Praise God for Creation

January 1, 2017 Background Scripture: Psalm 33:1 – 9 Lesson Passage: Psalm 33:1 – 9 Our studies this month come from the Psalms. I like to think of the Psalms as touching more of the human side of the Divine-human relationship. It is here in the Psalms that human expressions from grief to exaltation, from despair to unspeakable joy, from anger to heartfelt gratitude are laid bare. I often find it easy to identify with the various psalmists because I understand how reactionary and unstable my emotions can sometimes seem. Without the Psalms I believe we would attempt to see ourselves in a light that is not at all realistic as far as being people of faith is concerned. We may be tempted to think that religion has somehow freed us from our emotional selves. The Psalms demonstrate how our emotions are often intertwined with our faith in this Divine-human relationship. Even though I have come to know some things about God and He has given me eternal life, I still experience depression, anger, happiness, frustration, insecurity, and all of the other emotions I experienced prior to salvation. We do not know who the writer of the psalm is in today’s lesson. About one third of the psalms are anonymous and this is one of them. The author exhorts us to praise God for His creation. It is in God’s creation that we find evidence of intelligent design that leads to the inescapable conclusion that God is. The Apostle Paul declares that non-believers are without excuse seeing that creation itself is evidence of God’s existence. One of the reasons we can praise God for His creation is that in it He has given us evidence of His being that invites us to seek Him. Through the wonders of the intricacies of creation we develop the desire to seek and get to know the Creator. There is no wonder that many who, by occupation, study, teach, and/or use the principals of the physical sciences become people of faith. We are constantly confronted with evidence of intelligent design. We oftentimes struggle to find our place in the universe (or creation) when we don’t accept the Creator’s existence. But when we do accept His existence, then creation itself will draw out of us praise for the Creator. Even we ourselves are living evidence when one considers a human being. As another psalm declares, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It does not say that we have evolved to become something of high degree but we have been made so by a benevolent Creator. When the Psalmist in our text mentions the waters of the deep, I believe the reference can only be to great seas and even oceans. I recall how intimidating it felt to look at an ocean for the first time. It seemed as though it could come upon the land and grab us and pull us to our death at any time. I was convinced that day that man can build boats and other sea-going vessels but we could never tame the ocean. It was simply too vast. Some of its depths reach down for miles. There is another world of creatures who call the depths their home. All of this is of God’s doing. So magnificent are these things that the question was asked “What is man that God would be concerned about him?” When we consider the universe as we know it, all of humanity is a small amount of physical matter in comparison to all created matter everywhere—and we still don’t know the bounds of that! But God has declared that we were created in His image and after His likeness. God has promised mankind dominion over the physical world. We have a ways to go to achieve that but on our way we should praise God for creation. Robert C. Hudson December 7, 2016

The Forerunner of the Savior

December 18, 2016 Background Scripture: Luke 1: 1 – 25, 57 – 80 Lesson Passage: Luke 1:8 – 20 Unlike Mary’s celebration of the announcement that she was chosen by God to give birth to the baby Jesus, Zacharias seemed a bit too skeptical to enjoy such a celebration concerning John the Baptist; Zacharias doubted God’s message. Because he doubted God’s message that was delivered to him of the impending birth of a son to him and his wife, he was made mute and was unable to speak until after the birth of the baby. It would be easy for anyone to be in the frame of mind Zacharias was in considering the circumstances of the situation. Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, were very old and childless when the news was delivered to him that he would become a father. The angel announced that the baby to be born to them was the answer to Zacharias’ prayer. However, we are not told when Zacharias prayed that prayer. Was he actually praying that very moment for such a miracle, given their ages, or was this the case of an answered prayer that was delayed but not denied? We don’t know the answer to that question but we do know that this baby was the answer to Zacharias’ prayer. God’s message declared that the child would go in the spirit of Elijah and would be a great person in the Lord’s sight. His ministry would be to prepare God’s people for the coming of the long awaited Messiah. Zacharias’ response to this good news was to ask for a sign so he could be assured. The angel told Zacharias that he was Gabriel and he stands in God’s presence. In other words, an angel from the throne of God being in Zacharias’ presence should be enough proof of the certainty of the promise. Since this was not enough for Zacharias, the sign given to him was that he became mute until the child was born. This brought great astonishment to the community because this all happened while Zacharias was serving in the Holy Place inside the Temple. When Zacharias came out of the Holy Place, he could not speak for the next nine months. This was one of the mysteries surrounding the birth of the forerunner of the Savior. There is a lot of mystery that surrounds the person of John the Baptist. John the Baptist has been a controversial person since the time of his ministry two thousand years ago. Was John the prophet Elijah or the prophet Moses said would come? To both questions, John the Baptist answered he was not. Yet, Jesus said to those who could receive it, John the Baptist was Elijah. As God sent forth the final prophecy of the Old Testament, He promised to send a prophet to make the way plain for the coming Messiah. This forerunner would preach a message of repentance to prepare the hearts of the people for the Savior’s arrival. The forerunner went where the Savior himself would later go. He preached in the desert and the area surrounding the Jordan River. There is no biblical record of John the Baptist preaching in the synagogue or temple. He was a “roughneck” just like Elijah the Tishbite. And he was every bit as bold as Elijah when it came to speaking truth to power. John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Savior. Robert C. Hudson November 21, 2016

The Affirmation of the Promise

December 11, 2016 Background Scripture: Luke 1:39 – 56 Lesson Passage: Luke 1:39 – 56 Let’s face it; it’s difficult to keep an exciting experience to yourself. This is even more so the case when the experience involves a divinely inspired encounter. In other words, when the experience is in fact a testimony about God’s dealing with you. Mary had a testimony that she could not keep to herself. Mary had just received the strangest and most wonderful news of her life. And it appears that she was still a young woman. This was not hearsay or a feeling that she had but instead the angel Gabriel, who is privileged to stand in the very presence of God and serve as God’s personal messenger to persons across the ages who have found favor in God’s sight, had delivered a personal message to Mary from the very throne of God. The time was approaching for the son of God to be born into the world in human flesh and God chose Mary to be Jesus’ mother. Gabriel delivered the news to her. Furthermore, Gabriel informed Mary that God had also blessed her formerly barren cousin, Elizabeth, to conceive a baby and she was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Sometimes, the easiest person to share this kind of good news with is someone who is experiencing some good news of their own. So Mary headed out for the hill country to share some time and conversation with Elizabeth. Upon arrival at Elizabeth’s house and before Mary could share her good news, the unborn John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice greeting Elizabeth. This set off a chain reaction inside of Elizabeth whereby she was filled with the Holy Spirit and received the revelation of Mary’s news directly from Heaven. Elizabeth received the good news from the Holy Spirit before Mary had time to share it. Elizabeth celebrated by declaring the blessing of Mary’s presence because she was the one chosen by God to bring the Lord into the world by childbirth. The chain reaction set off by Elizabeth’s unborn baby convinced her that she was blessed by the presence of Mary in her house. Mary responded by declaring praise and worship for God who had chosen someone of low estate such as herself. After their celebration of praise for God, Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months—which would have been up to the time of Elizabeth giving birth to John the Baptist. The greetings and the aftermath which followed were the affirmation of the promises of God concerning the Messiah’s birth. God could have accomplished all of this without the praise and adoration from Mary and Elizabeth. He could have involved all of the religious leaders of Galilee and Judea. Instead, He chose two poor Jewish women and shared with them the fullness of His divine actions surrounding the birth of the Savior. There were things of theological significance that were too complicated for them to comprehend and that very well would have confounded the Jewish religious scholars. The details were previously given in prophetic messages but they remained hidden in plain sight for centuries. But when God affirmed the promise, the details were affirmed as well. Robert C. Hudson November 21, 2016