There is the perception that if there is a God, He is either irrelevant or not interested in what happens on planet earth and in people’s personal lives—that He is far away from us, busy with other things that interest Him.
There could hardly be anything further from the truth.
God does not in this world get the recognition that is due Him (Rom. 1:21). Even in Christianity, there is a tendency to give less attention to God the Father, while Jesus is placed at the forefront.
Paul writes about him praying:
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge [Greek: epignosis=full discernment; acknowledgement (Strong) ] of Him, … that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened…. (Ephesians 1:17-18 -New American Standard throughout, unless otherwise indicated).
The truth is that God is intensely involved in His creation and in everything going on around us.
My prayer, like Paul’s, is that our eyes will be opened to see and appreciate God’s presence and involvement.
Let’s start at the beginning:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
Before creation, there was only God — nothing and no one else.
Paul is making a statement that I believe is the most all-encompassing profound statement that can be written or uttered:
…out of Him [God] and through Him and for Him are all things. (Rom. 11:36 – Concordant Version)
…for us there is one God, the Father, out of whom all is…. (1 Cor. 8:6 – Concordant Version)
The Greek word for “all “ panta, means “all things.” Everything that exists comes from God. Everything in the universe, everything on planet earth, comes from God. God did not do his work of creation out of nothing. Everything that exists comes from His inner being.
While the big bang theory teaches that everything that exists originated from a tiny particle of matter that exploded billions of years ago, but it cannot explain where that tiny particle came from, the truth is that everything that exists came from God. We don’t have to ask the question, where does God come from, because He is God, and that means He has always existed.
God is greater than His creation. And we know His creation is enormous — more than you and I can comprehend.
Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. (Isaiah 66:1)
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth… Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. (Isa. 40:22 New King James).
The greatness of God is greater than His creation. Creation is not so immense as to hinder Him from being present everywhere.
David asks:
Where can I go from Your Spirit; Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven,- You are there; If l make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. in Hades- there you are… go and live I at the end of the sea, there also your hand will guide me. (Psalm 139:7-11 – NAV adjusted)
The LORD said to Jeremiah:
“Can a man hide himself in hiding places, so I do not see him?… “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” (Jeremiah 23:24)
Even if you find yourself on the highest mountain, or the deepest valley, or on a ship in the middle of the ocean, or on a spacecraft far from Earth, God is present.
Jesus declared that God knows how many hairs are on each person’s head. God knows the finest detail of your life. You don’t have to tell Him anything about what’s going on in your life. He already knows that.
All nutrients as well as the food chain were created by God. The ingenious way in which different species of birds, fish and animals get their food is astounding. All of this is from God—His genius and creativity.
Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving… who provides rain for the earth… He gives to the beast its food. And to the young ravens which cry. (Psalm 147:7-9).
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. (Matt. 6:26).
Science cannot explain life. What brings an organism to life? We can say that something alive can ingest food and reproduce. But these are qualities — not a statement of what life is.
Everything comes out of God. All life comes from Him. The Spirit of God gives life.
The Spirit is that which is vivifying. (John 6:63 Concordant Version)
… You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created (Psalm 104:29-30 New King James Version)
The little ant on a rock that carries a breadcrumb to its nest has life. The rock has no life. Why not? Because God’s Spirit gives life where God decides to give life. He is able to give life to rocks, but that was not in His plan. Jesus said:
God can raise up children for Abraham out of these stones. (Matt. 3:9).
There is only one source of all life — and that is God. Through His Spirit, God is present in every living creature — every person, every animal, every bird, every fish, every tree and every plant that has life. This does not mean that everything that lives is God — or that pantheism is presented as the truth. It simply means that there is a little bit of God’s Spirit present in every living organism.
“All of God’s creatures have some minute measure of His qualities,” according to A E Knoch, the editor-in-chief of the literal Concordant Version translation of the Bible.
Without necessarily being filled with God’s Spirit as mentioned in Ephesians 5:18, there is a measure of God’s Spirit in every human being.
Paul addressed some idol-worshippers in Athens and spoke the following remarkable words:
For in Him [God] we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’ (Acts 17:28)
Maybe it is easier to believe this about your spouse, your parents, your children, or your best friends. The people you love, whom you will miss terribly when they are no longer with us – of course there is something of God in them, right? But what about your neighbour and his noisy children? And what about your colleague at the workplace that annoys you so much?
What is true of one is also true of the other. No one is perfect, but God is still shaping or preparing each one, as a potter works with the clay. There is something beautiful in every person — even the cruellest tyrant. You have on occasion, probably wondered: what does that woman see in that man that she married him? Chances are she saw that little bit of God in him.
God loves every person—as he or she is—with all their flaws.
What about snakes and scorpions? It is also part of “everything” that is from God. The same can be said of flies, mosquitoes and viruses. Scripture speaks of specific instances where God produced a plague of lice (Exodus 8:17), swarms of insects (Exodus 8:24), migratory locusts (Exodus 10:14), maggots (Exodus 16:20), and venomous snakes (Numbers 21:6). The day will come when God will make what is now annoying or harmful or dangerous, harmless and safe (Isaiah 11:6-8).
God is present everywhere in His creation. Creation is His handiwork and it says something about God without the utterance of words.
The heavens are telling of the glory of God ; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard, their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world…. (Psalm 19:2-4)
… that which may be known of God is manifest in [margin: among] them [mankind] for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead [margin: divine nature] … (Rom. 1:19-20 – New King James Version), .
Although every human being has in him or herself something of God, the Spirit-filled believer radiates God’s presence in that person in a more remarkable way. The fruit of the Spirit is manifested in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal.5:22).
When our eyes are opened to see the glory of God, it has the effect of transforming us whereby we may radiate that same glory more and more.
But we all, with veiled face beholding, as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit…
For God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ…..
[But we]…always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6, 10).
God is intensely involved in His creation. As a God of love, He loves man and beast. As wonderful as creation is, it has been in a state of distress since Adam’s transgression. There is pain, suffering and the reality of death. That is how God ordained it. The pain and suffering of the world are also the pain and suffering of God — He feels it too.
He subjected creation to futility — but not forever.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8:20-22)
It is part of God’s plan, that all pain, suffering and death will come to an end one day. This will be the time when everything and everyone is reconciled to God.
And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28)
So, to sum it up:
In the beginning: All is out of God.
Presently: All is through God.
Which culminates in: All is to God.
All glory to God for all life that now exists on earth. Glory be to Him who is involved in us and our world. Glory be to Him who offers us true life, and at the resurrection immortal glorified bodies and at His appointed time, a world where there is no suffering and death.
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