Tag: God

In The Beginning? God!

Neal Pollard

Origins intrigue many of us.  We want to know who, how, and where.  Did you know that Chevron Oil Company began in the remote Pico Canyon area of the Santa Susana Mountains of California in 1876 when driller Alex Mentry struck “black gold”?  American baseball came from the English game of rounders, with the modern baseball diamond and formalized rules of the game rendered by Alexander Cartwright in the 1840s.  The Chinese, around 900 B.C. during the Tang Dynasty, are said to have invented gunpowder by mixing saltpeter with sulfur and carbon.  The Mayans, developers of astrology, calendars, and hieroglyphics, are thought to have originated as a civilization about 2600 B.C. in the Yucatan.

Think of the impact Chevron, American baseball, gunpowder, and Mayan civilization have had upon the world, socially, economically, and nationally.  Yet, they all emerged from existent materials, ideas, and manpower.  Each of these randomly selected examples can be given because of the beginning of beginnings.

Genesis one and two introduce mankind to the Uncaused Cause of everything.  Every inch of soil and all resources buried beneath it, every space, place, creature, and particle of matter came from His willing act of Creation.  Yet, who He is one only glimpses here.  The rest of Genesis and the next sixty-five books are needed to produce a clearer picture of the God whose work in creating our world is recorded here.  Still, the power-packed information about these six days of creation lays the groundwork for everything else, socially, scientifically, physically, and especially spiritually.

WHERE WERE YOU?

Neal Pollard

When I constructed this ball whereupon you now stand,

When its measures were drawn by My hand,

When the stars and the angels all rejoiced in one band,

When I gave heaven its face, where were you?

When the seas reached their ends and were covered by clouds,

When the darkness over it was as billowing shrouds,

When the oceans had gone as far as I would allow,

When they stood in their place, where were you?

Do you summon the morning or direct the dawn?

To you do the gates of death yawn?

If you know the dimensions of earth, make it known!

When I invented its light, where were you?

Are you eternal by reason of birth or by years?

From where comes snow, hail, ice or dew that appears?

Tell me all of the future, the crux of man’s fears!

Or explain wind with its might.  Where were you?

Waves and thunder and lightning or rain

How and why do they work, please explain!

How they make the earth lush and satisfy its terrain

When I made wonders of the sky, where were you?

What of morals and laws with when men I have bound

Or have put in him intellect and knowledge with renown

Could you even explain dust and dirt on the ground?

When I made beasts instincts so sly, where were you?

Fair design of the earth, wonders of all that’s above,

Great mysteries and secrets, time or man can’t remove,

Held in check by My might, which you can’t fully know of,

When I was, always was, where were you?

Dear child, who in darkness or trials, often wonder

When you’re blinded by tears, crushed by weights you are under

Though you can’t see it now, through doubt’s loudest thunder

Someday you’ll know every cause when I’m with you.

To GOD Be The Glory

Neal Pollard

There are modern ways to express this, sayings like “it’s amazing what gets done when no one cares who gets the credit.”  We sing it in song, a reminder that all we do in our Christian walk is to let God get the notice, accolades, and praise.  But, that is a struggle most people have with their flesh.

And while it may seem like a “lesser sin” to want recognition and attention for our good deeds, our Lord shows great and visible displeasure with those who long for the spotlight on their works.  In Matthew 6, Jesus preaches about areas like giving, fasting, and praying where men desire others’ to notice and praise them for those deeds.  Jesus strongly rebuked groups like the scribes and Pharisees who lived for the respectful greetings in the marketplace and the chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers (Luke 20:46-47).  Jesus said such “will receive greater condemnation” (see also Matt. 23:6ff; Luke 14:17; etc.).

Be careful not to be the type who jockeys for the position of chief.  God is going to reward all the faithful with an eternal reward far beyond what we can imagine right now.  It is not our place to inform others of how valuable we are, what we are worth to the church, how indispensable we are to a project or program, or even to tell others how righteous and spiritual we are.  Effective church work is done when each individual catches the spirit that it is not about “me”!  It is about “He.”  He gives salvation.  He gives the abilities.  He gives the opportunities.  He gives the orders.  We are worthless slaves doing our duty (Luke 17:10).  If others praise your work, be gracious, appreciative, and ever humble.  If they do not, know that our Lord keeps an indelible record that cannot be misplaced, destroyed, or forgotten.  Meanwhile, in all things, let us strive to give GOD the glory!