Our God Is Very Great; We Can Trust In Him
“Absolute Reality”
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© March 13, 2016
What is “Absolute Reality”?
There are many realities in life. Some “realities” are real and some are perceived. Some are wise and reasonable, while belief in other realities can be extremely foolish, harmful and potentially disastrous.
“Absolute reality,” in my opinion, is the reality that supersedes and surpasses all other “realities”, perceived or literal, that affects our life. “Absolute reality” is ultimately revealed when the truth of the limitations of all other supposed “realities” are exposed to their fullest extent, and only the one which sustains the tests of unbiased scrutiny, time and truth, and still remains is “Absolute Reality”.
If there is a God; if He is the Creator of all things; if we will one day be accountable to Him for what we did and did not do on this earth, then YHW God is the Absolute Reality.
If there is no God, if all creation, including the trillions of galaxies in the vast phenomenal universe, evolved by chance, as well as the extreme complexity, diversity and unique life on earth, was brought into existence by time, chance and unintelligent natural selection, then that is “Absolute Reality”.
Is God Trustworthy?
We live in a skeptical and selfish world. We want what we want, when we want it, and we do not want anyone to tell us what to do or where to go. We do not want accountability for what we choose to do – especially from an unseen, unknown God.
Unfortunately, everyone faces threads of “absolute reality” throughout his or her life and we come to the conclusion that we do not always know the best way to turn when we may be making decisions, whether life-changing decisions, or otherwise.
Who can we rely on? What patterns do we begin making in our life when it comes to putting our trust in ourselves, our friends, politically correct theories of evolutionary scientists, or putting our trust in God, our Creator and Sustainer of life? If we make the wrong decision here, we may find ourselves to be in considerable trouble. God should be our source of TRUST.
To begin with let’s take a healthy, fresh look at who God IS. If we begin to understand the reality of God, we can trust Him more certainly. Psalm 104 gives us a brief overview of God and His staggering Power.
Following the overview of Psalm 104, we will look briefly at God’s conversation with Job…giving honest questions regarding mankind’s very limited ability compared with God’s Awesome Person and Power.
Can we trust this God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength – with the great and small decisions in our life…even with our life after earthly death…our eternal life?
Psalm 104
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
The Greatness of God is Evident!
O Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
Who Laid the Earth’s Foundations?
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
Who Provides Life-giving Water for All?
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the air nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the pine trees.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys.
Who Orders the Universe and its affect on the Earth?
19 The moon marks off the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then man goes out to his work,
to his labor until evening.
Who Ordained the Vast Scope of the Sea?
24 How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
Who Provides for All Living Things and their Cycles of Life?
27 These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
We Rejoice in Worshipping and Serving our Creator!
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord.
God is Awesome. He is Trustworthy!
God’s Conversation with Job
Job is an unusual book. Job is known by Bible scholars to be the very first book written, in a chronological timeline of Biblical authors. Since Genesis and the first four books of the Bible (the Pentateuch), understood to be authored by Moses, reveal the beginnings of creation, the fall of mankind, and their dispersions on the earth, Biblical scholars placed the “Pentateuch” at the beginning of our modern Bible. Job, though, is recognized to have been written well before the time of Moses.
The last few chapters of the ancient book of Job give us an insight into the Awesomeness of God. The following is an outline of God’s narrative with Job.
God’s logic includes layman’s examples of Scientific Studies we now understand to be:
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•Geology (the study of the earth),
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•Atmospheric Science (the study of meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics/chemistry), and
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•Zoology and Biology (the study of animals and living things)
The logic and layman’s language that God uses in the ancient book of Job is viable logic, standing the scrutiny of skeptics and tests of time, through every generation in the history of the world, including our own.
Job 38–41
Job 38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
He said:
2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand….
In the previous chapters of his book, Job had been questioning God’s reasons for the severe trials that God had allowed him to suffer.
In return, God took this opportunity to question Job.
If Job was so righteous, blameless and wise, how did his life and power compare with the dynamic works of His Creator? Should Job be questioning God?
These are good observations for each person in our self-centered world to ponder; especially, if we are sneering and questioning God’s power, viability and authority.
The Study of the Dynamic Earth:
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•Who Laid the Earth’s Foundation? (Job 38:4-7)
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•Who Keeps the Sea within proper bounds? (Job 38:8-11)
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•Who Controls the Sun’s Radiant and Life-giving Course? (Job 38:12-15)
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•Who has seen “Springs of the Sea”, the Gates of Death, and the Vast Expanses of the Earth? (Job 38:16-18)
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•Who made Light and Darkness? (Job 38:19-21)
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•Where does the Snow, Hail, Lightening Storms, Dew and Ice come from? (Job 38:22-30)
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•Who placed the Heavenly Constellations in their orbit? (Job 38:31-33)
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•Who gave the natural life-giving water cycles that bring abundance to our world - Clouds, Rain and Lightning Bolts? (Job 38:34-38)
Who Gives Life and Provides for All the Creatures of the Earth, including their continuing Procreation?
The Study of Life and its Diversity on Earth:
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•Lions (Job 38:39-40)
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•Ravens (Job 38:41)
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•Mountain Goats (Job 39:1-4)
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•Wild Donkeys (Job 39:5-8)
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•Wild Oxen (Job 39:9-12)
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•Ostriches (Job 39:13-18)
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•Horses (Job 39:19-25)
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•Hawks and Eagles (Job 39:26-30)
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•Behemoth and Leviathan – Ancient Reptilian and Dinosaurian Creatures (Job 40-41)
It is interesting that God gives almost two chapters of His discussion with Job on these ancient extreme reptilian animals. Our current evolutionary archeologists deny dinosaurian existence with any epoch of man.
God disagrees. God used their obvious existence during Job’s time as the premiere argument in His extensive closing statements on His supremacy, to ancient observant man.
God Is Very Great; We Can Trust In Him!
This is the “Absolute Reality”
Our Key Verse for Today:
Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Practical Navigational Aids to Guide our Faith and Trust in God
There are lighthouses, buoys and transmitters warning boaters of treacherous hazards hidden in the water or along the coast. These navigational aids promote safe passage in otherwise unknown and dangerous surroundings – if the boater will heed their warning.
As we trust in the Lord with all our heart, seeking guidance from the Lord for our daily lives, God has given us several practical navigational aids in the Christian life. These are available to guide the believer toward “safe passage” while navigating the potential treacherous pathways of life.
1. God’s Word: Is our decision within the healthy boundaries of God’s Word?
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•Are we dabbling in areas that we know to be unhealthy and dangerous to the spiritual life of a believer in Jesus Christ?
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• Are we hiding God’s Word in our heart, so we will not sin against Him?
Psalm 119:11
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Joshua 1:8–9
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
2. The Holy Spirit: Is the Holy Spirit confirming a direction in our hearts about the decision we are making? What are the “desires of our heart” that He confirms is the direction we should follow?
Are we increasing in our sensitivity to hear, discern and follow God’s Voice to our believing hearts?
Hebrews 5:14
14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
John 10:27
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
1 Corinthians 2:14
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Romans 8:14
14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
2 Corinthians 2:12–13
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
3. Wise Advice: Do we seek out those who are knowledgeable about what we are considering, who love God, and whose life and family evidences the fruit of healthy decisions, who may give us sound counsel regarding options that may be confusing to us?
Proverbs 15:22
22 Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 11:14
14 For lack of guidance a nation falls,
but many advisers make victory sure.
4. Practical Circumstances: What are the gifts that God has given us? Is God opening or closing doors of opportunity – providing for and directing our path and decision-making?
Acts 14:27
27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
1 Corinthians 16:8–9
8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
Revelation 3:8
8. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Trust in God. He is Worthy of our Confidence.
Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
The “Absolute Reality” is that our God, Yahweh (YWH), Is Very Great and We Can Trust Him with our lives!
This does not mean we will always make the right decision or never have trouble or difficulty, but it does mean that we can always trust in the Lord, no matter what the circumstance.
Psalm 112:4
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
The Final Outcome for those who seek the Lord is Blessing
The End Result of the Righteous is Blessing
Proverbs 11:1–7
1 The Lord abhors dishonest scales,
but accurate weights are his delight.
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
5 The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them,
but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.
7 When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes;
all he expected from his power comes to nothing.
Conclusion
Are we those who put our trust in God, or in others or ourselves?
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• Do we seek to know God through His Word, the Bible?
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• Are we sensitive to God’s Voice through the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
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• Do we associate with and seek advice from those who know and love God?
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• Can we trust God to give us direction through practical circumstances? Are we afraid of adverse circumstances? Can we entrust trials and sorrows to God, being aware that He will work out all things for good for those who love Him?
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Our God Is Very Great; We Can Trust In Him – this is our “Absolute Reality”!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
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End Notes
Job 38–41
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
He said:
2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Laying the Earth’s Foundation (Job 38:4-7)
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Keeping the Sea within proper bounds (Job 38:8-11)
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
Controlling the Sun’s Radiant and Life-giving Course (Job 38:12-15)
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
The “Springs of the Sea”, the Gates of Death, and the Vast Expanses of the Earth (Job 38:16-18)
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
Light and Darkness (Job 38:19-21)
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
Snow, Hail, Lightening Storms, Dew and Ice (Job 38:22-30)
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens 30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
Heavenly Constellations (Job 38:31-33)
31 “Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?
Can you loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?
Clouds, Rain and Lightning Bolts (Job 38:34-38)
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
Providing for All Creation and their continuing Procreation, such as:
Lions (Job 38:39-40)
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
Ravens (Job 38:41)
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Mountain Goats (Job 39:1-4)
39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
Wild Donkeys (Job 39:5-8)
5 “Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes?
6 I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat.
7 He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green thing.
Wild Oxen (Job 39:9-12)
9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on him for his great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to him?
12 Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
Ostriches (Job 39:13-18)
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
Horses (Job 39:19-25)
19 “Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?
21 He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray.
22 He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
Hawks and Eagles (Job 39:26-30)
26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?
28 He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold.
29 From there he seeks out his food; his eyes detect it from afar.
30 His young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there is he.”
Behemoth and Leviathan – Ancient Reptilian and Dinosaurian Creatures (Job 40-41 – please read in your own Bibles!)