May 10, 2021

Our Maker

 

I tune out when talk of evolution comes up. Once I  believed it but now the power of God to create is entirely obvious. How could a skunk ‘just happen’ to develop its only means of defense? How do salmon ‘just happen’ to figure out their river of origin and go there to spawn? Why are humans able to discover and invent when our so-called ancestors still swing in the trees?

God MAKES, is the MAKER who MADE all things. He spoke all into existence saying, “Let there be . . . .” and it not only was, but He declared it good, not incomplete or needing millions of years to evolve into something else.

He made man in His own image; we are not like animals — even our cells are different.

The list of what God makes is long. It includes the sun, moon and stars, light, darkness, earth, water, trees and all plants, animals, insects and all living creatures including humans and our children. Right from the beginning He also made Himself known to people and what He expected of them. He did not tell the animals they would evolve into people but He did tell people they would “have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the earth, and over every creeping thing.”

Besides the animate and inanimate things and the universe, God also made a covenant with His people. After their first act of disobedience, He covered their sin and promised them a Savior. The OT story illustrates His power to rescue us from sin.

He told Noah to build an ark so he, his family, and other living creatures would survive a vast flood. He told Abraham He would “make of you a great nation” and bless him and make his name great. He made laws for Moses to share so all the world would know that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that we fall short. Then He made a way for our broken relationship with Him to be restored through faith in His Son — who made His way into this world by taking on our likeness and then taking on our sin, dying for it that we might have eternal life.

There is nothing our God cannot do: Psalm 115:3. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Jeremiah 32:17. “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

He controls the weather: Jeremiah 10:12–13.” It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” Mark 4:41. “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this (Jesus), that even the wind and the sea obey him?’”

He controls evil spirits and the powers of darkness: Mark 1:27. “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He (Jesus) commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”

He makes people whole: Mark 7:37. “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He (Jesus) has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” He makes wine out of water and a little food into a feast for thousands.

God makes all that happens for His purposes, either to chasten or to bless and transform our lives:

Jeremiah 15:13–14. “Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

Jeremiah 31:33. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Romans 8:28. “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

2 Corinthians 9:8. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Hebrews 7:25. “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. He makes my faith larger even as I make this list, drawing me closer and more in love with Him.

 

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