Thoughts

Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Steve Webb

As I'm recording this, it is Tuesday morning. My wife, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn is off work today, and she found an article in a magazine about some of the most beautiful scenic drives here in southern California. I have to say, with all the problems California has right now, this is still a beautiful place to live.

So as soon as I have this show posted for you to hear tomorrow, we are going for a drive. I'm not sure which drive we will take. One of the drives takes us to a place high above Malibu that overlooks some beautiful beaches and the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. Another has a 360 degree view of the Los Angeles Basin and San Fernando Valley, and still another has a view of Hollywood and beyond. I don't know which drive we'll take, but I'm leaning toward the ocean views. 

Psalm 104 today really put me in the mood to see some of the beauty that God created. When I was a young man, I did quite a lot of hiking and backpacking. One of the greatest trips I took was in the High Sierra. Some friends of mine and I hiked from the area around Mammoth Mountain, where a few years later I became a professional ski patrolman, to Yosemite Valley, truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth. As the crow flies, the distance is about 35 miles. Our hike was about 70 miles and 10 days, including days where we spent exploring the area around camp, and didn't hike.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I really love seeing God's creation, and I get how some people can look at it and worship the creation instead of the creator. I get it, but I feel sorry for people who do that. To see the beauty of a sunrise over mountain meadow, or hear the trickling of a stream teeming with brook trout, or the thundering of crashing waves on the shore, and fail to acknowledge the awesome Creator of these wonders and all there is, is tragic in my eyes.

I have often wondered how people fail to realize that all of these things come from God, but then I remember that it is Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. And Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them to Him. So beloved, people can't know that the beauty we see was created by God unless He reveals Himself to them. 

That fact compels me to do at least two things. Number one: I must praise God for calling me to Himself. It is not because I'm so smart that I love Him, it is because He revealed Himself to me, and gave me the faith to believe. And number two, I must tell others about Him. Romans 10:17 gives us another fact about faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It is our job to plant the seeds of faith by telling others the Good News, and it is God who takes it from there. 

God gave us a beautiful world that illustrates His creative and mighty and orderly nature. Praise the Creator for that, not the creation.

Today's Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 102 NIRV, Ch. 103-104 CEV

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