foundations of the earth

5.w. But you are the same, and your years have no end.

Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come,

Exodus 3:14    God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Psalms 90:2    Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalms 102:25-27     Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,  but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Isaiah 41:4     Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Hebrews 1:10-13     And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;  they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,  like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”  And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Hebrews 13:8    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

James 1:17     Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

We all change in some way or another. We make up our minds and then learn something new and we change it. We have a great love for someone and then something happens and we change how we feel about them. We have friends who come into our lives and then for some reason or another, our connection to them changes. We make decisions and say we will stand firm on them and change our stance. We design a home or some other project only to find that we would make changes because of what something we missed. The fact of the matter is that we change and there is variation in what we think and do. Our stance changes, our firmness changes, our commitments change, and our love changes. Do we ever wonder if God is like this? Do we even have a concept of a never-changing God, who was, is, and is to come. The “I AM”. The same yesterday, today, and forever? The One who there is no variation. The first and the last.

We do well to remember our unchanging God and walk worthy of who He is. Our God is never changing. Always loving with outstretched arms. Always offering grace, mercy, and Love. Always wanting us to open the door to our heart to Him. All things are in and of Him alone.

Waiting beside My doors

Psalms 95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Psalms 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

Psalms 65:6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

Genesis 1:9-10 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Proverbs 8:29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

Psalms 97:5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Micah 1:4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire

Job 9:5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

Nahum 1:5 The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

We take a piece of wood and make something out of it – our creation. God made the micro cellular seed structure for every tree species, the means for nutrients, the means for respiration, photosynthesis ( and while we think of this He made the sun and the earth too). We look at what we or others have put together as something creative and maybe inspiring. Some architects even go down in history as leaders of their time. Books are written about them. And yet we only need to open our eyes to God’s creation to see the awe inspiring magnitude of Him. We are a creation of His. He has given us life and free will to choose to praise, honor, serve, follow and obey Him. Those who choose this path, He gives life (eternal). Those that choose to reject Him, He gives death and torment eternal. “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Darkness to Light

Psalms 82:5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Proverbs 1:29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

Ecclesiastes 2:14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 12:35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

1 John 2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

Ecclesiastes 3:16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

2 Timothy 2:19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

There is one thing that keeps coming to mind from these scriptures. People without Christ walk in darkness and they have no clue they are. In fact they do not even know what the light is or how it will help or where to find it. We are to be a reflection of this light, able to tell them of the light, and where it can be found. Being a reflection means our way of light ought to be easily recognized as different from the world we live in. The way we talk, react, think, and respond. Our lives should reflect joy, peace, wisdom, understanding, hope, love, generosity, strength, courage, and concern all in the help and name of Jesus Christ. Is it possible, as christians, that we too choose to live in darkness or with the light set to very dim. Are we drifting away to a life of complacency, neglecting our calling to be light unto a lost generation. Do we set our expectations so low for being a follower of Christ that there is no visible differences between us and those lost other than going to church on Sunday? I think we have fallen into and follow a lie. That lie is “it is up to the pastor, preacher to tell the gospel and up to me to go hear him teach and preach” rather than being a reflection of Christ and telling others of His great love, hope, joy, peace ……. Out of the abundance of our heart the mouth will speak. If nothing is coming out and nothing can be seen differently in our lives then we certainly need to look at what is filling our heart. Living to be a humble servant, honoring, following, and obeying God requires us to choose to be in His word with the desire and intent to know Him and how to serve Him and be able to discern His leading each day. Our reflection of the light of Christ will grow brighter and brighter as we choose to be in His word and be used by Him.