Tag: creation

Daily Psalms – Psalm 19

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Psalms, Scripture

Daily Psalm Reading – Psalm 16-20

This month I’m reading through the Psalms in my CSB (Christian Standard Bible) translation. It’s an updated version of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I appreciate reading the Bible in various translations because it helps me see nuances in the text that I miss when I stay with one translation. Your mileage may vary, however. Just giving you the heads up that the Scriptures I quote will come from the CSB this month.

Psalm 19 points out very clearly that Yahweh is knowable from the evidence in his creation. It doesn’t require a seminary degree to understand and learn about him. Just look at nature!

The heavens declare the glory of God, 
and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 
Day after day they pour out speech; 
night after night they communicate knowledge. 
There is no speech; there are no words; 
their voice is not heard. 
Their message has gone out to the whole earth, 
and their words to the ends of the world. 

Psalm 19:1-4 CSB

Even though creation cannot speak, it is still proclaiming the “message” of our God. But creation isn’t the only knowledge we have of Yahweh. We learn and are transformed by his instruction and testimony (v. 7), his precepts and commands (v. 8), and through the fear the LORD, and his ordinances (v. 9).

The psalmist reminds us that this isn’t a burden, but rather a desirable and sweet pursuit that leads to an abundant reward. (v. 10-11) The psalm closes with a brief prayer asking for forgiveness and concludes with a brief benediction focusing on the psalm itself.

I believe Psalm 19 to be an excellent reminder of how we are to live our lives. My wife and I frequently remind our children to “look for God” in various situations. Did you see anyone acting in a godly way? Can you see where God did something big? Who is acting like Jesus in this situation?

One of the blessings of living in West Texas is the amazing sunrises and even better sunsets. It’s hard to look into the sky in the morning or night and not see our God’s majesty. I sometimes wonder if we would do a better job caring for creation if we remembered that it reflects the glory of the creator.

We need to study the Scriptures to understand more fully how we are to reflect the image of our God in this world. The Bible isn’t a tiresome rule book; it is a story that equips you to live the life you were made for. Learn that story. Embrace it, and live it out as a testimony to the power and sovereignty of our God.

Finally, we need to be repentant of both willful and unintentional sins. Some of us just bounce through life with very little thought to how our decisions and actions reflect upon the reputation of Jesus in the world. I believe one of the biggest barriers to non believers coming to Christ is how un-christlike Christians tend to be. We need to remember that when we claim to follow Jesus, our actions teach others about him. Let’s make sure we’re teaching them the right lesson.

The psalmist reminds us that we even need forgiveness from our “hidden faults.” Perhaps this is secret sin, but I take it as the wrongs we do every day that we don’t even realize. Who have I harmed unintentionally? Who have I cheated by not thinking? Again, what message does it send to the server at the restaurant when you come to eat after worship with your family, you demand lots of attention at your table, and then you don’t leave a tip? Is that what we want people to know about Jesus?

My prayer is that we can all let our lives be “the message” that goes out into the whole earth. Let our words and our actions be an accurate testimony to what Jesus has done in our lives. Let us truly love our neighbor as ourselves in every aspect of life. Let us do so humbly, and joyfully!

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 CSB

He will rule over you: Prescription or Description?

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Genesis, Women of Scripture

I realize that this is a series on the women of the Bible and their stories, and last week I spent the entire article talking about the first sin, but it’s important to our understanding of the stories of women in the Bible. So much of what we believe about Genesis 1-3 influences the way we read the rest of Scripture. A bit more heavy lifting this week, and then on to other stories next week.

Last week we discussed how Genesis 3 is not an elevation of man over woman. It shows us that sin is a problem that impacts all creation – humans, animals, and even the garden which is now devoid of its human caretakers. The point we are to take away is that sin affects everything. That is consistent with the consequences of the sin that God enumerates in the last half of chapter 3. I find it fascinating that the word “cursed” is applied to the serpent, and to the ground because of Adam’s failure, but not to Eve.

The real reason we are looking at this passage again is our understanding of verse 16, specifically the last half of the verse:

“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Genesis 3:16b NIV

Many have interpreted this verse as a sexual desire on the part of the woman, and God now wants man to be in charge. Let’s take a look at this verse within the immediate context of Genesis 3, and the larger context of Genesis and the whole of Scripture.  Genesis 4:7 is a parallel verse to Genesis 3:16 using the same Hebrew words:

“…[sin] desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:7 NIV

With regards to Cain we understand from the same Hebrew language that sin wants to possess Cain, but Cain’s response should be to rule over sin. We get that. Yet the same language when used with the consequences of sin in the Garden gets interpreted differently because we think God wants men to rule over women. This is not how God established relationships in the Garden. He did not create Eve as subservient to Adam (as we looked at for the last two weeks.) Remember, the Garden was God’s ideal environment for humans, but now as a result of sin there will be broken relationships between humans and God, and between men and women, each seeking to dominate the other. I really appreciated Derek Kinder’s statement about this phrase in his commentary on Genesis.

“‘To love and to cherish’ becomes ‘To desire and to dominate’. While even pagan marriage can rise far above this, the pull of sin is always towards it.”  

Derek Kinder, Genesis: an introduction and commentary

So are we to take Genesis 3:16b as God describing the effects of sin, or are we to take the statement as a prescription/authority for man to rule over women going forward? We will answer that question through the rest of this series. From here we will continue to look at how God’s Word describes the relationship between men and women throughout the story of the Bible. We’ll look at how each story portrays this relationship and how those stories should influence our churches today.

Next week we’ll look at Miriam, who is much more than the sister of Moses. She is a child of God with an important role to play.

Question: What was Miriam’s role in God’s rescue of Israel?

Eve: Equality with Adam

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Genesis, Women of Scripture

Today we will begin a series of articles that will focus on the women of the Bible. I must confess that for many years I read the Bible without noticing many of these names and their significance to God’s story, but they are significant to God’s story! Knowing the stories of these women is vitally important to understanding the nature of God. Based on a show-of-hands poll at a recent Bible conference I attended, many (including some in ministry) don’t know these stories even though the Spirit placed them in the pages of the Bible. I hope in some small way these articles will begin to change that. The first woman we will look at is not a stranger to most. In fact she’s the first woman of all: Eve.

Eve has received a lot of blame, scorn, and shame throughout the centuries even though she did what you and I do virtually every day – Eve disobeyed God. For some reason scholars and believers have tried to make Eve somehow fundamentally less than Adam, though that was certainly not how God viewed things. Eve was created equal to Adam. She is just as important to God’s story as he. Consider the following verses:

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 NIV

Notice that both Adam and Eve are created fully in the image of God. Notice also that they are one: mankind. Nowhere in the story is it even hinted that Eve is somehow less than Adam. Our roles of gender inequality have been heavily influenced by Plato and Aristotle who believed that women were sub-human, less human than men (see Politics 1.1260a). For years we’ve read this worldview onto the story of Eve, as well as other women in Scripture.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18 NIV

Time for a Hebrew lesson. The Hebrew phrase translated here as “helper suitable” and in other translations “help meet” is ezer kenegdo. Many look at this phrase from an English standpoint and say this means Eve was less than Adam because she was his helper. The problem with that is that God himself is referred to as our ezer (helper) in a number of places in Scripture (see Ps. 33:20 for example). Does that mean that God is somehow less than us because he helps us? Quite the contrary! He is more powerful than us which means he can help us! God himself is the only other ezer in all of Scripture: God & Eve! The word kenegdo regulates ezer by indicating that this is a helper in likeness, someone who is like the other that can help. According to Dr. Kindy DeLong, without kenegdo a Hebrew reader would have to assume that Eve was more powerful than Adam, but kenegdo shows equality.

Nothing in Genesis 1 or 2 indicates that Eve is somehow inferior to Adam. In fact, it proves quite the opposite. Both Adam and Eve are fully created in the image of God. Eve is a “helper” (ezer) for Adam just as God is a “helper” (ezer) for the psalmist. Instead of God being superior to the psalmist, Eve here is portrayed as equal (kenegdo) to Adam. Next week we’ll look at Genesis 3, and how the New Testament uses that story.

Question to consider: Who sinned first? Adam or Eve? (hint: re-read Gen. 1-3)

Much of the content of this article was inspired by a lecture i attended given by Dr. Kindy DeLong during Harbor 2019 at Pepperdine University. You can listen to the lecture by clicking here.

John Glenn and Jesus

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Christianity, Life

john-glennThe world has lost a giant among men. John Glenn, Astronaut on Mercury 7 and Discovery, U.S. Senator, U.S. Marine, and a Christian, made an indelible impression on human history.

One would guess that such a man, surrounded by science and fame, might lose his way. During his historic return to outer space aboard Discovery in 1998, Glenn gave the following statement that showed his faith in God.

“Looking at the Earth from this vantage point, looking at this kind of creation and to not believe in God, to me, is impossible…To see (Earth) laid out like that only strengthens my beliefs.” – John Glenn, Nov. 1, 1998

Thank you Mr. Glenn for sharing your amazing gifts with us. For teaching us more about the world we live in, and showing us that we can believe in the one yet to come.

I doubt I will ever be able to see the earth and the universe in a way equal to Glenn. But even without that stellar view, we can still arrive at the same conclusion!

We first have to stop and consider how improbable our lives really are. According to this article in the Wall Street Journal the chances of our existence just happening through natural means is infinitesimally small, it should have never happened. And when we realize how improbable the existence of human life is, we should look to a Creator far greater than ourselves. click-here-to-tweet

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

The prologue to John’s gospel goes into a bit more detail.

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

There’s simply no other way to explain how our universe was created. No theory can explain how something came from nothing. That is, unless you account for our Creator.

God has blessed us with such an amazing creation. He even designed it so that when we explore the magnitude and complexity of our surroundings, it points a huge arrow right back at Him.

19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. – Romans 1:19-20

We serve an amazing God. One who created us, surrounded us with a creation that points back to Himself, sent us a Savior to help us when we fail, and continue to provide for our every need.

Today, be proud that God saw fit to create you too! Of all the places, and all the times of history, God saw fit to place you where you are today. John Glenn changed the future of humankind with the life and time he was given. What will you do with today?