Snack shop Theology

Today's passage:  Genesis 3: 1-3
     How do I begin this post?  I am not a Bible theologian.  I am not even a Bible scholar.  I love reading and studying God's Word.  I did go to Bible college, but I can't say I was most alert in my Bible classes.  Except for basic freshman Bible History and Life of Christ classes, most of them were over my head.  I took notes, but I didn't really absorb much.  This is probably because the rest of my Bible classes were usually geared towards preacher boys or soon-to-be missionary men.  I'm not complaining, that's as it should be.  I never participated in the theological arguments proposed because I guess I just was not interested in debates, or I figured that if God wanted us to know such and such, He would have told us.  Doctrine class was always a catalyst for discussion.  I mostly zoned out and doodled until class notes resumed.  The campus snack shop was usually abuzz about one of the discussions in one of our Bible classes, thus earning those who engaged in such debate the moniker--"snack shop theologians".  Sometimes a professor would drop by and weigh in on these discussions while sipping his coffee or eating his bagel.
     What I wonder sometimes is if I have become one of those?  Because lately, I have had a lot more questions about things I read in the Bible.  Not questioning its validity, inerrancy, or infallibility. Not even questioning a majority of the things I have always been taught and have believed.  Sometimes I just have a nagging question that sits in the back of my mind, because I have always heard something a certain way, and I wonder if I'm the one with the wrong question, or if the ones from whom I've heard something taught had the wrong question.  Chapter 2 tells us about God creating Adam.  Something I think I had forgotten is that when God gave the instructions about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve had not been created yet.  He gave those instructions to Adam.  I think right there God established Adam as the head of the household and the spiritual leader of his family (though he did not yet have one).

16  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:  for in the day that  thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

      When Eve is confronted by the serpent in Chapter 3, she says:

3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

     I've heard it preached on many occasions that Eve added to God's instructions.  When God gives the instructions to Adam, He never tells Adam not to touch the tree, only not to eat it.  If Eve really did add to God's instructions, wouldn't that have been sin?  But sin hadn't entered into the world yet.  So am I wrong?  Or are the people who have taught it this way wrong?  Did God have another conversation with the couple after Eve had been created, and at that time added the instructions about not touching the tree?  Or did God leave that spiritual leadership to Adam and allow him to tell her what He had instructed?  Could Adam have possibly just given a stronger admonition to Eve because he loved her and wanted to protect her, not really adding to what God said, just taking the reigns of spiritual leadership that had been handed over to him and knowing that touching the fruit would mean the possibility of partaking of it which would lead to death?  Did Adam tell Eve that God said not to touch it, or did he warn her not to, and she took that to be that God had said it?  Or maybe it is true that she really added to God's words but it was not yet sin.  I don't know.   I have more questions than answers this morning, but I don't think that is a bad thing.  As long as I never question that God's Word (all of it) is true, I don't think God minds that I have questions now and then.  I won't let them consume me, because some day I will have the answers that I seek.  I won't go about insisting that those who have taught it this way are wrong, because I have no way of knowing, and it is obviously not something God chose to let us in on.  Whether or not Eve added to God's Word is not going to any way affect my salvation.  It is not going to affect my Christian growth.  It might make me scratch my head.  It might add to my when-I-see-God-I-want-to-ask-Him-this list, but it won't affect my everyday living.

     Perhaps that is why I never saw the point of all the snack shop theology.  When it boiled down to it, I never saw that any of their arguments ever accomplished anything.  Usually everyone left still holding onto their opinion and none of it changed our salvation or how we should serve the Lord.  I was more interested in my bagel and cup of coffee.  Speaking of which, maybe I would be better off to be more interested in my bagel and cup of coffee this morning as well.

Creature Feature

Today's passage:  Genesis 1:20-26
     I think that some of the people who work for Disney Pixar are among the most clever people on the planet.  As a writer, I am always fascinated at the way they build a climax, how they create and then resolve a conflict.  Just when we think the character is about to achieve his goal, something causes it to be put just out of reach for him to grasp it, creating that tension that makes for a great story. They also create interesting and memorable characters, even in the ones that are just on the sidelines.
     One of my favorite moments in one of their films (let's see who can guess which one) is when several gulls are sitting in a very famous harbor watching as fish spring upwards from the ocean while echoing "Mine, mine" in a gullish squawk.  Their beady eyes are shining, elbowing each other out to catch their own dinner.
     It is the fifth day of Creation, and had I been a spectator, feet planted on the newly made earth, I would have seen the ocean brimming with life.  Schools swimming, whales leaping, sea horses dancing.  What a sight that would have been!  I would have seen flamingos posing, eagles swooping, swans gliding across ponds, rippling the surface without disturbing the minnows one bit.  The perch and herring wouldn't be bothered at all by the blue heron flying parallel to their pond home, because he would only be admiring his reflection.  He certainly would not be looking for a bite to eat.  The oceans teeming with angelfish and puffers would not know they couldn't wander from their reef homes.  They would not see the danger in the pelican hovering so close, even with his trunk bill open wide.  He would only be yawning, not ready to swallow them up.  Extinct passenger pigeons would have flocked to the trees (since building ledges would not have existed yet), pods of endangered snail-moving right whales would spout peacefully, never aware of a threatened future.

God created the animals
Taken from Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Three
By Lillie A. Faris
Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1926

     On day six, the grizzly bear would lumber near the stream, only to get a drink, never noticing the streaky pink salmon attempting a herkie, in perfect position for a day's catch.  The barn owl whose dominating shadow would normally send field mice scurrying would only be interested in the wind ruffling his downy feathers.  Gazelles would burst into speed races with cheetahs, not to run for their lives, just for the exercise.
     What a different life it would have been for all of God's creatures.  Whistles, hoots, roars; flashes of color, thunderous hooves surrounding me.  Shy deer eating out of my hand, not really that shy at all.  A crocodile brushing against me (yikes!) wondering if I might drop a morsel for him.  Rainbow macaws perching on my shoulder as if I were Blackbeard. To reference another Disney film, (want to guess again?) it was a "world-class menagerie".  Lincoln Park Zoo (or any zoo, wildlife preserve, animal exhibit) could never replicate those first few days on earth.  Sure, they can gather numerous species of animals together but they could never allow them to wander freely, uncaged, without complications or boundaries.  It is an awesome thing to think how all those instincts cooperated rather than clashed.  And even more exciting is the thought that the earth will one day be like that again.  So maybe I missed it the first time, and can only let my imagination wander for a while, but one day soon, I will see it as it must have been.

Isaiah 11:6-8

6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together:  and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:  for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 

Indeed, what a day that will be.  My imagination will have to suffice for now, but I know I can't paint a word picture big enough to capture the majesty of that sight.  "Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20b)

   

Perfect Sense

Today's passage:  Genesis 1:3-17
     Do you know that I still struggle after all these years to get the order of the days of Creation straight?  I am always having to review and remind myself what was created on which day.  And after teaching preschoolers and kindergartners for Sunday School for so many years, you would think that I could keep that fresh in my memory.  After all, the Creation account is one of the Sunday School basics.  But I think the reason it is so hard for me to keep it straight, is because it is not at all the order I would have created the world.
     Wouldn't it have made more sense to make the sun, moon and stars on Day Two with Darkness and Light or on Day Three, the day after? If I had been the Creator of the universe, wouldn't it have made more sense to put the sun the day before the plants, trees, and flowers?  After all, as we have all learned in science class, flora depends on the sun to survive.  So why didn't God do it that way?  And here's something to think about, how did Darkness and Light come about on Day Two when there were no lights in the sky to determine this?  See, my pea-sized brain would really like answers to all these questions.

     "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
     And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.
     And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:  and God saw that it was good.
     And the evening and the morning were the fourth day."

     My problem is, I keep thinking about this world the way it operates since Adam's fall.  The world God made prior to that was very different from the world in which I am living now.  I think about weather cycles and water cycles, but none of that was needed when God first created this earth.  In the verses above, it says nothing about the sun and moon being made for our oxygen supply or for vegetation to flourish and thrive.  That wasn't their original purpose.  God created them to rule over the day and night, to divide the light and the darkness.  Air exchanges and climate control were systems God put into place after the Garden  and this whole earth were no longer the perfect places God had originally designed.  So, though it doesn't make sense to me, it made perfect sense to God.  And I believe it probably was another reminder to me that God had everything under control before the fall.  This world didn't need a weather cycle for the lushness of the tropics to abound.  He didn't use photosynthesis to achieve a natural rain forest.  He was able to do that all by Himself, without any help from His own Creation.  So I'm guessing that the Darkness and Light were also not a problem for Him without a sun and moon for two more days.

     God is a perfect Creator.  When I first started this blog, one of my posts compared God to an artist  (This piece created by:  God).  I see now, that I was way off base with that comparison.  I mean, it was fine by way of application, in some respects.  But an artist is always stepping back from his work, seeing what more he could do to improve it.  Not so with God.  He did it perfectly the very first time.  And when Adam sinned, it didn't send everything horribly out of whack, because God knew it was going to happen and put a series of systems in place for the earth to operate in a different way.  It wasn't the way I would have done it, because I would have needed the sun, moon, and stars to separate the darkness and light.  I would certainly have made sure they were there before I created the land and seas, the trees and plants.  You know, the whole moon affecting the tides thing and the water cycle for the plants to live.  But that is because I'm an imperfect person trying to create an imperfect world.  God created perfection and He knew there would be no improving on that.
 

Timeless

Today's passage:  Genesis 1-2
     When I was in elementary school, our desks often had number lines laminated on the desks.  It helped us to add or subtract.  Up until about sixth grade (for me, anyway), they started with 0 and ended before 100.  As the grades increased, the font sizes decreased and more numbers could be printed on the strip.  So that number line that only ended with ten in first grade, ended with a much higher number by sixth.  There was a definite beginning and end.  But then I entered junior high, and I learned about integers.  I learned there were negative numbers before zero.  So here was a brand new number line, and the definite expanded because zero wasn't really the beginning, there were numbers below it.  I think that is why they reserve this information for the upper grades, my kindergarten head would explode and take advantage of that kind of information. My kindergartner son was already dazzled with google plus, claiming it as his favorite number because it is supposedly was the biggest number out there.  Then, not too long ago, our pastor mentioned google plex plus, and his eyes widened because there was now even a greater number.  Someone recently tried to tell him about infinity but he was skeptical that it could beat google plex plus.  Wait till he finds out there are numbers less than zero.
     "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
     I decided with the new year, that maybe it was time to go back to the beginning.  I haven't read all of Genesis in a while, so I figured I would take a refresher course.  I can hardly believe that God would remind me of something in just this very first verse.  And it is nothing new, but it is so powerful and just really gave me something to think about.  I love that God knows we live by time.  He doesn't live by it, but He knows that is how He created us and how we operate.  God really didn't have to say "in the beginning".  There was no beginning for Him.  He has always been there.  I know that.  He put "in the beginning" in there for us.  He put it in there to say, "this is how you began, this is how I created you and this world you are living in."  It was the beginning for me and my story, but His story had always been going on.  He is like integers.  Where is the end to the number line below zero?  There isn't one, it just keeps going.  And what about infinity?  There is no ending there either.  Maybe that is why God gave us numbers, to help us have a smidgen of understanding about no beginning and no end.
  "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
     When I think about the earth being without form, I imagine a lump of clay.  God takes it and fashions it.  It has a shape now.  I'm terrible at fashioning circles.  When I draw them, they are never as round as they should be, unless I use a pattern or stencil.  When I use play-doh with my kids, I might roll it around in my hand to make a ball, but do you know, I can never get it as round or perfectly formed as it needs to be?  That is not a problem for God.  He always gets it right.  He tells us this earth was "void".  Empty.  It is hard to imagine this earth the way it must have looked to God.  And when I think about empty, I think of sadness.  Like the emptiness in people's hearts who don't know Him.  I don't know if God was sad when He looked at the perfect circle He made and saw how empty it was.  But He decided to fill it.  The following verses tell us what He decided to put here.

     He tells us that "darkness was upon the face of the deep."  Since I have only imagined the earth from an outer space perspective and how it looks from there,  it is hard for me to grasp this darkness, and this deep. What is the deep?  The next sentence seems to indicate that "the deep" is waters.  And they were shrouded in darkness.  But then the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit, I assume) moved upon them.  What exactly is the "face" of the waters, and what does the Holy Spirit do here?  And here's a good question, if the earth was void, how did the waters get there?  Some people believe in a gap theory Creation, or an age/day Creation.  I don't.  I believe that there were seven literal days of Creation.  Twenty-four hour days, because God doesn't operate on time, so if He said day, I think he is explaining to us the time-frame by which we operate. I can't explain any of it, and I can't quite comprehend it.  I don't even have a good guess on this one, so those are questions I will have to reserve for the Creator Himself.   Our pastor sometimes says he hopes there is instant replay in Heaven, because he really wants to see God parting the Red Sea for the Israelites.  I wouldn't mind seeing how God created this whole world.  That must have been some sight.  Whatever or however it happened, it was pretty special.  The Spirit of God moving, just as He moves in our hearts.  Just as He moves in a church service.  So maybe I couldn't see Him moving in our beginning, but I certainly can see Him moving today.  That stirring in our hearts, must have been a little bit like how He skimmed the surface of the waters, stirring them up, giving them movement.  Maybe that's what God means.  They were still before that, and now there are ebbs and tides, whirlpools and waves, all because of the Spirit moving. What a thought!  It wasn't weather that moved them, it was God.
      When I stop to really meditate on God's Creation, I can't help but be filled with awe.  If He can do such amazing things, like take a ball of nothing and give it movement and life, what can't He do?  If He can create time and numbers, both of which are unnecessary to Him, but help me to understand Him better, what else can He better help me understand?  I won't understand everything, obviously, but that is what makes Him so much greater.  If I believed in a God I could completely understand, I might be doubtful that He was as powerful as He is.  I might limit Him more than I already do.
     Thank you, Lord for being beyond my understanding.  Thank you for not answering all of my questions so that I keep studying and reading and scratching my head.  Thank you for being timeless, but giving me a time frame by which to have an inkling of understanding. You deserve all praise and glory, amen.

Star Light, Star Bright

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 15:30-50
     Red giants.  Blue dwarfs.  Black holes.  Supernovas.  I learned about these in my ninth grade earth science class.  With the naked eye, they would be hard to detect, but with a telescope, I might be able to make out the different types of stars.  When I was younger, summers at my grandparents meant my uncle and I using a star guidebook to identify the constellations in the sky.  I can still pick out the dippers, Orion and the summer triangle. 

See How Lofty the Stars
Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris
Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:  for one star differeth from another star in glory."  It amazes me how God placed each star in the sky.  He arranged them.  How many millions of them are there in the universe?  Scientists would try to tell us, but I know only God knows that answer.  If He took such care to order these celestial bodies, how much more thought did He put into mine?  How much more did He decide to whom I would be born and how my life's path would go?  Has anything in my life been a mistake?  Some of my own making, but none of God's.  Just as God uniquely designed and arranged each star, He has done the same with me.

 I've done art projects taking black paper and either a hole punch or a sewing needle to repeat holes in the paper to replicate the night sky.  The only problem with that is that a hole punch or needle will achieve a uniform look to the stars, and God designed each of them differently.  God gave me a story He has given to nobody else.  He has given me a way to use my talents for Him, in a way nobody else can.  Not that nobody else has my gifts, but He has put me in a situation that make them unique to me, and a viewpoint that is my own.  We can all say this.  When we view our lives as a series of "happy accidents", we neglect to see the special value we have to our Creator.  Maybe I wasn't the first person to be born, and maybe I wasn't the seven billionth (a milestone birth approaching our earth sometime soon) but being the four billionth six hundredth forty third person (like I really know) was just as important to Him.  And He made me to glorify Him.  I pray I can do that.  I pray that my star, whether shooting, sparking or fading will point light towards Him.  I pray that my glory will be His glory.  I pray that even though I can't see when a star has become a black hole, because there are millions of stars up there, and I can't keep track, God knows when I have done something for Him.  To others I may blend in with the crowd, my place unnoticeable, but He put me exactly where I need to be, and He would notice if I am missing. 
     Thank you, Lord, for loving me in a special way.  You love all of us uniquely as only You can, because You created us uniquely.  Thank you for reminding me today, how special I am to You.  I can never understand that, but I know how special my children are to me, and You love me as Your child.  Help me to shine my light for You.

The Power of Love

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 13:5
     I have always approached these verses, wondering how I can improve in my love for others.  I have always looked at them as a checklist to check my charity meter.  This week, I have been meditating on how God is all of these verses.  In my prayer time, I thank God for being each characteristic of charity, and why I know He is.  Then I thank Jesus for being each of these characteristics and then the Holy Spirit.  Praising God is easy when you just pray the Scripture and really think about how God embodies it.
     "Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;"
    Doth not behave itself unseemly... God never behaves inappropriately.  He never says a word too many and He never listens to or tells a raunchy joke.  We probably apply this sense of decorum to heads of state or monarchs.  There is a sense of how to behave, what to wear, how to carry yourself.  We think of the majesty of a royal position.  God is all those and never pushes the bounds of indecency. 
     Seeketh not her own...God created us to worship Him.  He created us to fellowship with Him.  He made us in His image.  Yet, most of His Creation refuses to even give Him a thought.  If He were to put us under His thumb, He could require us to worship Him as we should.  But He gives us free will.  And because of that, He allows us to go our own way, separate from Him.  He is not going to put us in a headlock until we cry out "Uncle" so that He can acquire our devotion.  If He wanted to, He could.  If Christ had been selfish, He would never have left Heaven.  If He wanted to do only what He wanted to do, He would have told the Father to have somebody else do the job.   The Holy Spirit allows God the Father and God the Son to receive all the glory, even though He does an equally important work in our lives.  His love for us prevents Him from shining a neon arrow upon Himself to remind us that He is at work as well.  I also find it interesting that the pronoun used for charity in this trait is her.  In other places in the passage, charity is referred to as it.  I am not implying that women have more love than men, but if you think about it, a mother almost always has this quality when it comes to her children, and men are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church.  I just think that maybe this quality in charity comes a little more naturally for women and therefore, God chose to use a feminine pronoun.  Just an observation.
     Is not easily provoked...This is so true of our God.  When I think about the times in the Bible that God exercised judgement upon the earth, He always gave fair warning.  He did not just react to what was taking place.  When He decided to destroy the earth by flood, He had been patient with the wickedness for hundreds of years.  Even after he instructs Noah to build the ark, He gives ample time for people to repent, to choose Him.  He didn't tell Noah and the next day send rain.  When He exiled Israel into captivity, first to the Assyrians, then to the Babylonians, He charged prophet after prophet to warn of what would be coming.  He could have destroyed them instantly, but because His righteous anger is a slow burn, He doesn't punish immediately.  That idea of lightning striking someone when they have done wrong just does not fit in with this characteristic of God.  Jesus was not easily provoked when the Pharisees questioned Him unfairly.  He could have zapped them.  He could have stricken them with leprosy.  If he was a vengeful God, He would have.  How many times have I provoked the Holy Spirit?  How many times have I told Him no, have I waved Him away, have I hardened my heart against Him?  If He was easily provoked, He would just take His presence and leave.
     Thinketh no evil...Some people believe that God is sitting up in Heaven hatching up plans for us.  Some think that He is sketching out every detail on how to make us more miserable.  If God is a God of love, which He is, and these are the characteristics of love, then we know this cannot be true.  First of all, God is not capable of evil, but to even think of Him scheming and plotting gives an evil slant to His plans.  Christ could have pocketed a ledger with names of those who spit on Him, who challenged His deity, who withheld food or shelter from Him.  He could have studied that list and prayed to His Father to allow some unforeseen danger to happen in that person's path.  Instead, when we read the Gospels, Jesus is never praying evil on us, only good.  He intercedes for us, and an intercessor wants our best, not our worst.
     When I think about how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit embody these qualities of charity, it doesn't make me feel defeated.  It might seem that it would, because He is perfect and I am imperfect.  He is holy and I am unholy.  But because He is living in me, His power becomes my power, His holiness becomes my holiness, His love becomes my love.  I have access to this kind of love because He resides in me and so as a by-product, I have His love in me.  I can choose to not use it, but I always have access to it, and that is a thought that fills me with hope.

Just Furniture

Today's passage:  Isaiah 66
     "Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:  Where is the house that ye build unto me?  and where is the place of my rest?  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD:  but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."
     I'm wondering if the environmentalists have read these verses.  I believe I should certainly be a good steward of all that God has given me.  I believe clean water is important, I should pick up litter, I should turn off the lights when I go out of a room (that's common sense and saves me money).  But to do this and more on the premise that the earth will not be able to survive if I don't, is illogical thinking.  The earth is furniture.  It is the ottoman sitting in a living room.  I can move it around and prop my feet upon it when necessary, but I will go on another day if I didn't have it at all.  God can scrap this world with one word (just as He created it with one word) and I would endure, because He created it as a tool for me.  And what a nice tool it is!

The building of Solomon's temple--Taken from Religion in the Home (Part 4)
By Charlotte M. Yonge, Illustrated by Julius Schnorr Von Karolsfeld
George W. Bertron, 1913

     I'm a tool too.  I'm not an effective one if I don't meet the three qualifications in these verses. God says he will look to one who is poor.  How poor do I need to be?  I was really scratching my head on this one.  If Heaven is the throne, and earth is the footstool, I would imagine that even Solomon and his wealth would seem like a miser compared to God.  I'm not sure that God is purely speaking of material gain.  For if that is the case, in men's eyes I may not be poor, but in God's eyes, I would be a pauper.  Can I leave all that I have behind, and put God first?  I may not have to, but would I be willing?  Maybe God means if I'm willing to be poor for His sake, if I were to give it all up if He asked me to. 
     My understanding of having a contrite spirit is to have an attitude of repentance.  When my husband and I have had a disagreement and I am right (which, of course, I always am--not really) am I willing to ask for forgiveness even though I don't feel I have done anything wrong?  When I have spoken harshly to one of my children when they certainly deserve it, do I tell them I am sorry?  When God has convicted me for my pride for at least as many years as the Cubs have not made it to a World Series, do I admit He's right (which, of course, He always is--no, really).  Do I keep those short accounts with God so that I have a clean slate with Him? 
     The third quality God mentions is trembling at His Word.  When I first read this, I thought to myself, "Oh yeah, God, I do that."  Hmmmm.  Do I?  Can't tremble when I don't read it.  Sure, I read it just about every day.  But then there are months where I don't at all, to my shame.  I always have a good excuse.  After all, I have young children, they get up at all hours.  Just this morning, my late sleeper was the earliest one to rise, just 15 minutes into my devotions this morning.  So maybe I should read it in the evenings.  Well, after the kids go to bed, I just want to relax, and watch some TV.  I'm pretty sure nothing on the television is going to cause me to tremble at His Word.  What am I making most important?  I go to church and listen to His Word.  But how many times during a sermon have I thought to myself," I really hope my husband is listening to this, because He needs this message."  Don't I need it too?  Was there something I missed because I was too busy thinking about how it could benefit someone else?  I may be hoping someone else was trembling, but it certainly wasn't me.
     After examining myself, I'm not certain I'm a very good tool.  With some work, I can possibly be useful.  Maybe if I give everything up, maybe if I tell God I'm sorry more, maybe if I stop making excuses when I didn't read His Word that day.  Maybe, just maybe, He can do something with me after all.  If not, I'm not much more beneficial than the ottoman in the living room.

This piece created by: God

Isaiah 45:1-25
     I have been to the Art Institute of Chicago only once.  There are some beautiful pieces of art there.  Beside each painting or sculpture is the artist's name, the one who created that work of art.  If the artist is unknown, then "Artist Unknown" would be on the plaque.  The piece was created by someone, we are just not sure who created it.  Not one of those pieces could have formed itself.  It took a creator.  This makes perfect sense to us.  We do not question it.  We do not argue with it.  Then how can we argue that we have a Creator when we are a work of art so much more intricate and well-designed?  In this passage, God gives us the same illustration.  How can the clay pot being formed argue with it's master about it's design?  It has no say because it is only the creation.  The potter forms it the way he feels best.  The pot can not then say it created itself.  Well, I guess it could, but it would be a ridiculous statement.

The Holy Family by Titian
Courtesy of <a href="http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images" title="Public Domain Images">Public Domain Images</a> 

    "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited:  I am the LORD; and there is none else."
Verse 18 shows us that God had a very particular plan when He created this universe.  He wasn't bored one day and thought, "Hmmm, you know what might be fun?  Creating a world.  Just because I can."  He had a definite purpose.  He knew that he would put people in the earth.  Most artists (I know there are some) do not create their works randomly.  Many of them have planned out the design to the last detail.  God did that with me.  It wasn't by accident that I have brown eyes and brown hair.  He planned me exactly as he wanted me.  I find it a dangerous thing when we start interfering in God's process.  We are getting closer to being able to create the perfect baby.  Science has done some marvelous things, allowing us to find cures to many diseases, helping us to use medicine for our benefit, inventing procedures and instruments to keep our bodies going.  But scientists are starting to tiptoe into God's territory when they allow people to pick out the gender, hair, and eye color of their children.  God designed us.  We shouldn't be trying to design ourselves.  I think we are going to find heart-breaking mutations and distortions happening when we start meddling in God's work.
       Every work of art is a tribute to the artist.  The brush strokes, the light, the colors, garner praise for the artist's knowledge. Walking through the Art Institute, I have to say, there were some pieces of art that I was not impressed by.  Checking the name on the plaque, I might not be interested in viewing any more pieces made by that person.  Other artists captured their pieces in a way that I would like to see more of what they have done.  Human art is subjective.  God's art is perfect.  He has not made anyone by accident.  If I were on display in any art museum, I wonder, would I leave the viewer wanting to see more from my Creator, or would I cause him to want to go in search of works by different artists?   Because when I am on display, people will inevitably look at the plaque beside me.  What will it say?  Artist:  God

Bowing to the Stump

Isaiah 44:1-28
     I'm trying to imagine how jealous I would be if my children were to give all their affections to another adult as if that person were their mother.  Furthermore, if they took gifts I gave them to shower adoration on this person. How would I be able to endure that?   I see the same thing here in this passage.  The Lord gives great detail on how Israel fashions these idols, and gives her devotion to them.  Yet, every step of the way, Israel fails to see, God provides the materials and skills to do that.  The rain used to grow the tree that will be fashioned into the idol?  God's rain.  The tree itself?  God's tree.  The fire the smith uses to melt down the metal for the idol?  God's fire. God's bread and meat sustains the strength of the worker.  It is all God's.  These workers work tirelessly to produce a small piece of wood or metal, to the point of exhaustion.  In the end, God says they are bowing down to a tree stump.  Why would they waste all that talent on something that will never love them back?  How would I feel if my children were to do that to me?  If I clothed them, fed them, protected them, comforted them, and they called someone else ""Mommy"".  And what if that person they honored wanted nothing to do with them?  How frustrating that would be! 

An Apple Tree Laden with Fruit--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     We do the exact same thing.  Many times we do not give our love to an idol.  But we often spend our time, our talents, our gifts, our devotion, on things that are not worth our attention.  We use the gifts God has given us, not for His glory, but for our own gain, our own pleasure.  Lord, I am your child.  Yours alone.  I do not want to waste my affections elsewhere.  I know that they will never be returned by anyone or anything else.  I know how it must hurt You when I do not give you all my love, all my appreciation.  I know how jealous it must make you to see me devote myself to things that will not bring You any glory.  Remind me each day, Lord, when I am not doing something worthwhile for You.