Weekly Devotional: Gems From Pastor Jim 10/7/2019

by Jim Hughes

Is. 66:2a “My hands have made both heaven and earth, and they are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Whatever your beliefs may be about the origins of life and the universe, God declares that He did it. He does not leave any room for doubt in His Word; He created the heavens and the Earth. Right from the beginning of His self-revelation, He declares that He spoke into existence all things. He declares that in a matter of six days everything came into being out of nothing but His mind and mouth. To say that it didn’t happen that way is to undermine the reliability of the Scriptures and our faith. If God’s Word cannot be trusted to be true in all it declares, then it can’t be trusted to be true in anything it declares.

The Bible doesn’t tell us the exact details of how everything came together and became what it is. I believe that instantaneously everything came to be what it is by the power of God’s spoken Word. He knew what He wanted, what was needed, how they needed to be, and He made it that way. I believe that God has the power to create something out of nothing to make it look like it has been forever. I believe that God has the power to create every known detail of what is known to exist and those things which we don’t even know exists. I believe that God purposely created all things the way they are so that life as we know it and need it to be on Earth is what it is.

God created all things: Heaven, the heavenlies, Earth and Hell. He created the uniqueness of every form of life as they now exist. He created all things uniquely beautiful and gave each one purpose for their existence. He created all things exactly as He knew they needed to be and nothing was created flawed. All of creation is God’s handiwork and speak of His glory.

Our response to God should be that of bowing down before Him in admiration, appreciation, and adoration. Let the wonder of it all fill your soul today. Give God the credit due Him. Don’t try to figure it all out and find a way to explain existence apart from Him. God said it, God did it, and God is keeping it altogether. Some day God is going to change things; He is going to create a new heaven and earth and it will be so full of His glory that we can’t even imagine how wonderful a place it will be. In the mean time, let us just open our eyes up and enjoy the wonder and beauty of the world we live in. God created it for our enjoyment. Let us sing forth His praises today.

About the Author:

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one's self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn't broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.