meals.

Of course, God isn’t only the founder of the feast, but the provider of our peace. The writer asks us, “without Him, who can find enjoyment?” Can we enjoy things outside of God?  Undoubtedly. 
But true enjoyment comes from many of the things that God has provided us.  What good thing do we enjoy that God did not have a hand in?  There are none.  We enjoy a painting; who gifted the artist to paint it?  We are overwhelmed by the sight of a mountain; who created it?  We are exhilarated by a sport; who gave men and women the ability to play it?  But, of course, the question always arises- what about the sin that man enjoys?  Did God give us that?  No, God gives us the good and man in turn corrupts it.  Almost every good thing God gives us is distorted by man and made just a shadow of what it was meant to be. If we think the pathetic sinful perversion of some great gift God has given us can compete in ultimate joyfulness we are delusional.  How many sinful endeavors begin with delight and end in a plight. The truest joy comes from the knowing the creator of joy.

God goes on to tell us that those who seek after His kingdom will receive “the special gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.”  Knowledge is knowing and wisdom is knowing how to use our knowledge.  What is the result of that?  Happiness.  All the knowledge in the world is of no value if we don’t know how to use it.  All the wisdom in the world is useless without true knowledge.  I listen to a very intellectual show (I know that is hard to believe) that every week pits two people of totally different persuasions to politely duke it out for an hour and a half.  Awhile back I listened to an atheist scientist dialogue with a devout Christian scientist.  Both men were knowledgeable (they drove me to my dictionary several times), but as they spoke, I realized that though they both spoke in revered terms about creation, one man had the advantage of also being in awe of the creator.  There was a distinct difference in their tones.  One was amazed by the facts and the other amazed by the act that created the facts as well as the facts. I sensed that there was greater joy in getting to know the creator than just getting to know the creation.

The true message of these verses is that enjoyment is a gift of God. There is nothing  that we can possess, nothing we can do, nothing we can experience that can compete with those things given us from the hand of God. God wants to richly bless us and we can sit at the banquet table or settle for scraps.  It is wonderful to realize that God wants us to have joy.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul said, “He richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17)  It is God’s desire and intent that all the good things of life should contribute to our enjoyment.  We will only experience this world as God intended if we understand that true joy only comes from Him.  

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Romans 1:19-21

Last night I was on the deck until almost midnight just looking at the sky. It was still really warm that late at night and I really enjoyed the peace and quiet.  It reminded me of the above verses, so I thought I would share them today.

Paul wrote  these words to the Romans in an attempt to show how many had replaced the creator with the creation as an object of worship.  Of course, like all of God’s Word, it is just as relevant today as it was in Paul’s time.  Actually, since the world is degrading with time, it is probably even more relevant today than it was in those years following Christ’s death.

When we look at the intricate detail of the smallest things in nature up to the huge and complex design of the whole universe and remain objective, our only conclusion is there must be a designer.   Unfortunately, the complexity and beauty of the creation have not pointed  people toward God, but toward worshiping the creation itself. We who live here in Oregon can easily find ourselves in that kind of a predicament.  It is so beautiful here we can lose sight of who has made things so beautiful here.

I have often hear the phrase, “I am spiritual, but not religious.  If I want to connect with God I go to the (insert favorite nature place here… river, mountain, camp, hike).”  And who can blame them?  There are so many places that are so serene and can give us such a variety of emotions- from peace to excitement.  But what we can never forget is this- although those might be places for worship, the places cannot be worshipped.  In other words, no one can object to us worshipping there, but the place cannot be the object  of our worship.

Every time we sit beneath a sky (like I did last night) it becomes a reminder, a lesson so to speak, about who God is. That reminder is what changed British Professor and Philosopher Anthony Flew in 2004.  He was regarded by many as the world’s most acclaimed atheist and when he renounced his atheism in favor of theism, it rocked the world of science as much as the church would have been rocked if Billy Graham suddenly renounced his Christian faith.  What was the basis of Flew’s conversion? The evidence around him.  He became fatigued by having to ignore the undeniable design of all we see in favor of a fortunate stroke of good luck that brought this altogether so nicely.

We should never allow ourselves not to be in awe of the world around us.  We should never take its beautiful design for granted.  But we must also remember why it is here – to point us toward God, and although it points to Him, it should not be confused with Him.  Paul says this two verses later when he writes, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles (Rom 1:22-23).”  Creation represents the greatness of God, and without Him it would not exist.  Let’s never degrade God by putting His creation above Him who is the creator.  Check out the sky tonight and thank Him for the wonderful signposts He has made that emphatically, undeniably, and unquestionably point to Him.