I love to listen to the
amazing piece, "Creation", by Hayden. The psalmist says, "The heavens declare
the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm
19:1). To prove his
point, he looked at the same old sun and said it "comes out like a bridegroom
leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy"
(Psalm
19:5). Whether the sun
seems to make any progress or not, it bears witness to the joy and strength of
its Creator. Therefore, "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the
same the Lord's name is to be praised" (Psalm
113:3).
As for all the repetition
that we see in nature, this too is a testimony to the goodness and orderliness
of our Lord God who is mighty and merciful. . The regularity of the created
world shows the constancy and the faithfulness of our God.. The winds blow at
his bidding; the waters flow at his command; and this is for the blessing of
this earth.. It is written, "He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind"
(Psalm
104:3; cf.
147:18). Again, it is written "He draws up the drops of
water; they distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on
mankind abundantly" (Job
36:27-28). So rather
than simply perceiving the day in, day out routines of nature , we can see them
the way Jeremiah saw them, when he said: "The steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is
your faithfulness" (Lamentations
3:22-23).
Looking above the sun also
gives us a different perspective on our experience. Is there anything new?The
writer of Ecclesiastes
wrote that there is nothing new under the sun .Maybe not under the sun. BUT
our Lord God who rules over the sun is always doing something new. There is a
new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ (Luke
22:20)—the blood that he
shed on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins. There is the new life
that came up from the empty tomb when Jesus rose from the dead with the power of
eternal salvation. There is the new heart that God gives to everyone who
believes in Jesus (Ezek.
36:26). There is the new
self that the Holy Spirit starts to grow in the knowledge and holiness of God
(Eph.
4:24). This is so new
that the Bible calls it "a new creation" (2
Cor. 5:17), which is a
way of saying that when you trust in God, his work in your life will recreate
your whole world.
The Christian life is not
just the same old, same old. The living Lord who sits on the throne of the
universe says, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation
21:5). This is the
promise to hold on to whenever you are tired of life and all its troubles. The
God you worship is the God who says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing"
(Isaiah
43:19).
One day this God our Lord
and Redeemer will make a whole new heavens and a whole new earth.
When that day comes, our
restless lives,will be fully and finally satisfied when we see Jesus Christ and
hear the sound of his glorious worship. "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined," this is "what God has prepared for those who
love him" (1
Corinthians 2:9). We
will no longer look this way and that way for something to satisfy us, but our
senses will be saturated with the glory of God. This is something to remember
whenever we are frustrated and angry and lonely and sad and disappointed with
everything in life that is getting broken or falling apart or going wrong. Let
us remember that this life is not our final existence. We were made for a
better world. When we turn
to the Lord in faith, trusting him for life and eternity, we discover that all
our memories are safe with him. The apostle Paul said, "You have died, and your
life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians
3:3). God so preserves
us in his Son that nothing essential to who we are will be lost forever. We are
invited to set our minds "on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth" (Colossians
3:2).
In Christ,
Brown
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