“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”-Ecclesiastes 11:5
Americans celebrate an annual holiday of Thanksgiving on the final Thursday of November. Early European settlers gathered to thank God for a good harvest and their survival. The pilgrims saw the hand of the LORD in their association with Native Americans who taught them how to plant crops and hunt animals found locally in North America. They could not see God literally do those things, but they could not deny his providential care. This combination of faith in an unseen God and a harvest they could see, taste, and smell filled them with wonder at God’s life-giving power and gratitude for his exercise of it toward their little band of settlers.
Much of a Christian’s life today is like North America in the early 1600’s. We don’t see God, but we believe he exists because of what we do perceive. How God does those things fills us with wonder. As Solomon says in the quote above, “you do not know” when and how life begins. That should produce wonder at the daily miracles around us. We do not know how, but we can know who. Solomon declares the LORD should be the recipient of our thanks because all blessings are, “the work of God who makes everything.”
In an age that has seen the atom harnessed, the moon stepped upon, video phones become reality, and the internet both benefit and destroy our lives, it can be difficult to maintain a sense of wonder. We think of human beings as capable of solving every problem. Obstacles we can not overcome or even understand cause us to fear. We must maintain a sense of wonder. It is okay to ponder the stars, flowers, or a newborn child and be amazed at all the things that have to happen for them to exist. Consider the turning of earth on its axis or our annual orbit around the star we call the sun. No man could have made it so. We have no answer for the how, when, or why. For modern man, there must be a rational, scientific answer. It is very difficult for us to just say, “Wow! Thank you God!” But that is the exact response we should have.
Consider the following verses:
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”-Colossians 1:16-17
“Jesus took bread…and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup…saying, ‘this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”-Matthew 26:26-28
People ask, “What does it mean, ‘all things were created through him’ or ‘in him all things hold together.’?” I’m not sure. “Are you telling me the bread and fruit of the vine we take during the Lord’s Supper are the body and blood of Christ?” Jesus says so. “Well, how?!” I have no idea is a perfectly good answer. In fact we stumble when we attempt explanation when wonder is the correct response. I wonder how, but I know who! Praise God! For all my blessings I am thankful.
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