Sæktu forritið3 Big Questions, 1 Little PsalmSýnishorn
IS THERE A GOD?
Psalm 19:1-6 addresses what is perhaps the oldest and most poignant question in all of human existence: Is there a God?
The answer – one proclaimed by the very heavens themselves (v.1a) – is a resounding “Yes!” But it is not a “yes” which requires the reader to simply take the psalmist’s – or any other believer’s – word for it.
For believers, the existence of God is intrinsic. For non-believers, though, the assumption of an all-powerful Father of all Creation takes a colossal leap of faith – a faith, in many cases, which their human intellect and sense of reason prevent them from accepting.
Verses 1-6 address this stumbling block of human ego by appealing to the natural senses. Rather than asking the non-believer to take the existence of God on faith – or through a litany of prophecies, miracles, and the like, which often come across to non-believers as confirmation bias – these verses instead point to God’s creation of the natural world and our universe as evidence of His existence.
The sheer magnitude of space and the diversity and intricacy of the heavenly bodies found therein (Psalm 147:4, Isaiah 40:26); the perfectly ordered balance of gravity, lunar, and planetary rotations and revolutions (Job 26:7, Psalm 104:5, Colossians 1:17); the prescribed movements of our moon and Earth in relation to the life-giving light of the Sun (Genesis 1:16, Psalm 8:3-4): all of these “speak without a sound or word” (v.3) to the complex master design of an all-powerful God.
Awe at such observations is not faith in and of itself, of course, but it can be the first step in a non-believer’s faith journey toward the Truth of God. The heavens are His less-than-subtle way of saying, “If you doubt my existence, just look up!”
For the jaded and the skeptical, further evidence can be found in the science of cosmology. Herein, one finds the sheer frequency and precision of anthropic principles – the conditions necessary to give rise to and sustain intelligent life – just within our own solar system preclude the notion that our existence is a mere cosmic or evolutionary accident. In the words of renowned astrophysicist and Christian apologist Hugh Ross, “we happen to live in the best, perhaps the one and only, neighborhood that allows not only for physical life's existence but also for its enduring survival.”
“The skies [really do] display his craftsmanship.” (v.1b)
Psalm 19:1-6 addresses what is perhaps the oldest and most poignant question in all of human existence: Is there a God?
The answer – one proclaimed by the very heavens themselves (v.1a) – is a resounding “Yes!” But it is not a “yes” which requires the reader to simply take the psalmist’s – or any other believer’s – word for it.
For believers, the existence of God is intrinsic. For non-believers, though, the assumption of an all-powerful Father of all Creation takes a colossal leap of faith – a faith, in many cases, which their human intellect and sense of reason prevent them from accepting.
Verses 1-6 address this stumbling block of human ego by appealing to the natural senses. Rather than asking the non-believer to take the existence of God on faith – or through a litany of prophecies, miracles, and the like, which often come across to non-believers as confirmation bias – these verses instead point to God’s creation of the natural world and our universe as evidence of His existence.
The sheer magnitude of space and the diversity and intricacy of the heavenly bodies found therein (Psalm 147:4, Isaiah 40:26); the perfectly ordered balance of gravity, lunar, and planetary rotations and revolutions (Job 26:7, Psalm 104:5, Colossians 1:17); the prescribed movements of our moon and Earth in relation to the life-giving light of the Sun (Genesis 1:16, Psalm 8:3-4): all of these “speak without a sound or word” (v.3) to the complex master design of an all-powerful God.
Awe at such observations is not faith in and of itself, of course, but it can be the first step in a non-believer’s faith journey toward the Truth of God. The heavens are His less-than-subtle way of saying, “If you doubt my existence, just look up!”
For the jaded and the skeptical, further evidence can be found in the science of cosmology. Herein, one finds the sheer frequency and precision of anthropic principles – the conditions necessary to give rise to and sustain intelligent life – just within our own solar system preclude the notion that our existence is a mere cosmic or evolutionary accident. In the words of renowned astrophysicist and Christian apologist Hugh Ross, “we happen to live in the best, perhaps the one and only, neighborhood that allows not only for physical life's existence but also for its enduring survival.”
“The skies [really do] display his craftsmanship.” (v.1b)
About this Plan
Some of the toughest questions life throws at us are often some of the simplest to answer Scripturally. This short devotional will examine three such “meaning of life” questions – Is there a God? What does He want? How do we respond? – through the lens of one of the Bible's smallest passages, Psalm 19.
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