The Lord's Presence
Napsal(a) Bill Woofenden
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the ground." Psalm 104:30
Additional readings: Isaiah 45:11-25, John 1:1-14, Psalm 104
Some today think of the universe as self-created, that its life is from itself, and that man is a product of the forces of nature. This is, in brief, the materialist's explanation of nature and of human life.
If this were true, the knowledge of nature and of its laws should solve all our problems. But there are qualities in man that are not found in nature. There is no morality in nature, nor is altruism to be found there. Nature's first law is the law of self-preservation, but among men—even the lowest of them—there is the feeling that they should not always seek to please themselves, that it is truly manly to try to save another at the risk of one's own life, that it is right to protect the weak, to help the neighbor.
Nature knows of no power above itself nor of any life after death. Likewise the materialists are unable to conceive of anything supernatural; they can acknowledge no supreme Being or Creator; they do not believe that they live after death. It should be obvious that nature cannot reveal anything that lies beyond its realm.
Yet in order that any finite thing may live there must be an infinite and uncreated source of life. If there were nothing to begin with, then plainly nothing could result. The forms of life which we see about us, and which we ourselves are, must derive their existence from One who is life itself. This is the meaning of the name Jehovah—the "I Am"—He who is in and of Himself. Such is the true conception which lies at the foundation of all intelligent thinking concerning Him. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Greater of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" (Isaiah 40:28). Creation is but the effect of the outpouring of life from Him. This life is called in the Scriptures His breath or spirit. Accordingly we have such statements as that of our text: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."
But He who sends forth His life-giving spirit is hidden from our natural sight. Yes, even spirit itself is outwardly invisible. And so those who do not lift up their thoughts above nature are tempted to deny His existence. There are higher things than those that can be seen. The spirit of God and all else that is spiritual lie within and above the plane of the senses. Life flows from within outwards. What we see is its external effects; we do not see life itself. Our own spiritual natures are concealed from outward view. We cannot see the souls of those about us. The soul is within the body but is distinct from it. When it is withdrawn, the body dies. In like manner all life is internal and spiritual. He from whom it proceeds is the inmost fountain of all being. "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."
Again it has often been imagined by people who do believe in a personal God that He created the world and then let it go on by itself according to a system of laws provided for its government. This belief is in part due to the fact that God keeps Himself out of sight and in part to the fact that men think that His way of doing things would be like theirs. A man builds a house, and he may go away and never see it again. But we must remember that man does not create; he only makes use of materials at hand, reforming them to serve his immediate purpose. The Lord, because He creates, is never absent from any part of His creation. By His presence He keeps the universe alive, just as He originally called it into being. Were He to separate Himself from the things which He has made, they would all perish. This is what our text declares in saying, "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created." We are not told that the Lord did send out His spirit at some time many years ago, but that He is sending it out now. The language is not that things were created once upon a time, but that they are created. "Existence is perpetual creation." The present tense transforms the statement into a universal law.
It is so too with the second phrase of the text, "Thou renewest the face of the ground." Allusion is obviously made, in the sense of the letter, to the changes continually going on in nature—the succession of one generation by another and the endless alternation of the seasons. Mother earth is just as fresh and young and productive today as she was in most ancient times. She is in the constant reception of new life. Not a moment passes without the face of the ground being renewed.
There is a lesson for us in this. It should teach us of the nearness of our Heavenly Father and of His constant provision for us. He is present in the heat and light of the sun, in the fields, forests, and mountains, in the rivers, lakes, and seas, in the winds and skies. All tell of His majesty and power, and especially of His constant presence. If we can see this, nature becomes more beautiful and wonderful to us. We see in nature His spirit renewing the face of the ground.
How strange it is that study of nature should lead men to disbelief in God. If the universe did not have order, if its parts were disconnected, without relation or use to one another and to the service and enjoyment of men, we might perhaps believe that it was not designed or created by an intelligent Being. But as the case stands, love and wisdom could not have written themselves more plainly in living characters before our eyes. And what are love and wisdom but the essence of a perfect personality? They cannot possibly exist as mere abstractions: they must be embodied in a person. Love is the inmost vital principle, and wisdom is the means whereby love accomplishes its purposes.
The Lord alone has life in Himself. He needs must be the Source of all creation. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). And of the creation of the earth it is written, "He created it not in vain; he formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18). The purpose of the creation of the world was that there might be people upon it, that we might here be formed into God's own image and likeness and find happiness in heaven to eternity. For this reason, however long our life here may be, we are never completely satisfied with it. There has always been among all people a conviction that there is an afterlife. This conviction is not an idle dream but a perception that the goal of life cannot be reached here—that there is more which the Lord has prepared for us.
And just as the Lord is ever present in His creation, sustaining and controlling it from moment to moment, so He is ever present with us, giving us life, and guiding us if only we will be guided—for it is contrary to the Divine love to compel men—to our heavenly home. The Divine Providence is concerned with our spiritual and eternal life, and with bodily and temporal things only as they affect this. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26).
This view of the relationship between God and His creation gives us a concept of God that is both rational and also satisfactory to our affectional nature. The Bible starts with the words "In the beginning God. created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to teach us that there is a Divine Being with a purpose supremely beneficent, and that there is an Intelligence altogether equal to the attainment of that purpose, and the rest of the Scriptures tell us of the Lord's operation in history to the accomplishment of His purposes. Knowledge of Him and of His purposes enables us to realize that there are better times ahead for us and happier times for the human race upon the earth, to which all lovers of mankind may look forward.
Moreover the Lord Himself came into the world as the Redeemer and Savior of men. In our own struggles we are not alone. The God of Battles is fighting for us. We are not cogs in a universal mechanism. The Lord is present everywhere in the universe. He comes to us outwardly in all the beneficent influences of nature, in the warmth and light of the sun and in all its other bounties. He is present in our souls, seeking to gladden us with the warmth of His love and to enlighten our minds with His wisdom, redeeming us from our iniquities and creating us anew into His own image and likeness.
John 1
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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The same was in the beginning with God.
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All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
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In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it.
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There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.
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The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.
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He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.
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The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
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He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him.
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He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him.
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But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:
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who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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John testified about him. He cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.'"
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From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.
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For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
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No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
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This is John's testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
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He declared, and didn't deny, but he declared, "I am not the Christ."
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They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."
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They said therefore to him, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
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He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said."
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The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.
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They asked him, "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?"
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John answered them, "I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don't know.
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He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loosen."
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These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
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This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.'
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I didn't know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel."
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John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.
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I didn't recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water, he said to me, 'On whomever you will see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'
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I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."
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Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples,
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and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"
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The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
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Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), "where are you staying?"
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He said to them, "Come, and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.
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One of the two who heard John, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
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He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
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He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is by interpretation, Peter).
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On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
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Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.
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Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
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Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "come and see."
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Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"
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Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
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Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!"
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Jesus answered him, "Because I told you, 'I saw you underneath the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these!"
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He said to him, "Most certainly, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
