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The Involvement of God
Job 38
Last week H.R. 3--the Stem Cell
Research Enhancement Act of 2007 was passed by an overwhelming majority
on Capital hill. The vote provides more funds for Stem Cell research,
and predictably started more conversations about creation and God. I
have always been amazed at the different types of people who claim to
speak for God and those who refuse to allow God to speak at all.
There are those who foster a belief on God because they really believe
and then there are those who wouldn’t believe if God met them on a dirt
road to Damascus. Then there are those who profess a belief in God
because it looks good politically and then there are those who stay away
from any mention of God because they are afraid that it will hurt them
politically.
It has always amazed me that throughout the history of time people have
always tried to force others to believe that there is a God or force
others to believe that we invented the notion of God ourselves. In 1882,
Friedrich Nietzsche penned the words “God is dead. God remains dead.”
The Christian response to that was penned in 1966 and for years in
Churches of Christ was simply known as 728B “Our God He Is Alive.”
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke is a famous a British author who wrote the
science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. In one of his writings
about God, and creation Clark writes: “Sometimes I think we're alone in
the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea
is quite staggering.”
I would venture to guess that Clarke’s sentiment would be the thought of
the majority of people we run into. In 1997, there was a blockbuster
movie, Contact. In the movie, Matthew McConaughey played a thoughtful,
but troubled priest, Jodie Foster a sensitive, but troubled scientist.
In one scene, Jodie Foster asks Matthew McConaughey, "What makes sense:
That an all-powerful mysterious God created the universe and then
decided not to give us any proof of his existence? Or that he simply
doesn't exist at all, and we've created him so we wouldn't have to feel
so small and alone?"
McConaughey replies, "I don't know. But I couldn't imagine living in a
world where God didn't exist. And I wouldn't want to."
Those of us here tonight would probably disagree with both the scientist
and the priest on that one. We are here tonight because we believe that
there is a God. I think God has given us abundant proof of his
existence. Isaac Newton once said, "In the absence of any other proof,
the human thumb alone would convince me of God's existence."
I like that thought; you see I wouldn't want to live in a world where
God didn't exist either. It would be an awfully lonely place; cold and
colorless. And I'll go a step further. I wouldn't want to live in a
world where God just wound things up like a music box and walked away to
let the world and nature run out it's tension or play out it's tune
until the last, feeble note finally, flatly chimed.
Questions are more interesting than assertions, though. So if you were
to frame that as a question it would be worded something like, Is God
still involved? Does God still care? Is God still creating? Or did he
just light it up and walk away? Did he push the cosmic plunger setting
off the big bang, then sit back to watch the fireworks?
Albert Einstein asked it this way; "Is the universe a friendly place?"
By which I think he meant to ask, "Is the universe conducive to life? Is
it hospitable?" Our existence would affirm that. But his question could
be taken to mean more than just an inquiry into the inhabitability of
the universe. It could mean to ask, "Are we alone? Or is there someone
else out there? Someone who is friendly?"
Scientists are keenly interested in that question, but there are two
questions science doesn't bother with at all. It’s not that scientists
don't care; it's just that they realize they can't answer these
questions. They are beyond the reach of scientific inquiry. The two
questions they won't touch are:
1. Why is there something rather than nothing? Or as Steven Hawking puts
it, why does the universe bother to exist?
2. Why is that something so beautiful and orderly?
The Bible offers an answer for both questions. Not everyone will accept
the answers, but they are offered. Why is there something rather than
nothing?
Psalm 135:5 - 7, "I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is
greater than all gods. The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the
heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes
clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses. "
Psalm 115:3 is more direct than poetic; "Our God is in heaven; he does
whatever pleases him."
Why is there something rather than nothing? Because God is a creative
God. He takes delight in creating things. He derived pleasure from
speaking everything into existence. It's here; we're here, because he
wants us to be.
Why is this something so beautiful and orderly? I don't think I need to
spend a lot of time talking about the beauty of the universe. All you
have to do is look around. A sunset. A mountain. A field of flowers. A
hillside on fire with a hundred colors. A starry night. Laughing
children. Birds singing. The scent of a rose. The sound of rain. Wind.
Water. From the deepest ocean to the farthest galaxy, the universe is
beautiful. Ecclesiastes 3: 11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in
it's time."
But we should spend a moment on the idea of an orderly universe. We are
surrounded, it seems, by so much chaos these days that it feels like
things are spinning out of control. There are wars and rumors of wars,
as they say. But really, nothing has changed. If you take human beings
out of the scene for just a moment, remove us and our free will and our
willful sin and our incessant need to control and dominate or else kill
and destroy, leave only space and the galaxies that fill it, leave only
the earth and the plants and animals that inhabit it, what you are left
with is stunning predictability.
Or order.
Philip Yancey relates a marvelous conversation he once had with Doctor
Paul Brand, a world renowned expert in the treatment of leprosy. Yancey
was asking Brand about all the apparent exceptions to order and design
in our universe; birth defects, disease, injury.
Brand responded. "Even at its worst," he explained, "our natural world
shows evidence of careful design." Brand explained the beautiful way
torn muscle filaments reconnect after an injury, "like the teeth of
interlocking combs." Then Doctor Brand asked, "And do you know about the
ductus arteriosus?"
It's a bypass vessel in the heart of a developing fetus. It routes blood
directly to the baby's extremities, instead of to the lungs. At the
moment of birth, however, suddenly, all blood must pass through the
lungs to receive oxygen because now the baby is breathing air. In a
flash, a flap descends like a curtain, deflecting the blood flow, and a
muscle constricts the ductus arteriosus. After performing that one act,
the muscle gradually dissolves and is absorbed by the rest of the body.
Without that split-second adjustment, the baby could never survive
outside the womb.
Now listen to what David said about that in the Bible. "You created my
inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in
the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body." Psalm 139:13 - 16.
Why does the universe exist? Because creating it brought God infinite
pleasure.
Why is the universe so orderly and beautiful? Because it was
intentionally created by an infinitely beautiful God. Not accidentally
ignited by an explosion of nutrient rich gasses nor slowly congealed
until we came evolving out of the primordial slime.
Yes, but is it a friendly place? There's that nagging question. We
believe that God created it all. But is he still involved? Or are we
just winding down to our last final whimper?
G. K. Chesterton was a British newspaper editor, writer, philosopher of
the early part of the twentieth century. He wrote, "God is strong enough
to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it
again,' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again,' to the moon. It
may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies look alike; it may
be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of
making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy; for
we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
Has God simply set everything in motion? Or is God intimately involved
in every sun rise, every snow fall, and every change of season? Well,
Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made."
That sounds like each new day is less like the hands on a clock
automatically moving under the power of a battery and more like a
decision God made that the earth should take another spin on its axis.
No wonder we should rejoice in the day God has made. Chesterton said,
"Here dies another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and
the great world around me; And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I
allowed two?"
When you look at it that way, each day is a blessing to enjoyed, a
package to be opened, an adventure to be experienced.
And have you ever read what God told Job? In Job 38-42, God finally
answers Job. He's been listening to Job and his friends for 37 chapters,
so finally God speaks. It is one of the most remarkable, poetic,
beautiful, fearsome, frightening, funny, extraordinary monologues ever
recorded. And it seems to be saying that God is involved in every
detail, every day. But don’t take my word for it. You listen. You
decide. (Selected verses from Job 38)
(12) Have you ever given orders to the morning?
(25) Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path of the
thunderstorm?
(28) Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
(29) From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from
the heavens?
(30) When the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep
is frozen?
(32) Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out
the Bear with its cubs?
(34) Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a
flood of water?
(35) Do you send the lightening bolts on their way? Do they report to
you, "Here we are"?
It goes on like that for pages, God describing with great joy and
sometimes great fury, his intimate involvement with his creation.
In 1 Corinthians 3:7 Paul said, "God makes things grow."
And in Colossians 1: 15 - 17, Paul said, "Jesus is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things
were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together." All things hold together?
Is the universe friendly? As long as God holds it together, then yes, it
is a very friendly place. And no, we are not alone. So what do we do
with that? What do we do with a God who is infinite, good, just, and
involved? Let me offer you a few practical suggestions.
Don’t be afraid of science.
Christians are often afraid of science. We ought to embrace its
knowledge, learn its wisdom, and explore its mysteries. It has a lot to
teach us about the world God has made and we have a lot to teach it
about God.
Don’t be careless with the environment.
If you were to spend some time in the Law of Moses you will se that God
gives the Children of Israel over 50 laws about the environment. He
wanted his children to care for the home that He was gracious to give
them. I don’t believe that’s changed.
If we are going to be the light of the world, we must do our part to
take care of the world in which we live. Of all people on the planet,
Christians ought to lead the way in paying attention to God's creation.
Don’t live your life as if we are alone in the universe.
Dozens of passages link our behavior to a keen awareness of God's
presence in creation. Like Jeremiah 5:22 - 23. "Should you not fear me?"
declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the
sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The
waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot
cross it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they
have turned aside and gone away.
Some of us here this evening are living like we really believe that eons
ago we came slumping out of a primeval soup. Like there is nothing more
to us than an accidentally arranged combination of chemicals. Like there
is nothing beyond our vision than empty, silent space. We're living like
there is no God, no future heaven, and no future hell. Creation cries
out that we are not an accident that we are not alone, that we are not
mere animals, but creatures made in the image of someone holy, just, and
good. Let's live like it.
Seek God out. Seek His strength and power. Seek His will and wisdom.
Yes, God is powerful. But before that, God is good.
Do not forget that God is still in the business of creation.
Or I should say God is in the business of recreation. As Chesterton
said, he has the appetite of infancy. God never tires of taking
something old and making it new. He never tires of taking something
broken and making it whole. He never tires of taking someone sinful and
making them righteous again. He does it every day. He can do it for you
today. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come.
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