The Essential Knowledge (Part 3)
“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God.”
Chapter 35—A True Knowledge of God
The Creation of the Earth
The work of creation cannot be explained by science. What science can explain the mystery of life?
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews 11:3.
“I form the light, and create darkness: …
I the Lord do all these things….
I have made the earth,
And created man upon it:
I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens,
And all their host have I commanded.”
“When I call unto them, they stand up together.” Isaiah 45:7-12; 48:13.
In the creation of the earth, God was not indebted to pre-existing matter. “He spake, and it was; … He commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9. All things, material or spiritual, stood up before the Lord Jehovah at His voice and were created for His own purpose. The heavens and all the host of them, the earth and all things therein, came into existence by the breath of His mouth.
In the creation of man was manifest the agency of a personal God. When God had made man in His image, the human form was perfect in all its arrangements, but it was without life. Then a personal, self-existing God breathed into that form the breath of life, and man became a living, intelligent being. All parts of the human organism were set in action. The heart, the arteries, the veins, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the senses, the faculties of the mind, all began their work, and all were placed under law. Man became a living soul. Through Christ the Word, a personal God created man and endowed him with intelligence and power.
Our substance was not hid from Him when we were made in secret; His eyes saw our substance, yet being imperfect, and in His book all our members were written when as yet there were none of them.
Above all lower orders of being, God designed that man, the crowning work of His creation, should express His thought and reveal His glory. But man is not to exalt himself as God.
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord….
Serve the Lord with gladness:
Come before His presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord He is God:
It is He that hath made us, and His we are;
We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise:
Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.”
“Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His holy hill;
For the Lord our God is holy.” Psalm 100:1-4, margin; Psalm 99:9.
God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as His instruments. They are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all things according to His will.
“Forever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in heaven.
Thy faithfulness is unto all generations:
Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
They continue this day according to Thine ordinances:
For all are Thy servants.”
“Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He
In heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”
“He commanded, and they were created.
He hath also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass.” Psalm 119:89-91; 135:6; 148:5, 6.
It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation. It is God who causes the sun to rise in the heavens. He opens the windows of heaven and gives rain.
“He giveth snow like wool:
He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.”
“When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters
in the heavens,
And He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the
earth;
He maketh lightnings with rain,
And bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.” Psalm 147:16; Jeremiah 10:13.
It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears, every flower blooms, every fruit develops.
The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the result of a mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and move and have our being. The beating heart, the throbbing pulse, every nerve and muscle in the living organism, is kept in order and activity by the power of an ever-present God.
The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy beings, all waiting to do His will. Through these messengers He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. By His Spirit He is everywhere present. Through the agency of His Spirit and His angels He ministers to the children of men.
Above the distractions of the earth He sits enthroned; all things are open to His divine survey; and from His great and calm eternity He orders that which His providence sees best.
“The way of man is not in himself:
It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart….
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct thy paths.”
“The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him,
Upon them that hope in His mercy;
To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.”
“How precious is Thy loving-kindness, O God! …
The children of men take refuge under the shadow
of Thy wings.”
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God.”
“The earth, O Jehovah, is full of Thy loving-kindness.”
Thou lovest “righteousness and justice.”
Thou “art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And of them that are afar off upon the sea:
Who by His strength setteth fast the mountains,
Being girded about with might;
Who stilleth the roaring of the seas, …
And the tumult of the peoples.”
“Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening
to rejoice.”
“Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness;
And Thy paths drop fatness.”
“The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
The eyes of all wait upon Thee;
And Thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest Thine hand,
And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 3:5, 6; Psalm 33:18, 19; Psalm 36:7, A.R.V.; Psalm 146:5; Psalm 119:64, A.R.V.; Psalm 33:5, A.R.V.; Psalm 65:5-7, A.R.V.; Psalm 65:8, 11; Psalm 145:14-16.
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/135.2112#2112
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for life in nature. Please bless us to become intimately acquainted with You through the study of nature and Your Word, the foundation of all true education, that we might be guided by Your will for our lives. Thank You because we ask it in the Awesome and Almighty name of Your Son, Jesus, our Saving King. Amen.
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FREE HEALTH TALK open to the public Thursdays at 5pm at Country Life Natural Foods Store and Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant, 1217 Eberhart Avenue, Columbus, GA. The topic for Thursday, Feb. 26, is “Natural Remedies for Depression and Anxiety.”
https://www.countrylifeonline.com/health-programs
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If you want to support Christian programming for these final days, please visit
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Thank you!!!
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It’s all about GUT HEALTH!
CME/CEU in Lifestyle Medicine – March 4-7
Register here:
https://www.ucheepines.org/events/continuing-medical-education-continuing-education-units
I coordinate wonderful health and worshipful events and conferences online and onsite as a gospel medical missionary at Uchee Pines, a total plant-based health retreat, where doctors and practitioners specialize in lifestyle medicine. For more details, visit https://www.ucheepines.org/events
Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
https://baiom.org/author/audreystovall/
where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom.
Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
If you agree to continue receiving them, then this is my personal gift to you; and in this way, I not only honor God but the memory of a very dear friend whom I desperately miss.
My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
So please feel free to forward to your loved ones or to anyone, as God leads you. I’m calling them Barb’s Devotionals.