“For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Prov. 23:7
We are as we think in our hearts! We are also told in the New Testament, to “believe in our hearts“. Our minds lack the power to control our actions. That power lies within our hearts. Our minds can be saying what is true, but the way we act, live and respond comes from what we think in our hearts. When triggered, it is the heart’s thinking that is manifested. When in a weakened state, it is what we think in our hearts that takes control of us. We try valiantly to act on what our minds tell us is true and right…we try diligently to convince our hearts what our minds believe…..we try hard to avoid being triggered…but it is only when we get to the root-what we think in our hearts-that we find the answer to our actions. When we correct our heart’s thinking, we find freedom, victory and rest.
All of our actions stem from 2 beliefs that must be settled in our hearts, not just our minds. First of all, who is God? Then, who therefore, am I? When we get those 2 core beliefs to line up with God’s truth-not just in our minds-our actions will follow. It will still be a process as we learn to come into alignment with His truth, as our heart begins to embrace the truth that our mind has already believed. We will come to a place of rest, ceasing from all our works, as the writer of Hebrews speaks.
Who is God?
I am often reminded of the book of Job when thinking on this question. Job’s friends spend much of the book speaking true words about God. In fact, everything they said about God was true. But, in the end, God said they must offer up a burnt offering and Job must pray for them, “….because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.”(Job 42:7) [It’s interesting that Job is the one who seemed to be demanding an answer from God, saying “I desire to argue with God.”(13:3), but that’s a different topic.] I do not want to be as Job’s friends, saying words that are true about God but not right of Him.
It is impossible for the human mind and heart to fully comprehend who God is. Also, time and space would not be enough. If I would elaborate on everything that nature tells us of Him, it would take an endless amount of blog posts, more than I could imagine. If I would limit my words to just what the Bible says, it would still take innumerable posts and endless amounts of time. If I would just share what I have learned of Him through my own life and experiences, it would take far more time than you or I have, and it might be boring for you. Then, consider also, what He has revealed of Himself throughout history….through the examples and lives of untold numbers of godly men and women…and we still would only have just begun to answer the question, who is God?
And, with that, we delve in…to just one small sphere of nature(and the only science, outside of physics, that I was remotely interested in) to see what it says:
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens.” Ps. 8:1(NASB)
There are untold trillions of stars…100,000,000,000 in the Milky Way alone. Some, like Betelgeuse are 500x larger than our sun. With the exception of the sun, the closest star is 4.3 light years away…23,000 years at the fastest speed mankind has achieved. The Milky Way is 70,000 light years across; our sun takes 200,000,000 years to make 1 orbit around its galactic center! And yet….
God created the stars(Gen. 1:16)
He set each one in place(Ps. 8:3)
In His eyes, not even the stars are pure(Job 25:5)
The Psalmist calls on them to praise God.(Ps. 148:3)
He calls each one by name.(Ps. 147:4-5)
The sun is 1,300,000x the volume of the sun; 99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system. Its surface temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit; its internal temperature is 200,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit! It converts 4,000,000 tons of energy every second! If the sun would be a red giant, it would engulf Mercury and Venus; as a white dwarf it would be about the size of the earth. Nothing mankind has conceived can rival the sun. and yet…..
God says it is merely a “greater light to rule the day.”(Gen. 1:16)
When the Lord orders it to retreat, it hustles backwards(Is. 38:8)
If He would command it to stop shining, it would instantly go black.(Job 9:7)
God uses the power of the sun to strengthen us, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know:
THERE IS NONE BESIDES HIM!!
The earth speeds around the sun at a speed of 18.5 mi/sec. At 93,000,000 miles away from the sun, it provides just the right conditions for life to flourish. The atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21%oxygen, 1% mix of argon, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases. This perfect mixture prevents most ultraviolet light from reaching us. Without this filter, we would cease to exist. The magnetosphere extends about 90 miles above the surface. Without this magnetic shield, all life on earth would perish. And yet….
God fully understands the vast expanses of the earth.(Job 38:18)
He suspends the earth over nothing.(Job 26:7)
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth(Is. 40:22)
God made the earth by His power and founded it by His wisdom(Jer. 10:12)
The moon, with a diameter of 2,160 miles, reflects about 7.3% of the sun’s light. It takes 29 days to rotate on its axis and revolve around the earth once, which is why it always shows us the same face. It is pockmarked with craters, some 125 miles wide. Every day, the moon silently lifts the earth’s waters. In Boston, the tide recedes 10ft; in Eastport, Maine,19ft; in the Bay of Fundy, on the northeast Gulf of Maine, the tide varies by 43ft. If the moon were only 50,000 miles away, rather than 240,000 miles, gigantic waves would submerge all the continents and the highest mountains would slip beneath the waves. If you stood on its surface, unprotected from the sun, the fluids in your body would boil…but, if you slipped into the shade of a rock, you would quickly freeze solid! And yet….
To God, the moon is nothing more than a “lesser light to govern the night”.(Gen 1:16)
When He commanded it to stay still in the sky, it instantly obeyed.(Josh. 10:13)
What we consider bright, He sees as dark(Job. 25:5)
And one day, He will replace the light of the moon with the brilliance of His own glory(Is. 60:19)
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”