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HE Scottish Olympian Eric Liddell once said that when he was
running, he could feel God's pleasure. Perhaps that was true. God surely said
that His creation was good as He completed each phase (Genesis 1). The God who
made the sun, moon and stars also made Eric Liddell's powerfully quick
legs. However, if God was pleased with
Mr. Liddell and if he genuinely felt it, it was not because God was impressed
with how fast he was. Psalm 147:10 says plainly that God is not impressed with
how fast a man can run... nor with how good any of us are at anything else for
that matter. Faith in God and the fear
of God in the heart of a man, these are the foundations of His pleasure in our
existence (Hebrews 11:6 & Psalm 147:11). I am postulating that the fact
that Eric ran with God on His mind is the reason why He felt God's pleasure (I
Corinthians 10:31). It is always our
faith in God that draws Him to us and us to Him, not our physical or mental
abilities or exploits. God is the only one who can justifiably impress with
exploits. Any talent that we have is a
gift from God (1st Corinthians 4:7).
So, let's not be impressed with ourselves. Let's be
impressed with God. His abilities transcend our ability to comprehend (much
less our ability to accomplish) even a
minute fraction of His simplest feats. For years I've been amazed by the realization of the ramifications of combining
Genesis 1:16 & Psalm 147:4. In Genesis, the creation of the stars seems
almost like an afterthought. Here in this psalm we find that God has named
every star! That's like God keeping a running tally of how many hairs are on everybody's
head (Matthew 10:30). That kind of quantity of information is staggering. Of
course, naming the stars is much more meaningful than counting hairs and says
something much more significant and emotional about who God is and what He is
like.
But wait, there is one more word in the title: revelation.
God has revealed Himself to the human race through His word. Notice, after a
list of some of the "natural" accomplishments of God (things visible
and scientific), suddenly the psalmist ends his enumeration abruptly with the
"spiritual" accomplishment of the impartation of divine truth... the
Scriptures. Realize though, that it is primarily people who differentiate
between secular and sacred; natural and spiritual. God really doesn't have a reason
to separate things that way. He is the
doer of all things, whether it be the inspiration of John 3:16 or the formation
of a snowflake.
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