Incredible designs

 

I really do appreciate beautiful designs and they are everywhere. Just look at this yellow flower in my daughter’s garden it is very simple but very attractive. Then look at this bed of panzies in the main street: they have interesting “faces” and lovely colours but as you see in this next photo we have something entirely different again. There are thousands of different flowers with a great variety of designs and perfumes and all this beauty is derived from the soil they are growing in. Can you imagine the mind that thought up such beauty in the first place? For this to happen this mind that designed the flowers had to “plan ahead” and arrange things too, so that the soil would have all the necessary elements for the plants to grow and produce these lovely colours. Nothing but the super computer mind of God could possibly come up with such a plan and achieve such a remarkable outcome.

Look at it this way: If, for example, you decide to cook a meal of roast lamb and mint sauce for dinner (a popular Australian meal), it won’t just happen; first you must acquire a portion of lamb, some potatoes, some pumpkin, some beans, some mint and any other necessary ingredients, plus a roasting dish and a stove with an oven. Likewise when God decided that the earth should produce vegetables for food and flowers for the enjoyment of the people He was planning to create, He had to see to it that there was soil containing all the necessary ingredients available for these vegetables and flowers to grow in.

To do so would require an incredible scientific ability to know what elements would be necessary and also an incredible inventive mind to create those elements. He would also need to have an incredible ability to “program” the plants so that they could utilise these elements and convert them into edible vegetables for us and flowers that brighten up our world.

In Australia, Woolworths call themselves “the fresh food people” but without God’s provision there would be no food of any kind, fresh or stale. The bible says “in everything give thanks” so we must not forget to do that! Lots of people give thanks (say grace) at meal times and that serves as a good reminder for them that God is their provider and deserves their thanks.

Flowers are not just “pretty faces” either: they are the reproductive portion of the plants, fitted out with pollen to fertilise other flowers and also designed to be attractive to the bees and insects that will then be willing to do the pollinating for them. Of course no plant could plan all this, after all they have no brains to think with, and even if they had brains equivalent to ours it would make no difference because we couldn’t do it either. Oh sure we can experiment with the flowers and plants by cross-pollinating, and careful selection, fertilising and so on but we are completely dependent on God’s handiwork. This is similar to the way we can do all types of things with our computer but in the finality are limited by the available programs that someone else has designed.

It reminds me of the song: “To God be the glory, great things He has done so loved He the world that He gave us His Son who yielded his life an atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in.”Thank God He loves us enough to do that too, because there is no way we can delete the consequences of our sin ourselves. Fortunately though He has done that for us too, (if we aren’t too proud to accept his forgiveness). It sure is good to have a Loving Heavenly Father but we have a tendency to take Him for granted and sometimes even ignore Him! I think this is partly because we have “so much on our plate”. But that won’t do as an excuse either, because we are expected to get our priorities right as Deuteronomy 6 verse 5 tells us.        Best wishes, Tom.

Misdirected Faith

When we see a magnificent Cruise Ship like the Costa Concordia we think how lovely it would be to go on a cruise in such luxury because it is the very latest form of floating “Holiday Resort” where all our holiday needs would be catered for. As for safety, it is designed with the latest “State of the Art” equipment and controlled by the latest technology. The crew are all highly qualified and the Captain is a mariner of great experience. Therefore when we step aboard we should feel completely confident having faith in the ship, the crew and the Captain.

However our faith is somewhat shaken when we see the next photo of the same ship and if we were on board we might not be so impressed by the luxury surrounding us either, particularly when we see the captain being one of the first people to abandon the ship by going ashore!

The great lesson to be learnt from this is that it is a mistake to place all our faith in things and people, certainly we do have to trust them or we wouldn’t venture outside our house but when we do venture out we should ask God for the “Back Up” He has promised. That way if the people or things we are relying on fail us, we won’t be left “Floundering in the Water” so to speak, because He “Will give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your way” (Psalm 91). Promises like this one need to be claimed in prayer before we leave our house because they are like the safety belt in your car; you fasten it around you before you drive off; it isn’t that you are expecting to have an accident, it is just sensible preparedness. Prayer is similar to a safety belt except that it is also a type of email that helps cement our relationship with our Heavenly Father who loves us with an everlasting love, is all knowing and completely reliable; just the one in whom we should place our faith. However not everyone feels comfortable to do that. Which is a great shame as Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 says that “it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him”.  The trouble is that we are “all like sheep”. Well the bible says we are. Let me tell you about sheep: they eat grass and drink water and grow, but it never occurs to them to be amazed that grass contains all the nutriment necessary for them to form bones, flesh and blood and that they have an incredible gut capable of converting all that grass into these items I’ve just mentioned. When they drink water it never occurs to them to think just how important this fluid is to their bodies either, it is H2.0. If it had been H2.02 it would be Hydrogen Peroxide and that would never do.

You see the sheep don’t think about the perfect world provided for them. If they did they would ask “Who designed this remarkable system”? They would never be so naive as to imagine that such complexity could have designed itself! That being the case then we are not as smart as sheep. However we are like them in that we do follow the leader; I saw a mob of sheep on an island surrounded by flood water when one decided to try and cross the flood, it went into the flood water and was carried away and drowned; the rest followed and all drowned, you see leaders are not always right.

We need to look at the incredible world around us which has every item necessary to sustain us and supply all our needs, recognise that it was all designed and supplied by God and give Him the glory by placing our faith in Him, He and his word in the bible is absolutely reliable, not like ship’s captains, airline pilots or even scientists, who may or may not be reliable.

I’m not talking theory here. Millions of people over the years have proved God’s faithfulness. Every single one of us has to make our own independent decision to “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” and have faith in God. There is an urgency for us to make that decision too, because we could be “called home” any time, irrespective of how old or young we are (22 people were killed in car accidents this Easter) and to be a non-believer or faithless on such an occasion would be a disaster beyond description for that person.       Best wishes as you think about all that, Tom.

Embroidery and Tapestry

Embroidery and Tapestry have been around for a long time. It is a fascinating art form and the end result is very interesting and lovely, an example of which you see in this first photo.

Corrie ten Boom, a lady who

spent lots of time in a German Concentration Camp during World War 2, said that life is like a piece of embroidery placed between us and God; we look up from underneath, (as we do in the second photo), and all we can see are the loose ends and knots. Sometimes our lives are like that, aren’t they? With knotty problems and loose ends, therefore we have a tendency to question what it is all about. Whereas God looks down and sees the overall picture and watches and encourages us so everything falls into place to complete the picture He has in mind for us. If we endeavour to co-operate with Him we will finally see that “all things” do “work together for good for those that love God, the called according to His purpose” (Romans  8:28).

The book of Acts clearly shows that when we decide to follow Jesus we often find considerable opposition and difficulties, but if we behave the way we are told to in James 1:2, we will find that those problems are just the equivalent of knots on the underside of our “tapestry” of life. A good example of this is where Paul and Silas were going about spreading the “Good News” of Jesus saving grace when they accidentally “trod on the corns” of some  enterprising men who were making money out of a demon possessed girl who was fortune telling for them. Paul and Silas told the demon to leave her and it did (Acts 16:18). Therefore she could not tell fortunes anymore. These men, deprived of their income, were furious and had the two disciples beaten and thrown into a prison where they were placed in stocks. Did this make them depressed? No! they were enthusiastic Christians who knew that Jesus was with them wherever they were and they rejoiced that they were looked on as worthy to suffer for Him. Consequently, “they sang praises to God at midnight and the other prisoners heard them” (Acts 16:25). Of course the Jailer heard them too and he, no doubt, had never before heard of prisoners in their position doing anything but cursing and complaining, certainly never rejoicing. These men didn’t complain and didn’t escape when there was an earthquake and they had a chance to do so. All this caused the Jailer and his family to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31). Therefore he dressed their wounds and fed them in his house. As we look back we see that this was a good outcome; nothing but knots and loose ends to start with but a complete a lovely picture in the finality.

The question arises: does God then allow His children to suffer? The answer is “Yes frequently” but He promises “to be with us in trouble and deliver us and honour us, with long life He will satisfy us and show us His salvation” (Psalm 91:16).

Is this a reasonable action by a loving God? Yes! If He hadn’t allowed Jesus to suffer we would have no forgiveness for our sin. Sometimes it is in the interest of others that we suffer too, and if that should become necessary when we are delivering this “Good News” of Salvation to them, we then need to ask ourselves: what is more important, our comfort or our neighbours Salvation? Soldiers join an army knowing that they may even be killed when defending their countrymen from aggression and the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war” draws a parallel showing how we need to defend our nation against sin by explaining (to those who may not know) how Jesus sacrificial act sets us free from the consequences of sin. Such an action is just a form of obeying Jesus 2^nd commandment to love our neighbour and if that causes problems for us, so be it, and we should then do what James 1:2 says: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

Best wishes as you think that through,  Tom.

Missing the Obvious

The bible says that there is no excuse for not believing in God as we can see His handiwork all around us. However I think we sometimes fail to see the wonders in the things about us because we just give things a cursory glance, we see the obvious and miss seeing the evidence of an unbelievably wonderful God. 

Take this Dorper ewe feeding her lambs as an example; what do you see? Well just that, a ewe feeding her lambs! Well then if that is all you see you are missing the most important, if less obvious point. Here is evidence of God’s incredible “Computer” mind.

Having lived with sheep for more than half my life let me show you this evidence of God at work: The sheep is a living animal of course and as such has a most remarkable body designed for eating grasses and converting them into meat and wool. We could spend days trying to understand the complexities of its anatomy etc. but I just want to look at its breeding behavior to-day.

The pregnant Ewe, when ready to give birth, has labor pains and “knows” that she should go away from the mob so that she can attend to her new baby uninterrupted by “clucky sheep” that will get in the way by wanting to “help”.

When the baby arrives the ewe immediately gets up and licks it until it is dry, talking to it all the time and the baby talks back to her as it tries to stand and find the teat. In these first experiences together four things are accomplished: Firstly the mother gets to recognize the “smell” of her baby (this smell is unique to her lamb and it is essential she gets to remember it for future identification purposes). Secondly she gets to recognize her lamb’s voice, which is different from all other lambs and therefore needs to be remembered for identification when she is later trying to find it in a mob. Thirdly the lamb gets to recognize its mother’s voice and this is also vital if she is calling it. Fourthly the lamb needs to suck the teat promptly after it stands up as the first milk, which looks like custard, is full of nutriments which are essential for its healthy start in life.

Did I hear someone say “So what”. Well this is what: Suppose you have 1000 ewes with 1000 lambs at foot and take them into the shearing shed or want to mark the lambs, you have to separate the lambs from their mothers by drafting them. Some hours later you are finished, so you let them out into a small paddock to “Mother up”. Within the hour they will have all found each other. Now that would not have been possible if the very intelligent “Computer” mind of God hadn’t made them all capable of recognizing each other in the way I have described.

When we look at humans we see the same principle at work only much more sophisticated: God designed every baby in the world to have unique features; a group of mothers go to the Pre School to collect their children who are all dressed in the same uniform. No problem though as they recognize their child at a glance and the child recognizes the mother too. They all have unique voices as well; therefore even if it was dark they could call out and locate each other. When you think of the huge numbers of people there are, all this had to be designed by a remarkably intelligent Creator God.

Currently the police are asking the Government to consider fingerprinting every person in N.S.W. In order to make their work easier as they know that each of the eight million or so people in the state has a different fingerprint.

Have a look at your thumb. Can you imagine what sort of intelligence is needed to design hundreds of millions of thumb prints that are all different and recognizable? Furthermore, these prints are designed before the baby is born!

I hope this talk will help you realize how pecial you are in the sight of God. The bible says that “not even a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing and you are more important than many sparrows”. 

Best wishes, Tom.