To Encourage You

1 Kings 4:29-34 “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.”

Having spent a career as a fisheries biologist, I am fascinated that the Bible tells us that Solomon was a great naturalist. One of the manifestations of the great wisdom that God gave Solomon was how He revealed to Solomon His wisdom that is to be found in created things. There is perhaps no more clear evidence of the spiritual blindness that exists in the world today than the failure of so many of today’s naturalists and biologists to see that same wisdom themselves. If you don’t believe me, keep your ears open the next time you hear David Attenborough wax eloquent on the natural order in the next “Planet Earth” documentary you happen to see. Or listen to any description of living things the next time you watch “Nature” on PBS. In almost every instance, the incredible wonders of nature that are evident for all to see are ascribed to the creatures themselves with no mention of the Creator of Whose vast wisdom these things attest. It’s the reprobate mindset that’s so clearly defined in Romans 1 which tells us that unbelievers “became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Romans 1:21-25).

Like Solomon, Job was another person to whom God revealed His wisdom that was evident in the Creation. Listen to Him question Job as He opened his eyes to this truth: “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? . . . Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword . . . Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.” And that’s just a small sampling of God’s monologue on this subject which begins in Job 38 and ends in Job 41. At the end of it all Job is left all but speechless as he proclaims, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Yet so many today claim to see no evidence of God in the world around them. They ascribe all wisdom to themselves because of the trivial amount that God has allowed them to learn while at the same time they dismiss the God Who made them. They’re as blind as a bat – in fact blinder, for the bat lives, perhaps unwittingly, to bring glory to God, while so many people choose to close their proud eyes.

Yet, throughout the ages, there are those who HAVE seen it. Solomon was one. Job was another. King David saw it too as he proclaimed, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3).  And then there was Isaiah who saw God high and lifted up in the temple and heard the seraphim saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

In more recent times there were those like the great scientist Johannes Kepler, who described scientific discovery as the process of “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” George Washington Carver was another scientist of this same mindset, as he continually sought the Lord in an attitude of prayer as he worked in his lab, and in so doing unraveled the wisdom of God that is tied up in a peanut, from which Carver invented over 300 uses. Listen to this quote from Carver that reveals the attitude of his heart: “The singing birds, the buzzing bees, the opening flower, and the budding trees all have their marvelous creation story to tell each searcher for truth . . . from the frail little mushroom, which seems to spring up in a night and perish ere the morning sun sinks to rest in the western horizon, to the giant redwoods of the Pacific slope that have stood the storms for centuries . . . Nature in its varied forms are the little windows through which God permits me to commune with Him, and to see much of His glory, majesty, and power by simply lifting the curtain and looking in . . . I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so . . . I am more and more convinced, as I search for truth, that no ardent student of nature can ‘Behold the lilies of the field,’ or ‘Look unto the hills,’ or study even the microscopic wonders of a stagnant pool of water, and honestly declare himself to be an infidel” (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/randyalcorn/2023/11/george-washington-carver/)

So, is that what you see when you look at the Creation? How about when you look at your own body and the incredible complexity that is you? Do you see the wisdom and glory of the One Who made all this? Is your heart lifted up to praise to the all-wise God? Well, if not, it should be, for that’s the only reason anything exists. Listen to the voice of the heavenly beings as they worship God in heaven as revealed to us in Revelation 4:11 (KJV): “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created ALL things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” And finally, this from the godly and wise apostle Paul: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).

The wisdom of God is all around us, yet it’s something to which the willingly ignorant close their eyes and refuse to see.