When we speak of foundations, we can never forget that we start with a sound working knowledge of just who God is. Not who we THINK He is, but really who He is. In reading through some Psalms last night, I was in Psalm 50. And in God’s perfect timing, which by now should really not surprise me, I picked up a recommended book today dealing with knowing who God is (“Knowledge of the Holy”), and the opening chapter deals with idolatry, and took me to that same Psalm. Here is the verse that the author mentioned, and God is speaking to His people:
“These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes…” Psalm 50:21
Our basic problem when it comes to our flesh, and our human way of thinking, is we tend to think that God is just like us, or that we think like He does. God says, “You thought that I was just like you”, and when we do just that, He faithfully says “Let me show you a thing or two. I’m God, you are not, now pay attention.” OK, so that is my paraphrase, and I praise God that He continues to be willing to show Himself to me, to show me where I am not like Him, to remind me where I fall short, and always so that I can be given the opportunity to grow, to learn more about Him, and to worship Him at a deeper level than I did the day before.
I’ve dealt briefly here with Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and Babel. And once we have these first 11 chapters of Genesis established as God’s accurate account of history, the rest of Scripture rests so firmly on the foundation He laid, as He describes Himself to us, who He is, and what He has done for us through Christ. My goal is never to “prove” these accounts, or to win converts just to belief in these accounts, but to win souls for Christ. And winning souls means dealing with sinful people, self included. And pride needs to be knocked down quite a bit, so as to let God work through me. All the knowledge in the world is wonderful, but only if I allow it to make myself more useful to Him and His purposes, His way of thinking.
When we take time to consider who God really is, we should be amazed; He should leave us in awe! There simply are not words to describe how we should feel and react. “Worship” sums it up Biblically, and even that word leaves us with questions. That’s OK, the main point He tells us is that He must be the object of that worship, and Him alone. When we seek to know God, when we listen to Him in our lives, we have all the foundation we need this side of glory.
Take time today to talk to Him, to listen to Him. We can so easily let what goes on around us take our hearts and minds away from Him; quite the opposite, we need our hearts and minds on Him to keep the world around us in proper perspective.
“Cease striving (be still) and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10
Holding fast to the name of our Creator.
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