Sunday, August 5, 2012

"Fearfully and Wonderfully Made ..."

An incredible universe - immense
The tiniest cell - a universe of intricacy
Knowledge and discoveries that could enthrall for life
Knowledge and discoveries that should ...
... lead me to the Designer
... cause me to worship the Designer
... birth in me a desire to seek and know ...
... the One Who designed ...
... the One Who made ...
... the One Who loves ...
... me

Through, Not Out Of

God has promised to be with, to provide for, to bless us. He has not promised to shield us from all suffering and difficulty. But He will bring us through all, sometimes by His "simple" love and grace, sometimes by expressions of His awesome power.

Miracles - Breaks in the Natural Order or Glimpses of What was Intended to Be

People, including Christians, are so accustomed to the way things are that we understand what we see to be the natural order of things. Not just in the present tense, but for all time past, back to the beginning of this universe, this space-time continuum. We think the way things are is the way God created and intended things to be. Christians, at least, should know better. God did not intend mankind to be sinful, yet here we are. And when Adam sinned, he not only brought sin to his descendants, but the nature of the very universe was changed.
Because of our incorrect view of things, we struggle with miracles, with what they are. Is God "violating" natural laws? Is God rending and patching the fabric of the space-time continuum? How do miracles not make a mockery of an orderly universe?
Could it be that the problem is not with God interfering with or violating the natural order, but of us not understanding What/Who God is? And what God intended to be the natural order of things without sin? The very nature of the universe and its relationship with God changed by sin. The universe was no longer entirely "good". While not rendered alien or an outsider, God no longer maintains the universe in the same way as before man's sin. Death entered. Pain entered. Disasters became part of the "natural" order.
Miracles are displays of God's might. Miracles demonstrate God's sovereignty. Miracles are exertions of God's creative power. Maybe, just maybe, could miracles be glimpses of what God intended to be the natural order?