"The Bottle Cap"
Or…
"Finely Tuned"
Part 1
While walking the other day, I dropped the cap of my water bottle after taking a sip. My immediate reaction involved the thought, "Wow, I sure don't feel like stopping and bending over to pick that up!" However, as I contorted to retrieve the cap, a thought occurred to me: "Is God involved in something like this?"
Certainly He is. "God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will… All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Ephesians 1:3; 11; Romans 8:28). "All" in Scripture means all if it means anything at all. I mentioned this to Frances, which led to an interesting discussion about our Lord's loving involvement in our lives. Scripture plainly teaches God's presence and working in all things, particularly in the lives of believers. How finely tuned is this Divine activity? Interestingly, the entirety of creation speaks to the issue.
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead" (Romans 1:20).
Science more and more discovers the precise physical parameters that make life possible on earth (and in broader terms, even make possible the very existence of the physical universe). The position of the earth in the solar system and the galaxy, its distance from the sun and the moon, the tilt of the planet on its axis, the nature of mass, energy, and gravity, the expansion rate of the universe, and numerous other realities of physics confirm the intricate tuning of creation as designed and sustained by its Creator. Clearly, He possesses unfathomable wisdom, knowledge, understanding, power, and most importantly for the current discussion, a pointed involvement in all things. Creation is finely tuned to an immeasurable degree. Thus, since "the invisible things of Him are clearly seen by the things that are made," we can be sure that God's working in our lives follows suit.
"The Lord hath made all things for Himself… by Him all things consist" (Proverbs 16:4; Colossians 1:17).
So, was our Heavenly Father somehow involved in my dropping the bottle cap? Absolutely! But how? What do we mean by "involved?" Over the next few messages we will consider the Bible's revelation of a God present and accounted for in all things. We will ponder the interesting meaning of such universal working and how the proper understanding thereof affects our relationship with the Lord and with people, and how it guides and empowers us in every aspect of our finely tuned lives. Indeed, this constitutes the primary question of this series of messages: How finely tuned are our lives? What does Scripture mean by its declaration of God working all things after the counsel of His will, and all things together for good to them that love Him? We can never know everything about these vital issues of truth and reality. We can know enough, however, to think in terms of Scriptural revelation, and respond in a manner that fosters proper response to our Lord and a proper Biblical understanding of His finely tuned and loving involvement in all things.
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."
(Romans 11:36)
Tomorrow: Character first, then capability
Weekly Memory Verse
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead" (Romans 1:20).
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