The Works of God and the Word of God
Introduction to the Bible Episode 2.
My mother has lost most of her sight on her left eye due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This makes her very prone to falls. The other day, she tried to hold on to the grab bar in the shower room. People with only one functioning eye cannot see dimensions. She missed the bar and fell flat on her face. Thank God she got up unscathed.
We need both our eyes to see in 3D. Together both eyes enable us to see wide angle, depth, dimension, and beauty. Our two eyes together keep us safe!
In learning about God, we also need to see him in wide angle and in dimensions. This is precisely what David wrote about in Psalm 19. If I could summarise:
In God’s work we see his power. In his word we see precision.
King David spent many days and nights in the fields looking after his sheep when he was a shepherd boy. He said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)
The word “declare” carries the idea the sky is counting, recounting, taking everything into consideration, and carefully and accurately adding up and clearly “narrating” the glory of God. David looks at God’s handiwork and says, “creation is narrating there is a God.”
There could potentially be a problem here. I could look at the heavens and exclaim like David, “Wow! God made this” OR I could look at creation and conclude, “Amazing! An energy force big banged everything into being.”
Seeing with one eye
This “force” idea can be be stated like this, “I don’t know and we can’t know.” The agnostic says, “Nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.”
The “force” idea can also be stated like this, “God = the universe.” The pantheist says, “God is everything and everything is God.” The word “God” is just another word for “nature” or “everything that exists.”
These beliefs pop up in eastern religions, movies, science, mysticism, the new age movement, modern day ideologies, etc.
Restoring sight
Someone in annoyance recently said to me, “you people are just Bible, Bible, Bible.” That’s seeing with one eye.
The theist says, “There is a God and he has made himself known.” The Bible is God’s spoken word to us. Without the word of God, we are left to our imaginations and wild guesses. Knowing God comes from revelation. The word of God delivers in precise words who God is and his message to us.
How do we see with two eyes? To see with two eyes is to see God in his work and his word. If we separate his word from his work, we are pitiably left with a Bible with mere text on paper. The work of God, his creation is the evidence of his power.
David says about God’s word:
- God’s word has many names: law, testimony, precepts, commandments, fear, rules.
- God’s word is described as: perfect, sure, right, pure, enduring forever, true and righteous. God’s word warns us and keeps us from presumptuous sins.
- When we follow what it prescribes, its rewards are manifold: revives the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eye.
The God of the Bible is powerful and personal. God’s handiwork in creation and his word are expressions of who he is.
How did looking at God’s work and God’s word change David?
David prayed:
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. – David, Psalm 19:13
The agnostic say, “I don’t know and we can’t know.” The pantheist says, “God = everything. He is a force.” The theist says, “there is a God and he is knowable and personal.”
May we know God for who he is and for not who we think he is.