INTERESTING FACTS : "The unceasing activity of the Creator, whereby in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory." - J.I. Packer

DAILY READING : Jeremiah 49-50,51-52

TEXT : Jer. 51:15 "He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding."

THEME : Creation

It is no doubt that we live in a world that is much different than it was just over 200 years ago. Just think how different our world is now than when the Civil War was fought 150 years ago. No longer do we line up across a field and shot at our enemy, but we sit in our homes and watch live video on our iPads of a drone sent in to do a precision attack in the middle east while being controlled from a war room in Washington DC. But it's not just the advances in technology that have changed.

Many of the challenges faced by the church today and in the church today are the result of the theory of a man born 200 years ago. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is heralded almost everywhere as unquestionable fact, even though it is still a theory. Darwin's hypothesis on the Origin of the Species is the default, if not the only, theory taught in schools.

Evolution has done one simple thing that has made all the difference. It has taken God out of the equation. It wasn't just people choosing to ignore God, or people guessing that God didn't exist, but not there was "proof" now that we were not created by a higher being and that there was not a God. This one change I believe has made a world of difference.

One of the things I've seen in the past 15 years or so is relativism - the idea that there is no absolute truth, no truth that is true no matter what, but that all truth is subjective and that something can be true for one person, and not true for another. In order to have absolute truth you must have something or someone absolute giving that truth - take that away and all truth becomes relative.

The same is true of morality. If you take away the absolute lawgiver who metes our right and wrong and determines what is moral and what is immoral, then all morality is subjective and there is no right or wrong. There is now no difference between murdering a 6 month old baby and saving a drowning man from the sea. We are just a bunch of chemicals and matter with no morality or purpose.

And from there we loose all hope. What is the reason for living? Why should we not kill those we are angry with? If there is not a supreme being who purposefully created us, how to we find hope in hard times? How do we find a compass to guide our lives.

As Christians, I think sometimes we are too willing to concede the importance of the creation narrative. It seems in the past few years the push to defend and stand for Biblical creationism has been stronger than it's been in the past. Thank God for that because it's not just a "story", it's a pivotal important truth in God's Word.

TRUTH FOR TODAY : Creation Declares His Glory

Thankfully for us there is hope and purpose. We know that we have a God that not only created us, but is still active in our lives and cares for us deeply. We also have a God who wants us to know that He created and is in control over everything. For today's devotion I would like to leave you with just a sampling of verse that talk about God's creative power in the world. I pray these verses help to encourage you that nothing is out of the reach or realm of God.

Deuteronomy 10:14
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

1 Chronicles 29:11
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Job 38:1-7
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Psalm 104:14-21
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.

Psalm 104:24-30
O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

Isaiah 42:5
Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

Mark 10:6
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Romans 8:19-22
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Hebrews 4:4
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

Hebrews 9:26
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.