It started night before last. My farm is dark at night – very dark! I got up super early and is my custom I walked out on the porch and stared at the sky. It reminded me of leaving the keys and heading to the Bahamas in my boat long before daylight. The sky on the inky black water was always covered with sparkling reflections of stars and the moon. The waves and currents would make the sparkles twinkle and it almost looked alive as millions of water diamonds danced across the surface of the ocean.
There is no ocean in my backyard, but the sky was bejeweled with a similar shimmering display that glittered and twinkled like the ocean. Wow! It was lovely. The smell of the ocean, the gorgeous sky, the boat slicing through the black velvet water. Man did I love those trips. But my backyard didn’t have to play second fiddle because it was beautiful in its own right.
I went inside for a while and in an hour or so I noticed through the windows that dawn was eminent. I took another walk to the porch, and I watched as the sun slowly made its orange appearance and I listened to creatures of every description welcoming another day. White herons lazily started arriving at the pond gliding into their chosen spot to garner their breakfast of fat minnows that carelessly got too close to their long beaks. Perhaps two dozen purple martins were circling the yard looking for tasty bugs. And then the crows started in with a raucous chorus and finally I heard a bullfrog that judging from his deep bellows was probably four pounds or so.
I stood in silence with a big smile on my face, and I thanked God for the gift He gave me of yet another day and for loving me. I told Him I loved Him more than words can describe. I asked for seemingly the millionth time why He treated me with such mercy and compassion because I sure as heck did not deserve it. He did not answer me, but I know that is His nature, because that is what His Holy Word tells us.
I read where Arnold Swartzenegger said the following in response to a question from Howard Stern, “Tell me, governor, what happens to us when we die?”
I said, “Nothing. You’re 6 feet under. Anyone that tells you something else is a f*****g liar.”‘
The Bible states that only a fool denies the existence of God. It also has much to say about unbelief and how to achieve faith. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” God has given us his Word so through the Holy Spirit our knowledge of him will correspond as nearly as possible to his true being; that we might know him as he is.
Poor Arnold he does not believe, but God still loves him. He was a body builder and is not known for being one of life’s profound thinkers. Albert Einstein on the other hand was a great thinker and though not a Christian believer he looked at the wonders of the universe, and he knew that there must be a God. When asked by an interviewer if he was an atheist, he replied, no, and explained his answer in this way.
“I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”
Albert Einstein understood the eternal power and divine nature of God from what had been made. Why? Because the creation, and especially the heavens, reveal knowledge of God to man. When a man, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, he will learn also to reflect upon and to admire his wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest of plants.”
I don’t know how the Arnold’s of the world can ignore God’s glory shouting to us day and night, but I do know on judgment day he will not have any excuse for his disbelief. All we can do is pray for him and others with similar attitudes. Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.