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Thoughts of a saint and slave
by Sam Isaacson
A short(ish) article for a short(ish) passage this week.
'The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.' (Proverbs 3:19-20)
Mixing metaphors?
It's easy to read a passage like this and simple write it off as poetry, thereby drawing the conclusion that we can't take any truth from it - we all know that rain doesn't come from someone's knowledge, it comes about by the water cycle. But that's simply a silly conclusion to draw. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that 'all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable', even those bits which may take a bit of imagination to apply.
The effects
The underlying message from this passage is simple to draw out: creation came about because of God. Throughout the last couple of chapters of Proverbs we have made clear that wisdom is a good prize to aim for, and God by His grace does provide it to those who humble themselves to Him. This passage shows us where that wisdom was first put to use: in creation. One issue though. The world wants to tell us that the universe didn't come into being thanks to God, it came into being thanks to complex chemical reactions happening by chance resulting in the universe being created from nothing. Life came into being thanks to complex chemical reactions happening by chance resulting in rocks coming to life. Humans came into being thanks to complex chemical reactions happening by chance resulting in mutations over millions of years.
There's a key biblical principle that you become like what you worship. If we worship God as the ultimate supreme Creator of all things and beg Him for His wisdom, we will receive true wisdom. But if we trust in man's wisdom to tell us that creation didn't come into being thanks to God's wisdom but thanks to amoral chance, we will not.
Can you still be a Christian and believe in evolution?
Let's not turn a secondary issue into a primary issue, but let's not play down the importance of acknowledging God's creative power. Do you trust that God is able to bring all things into being by the power of His wisdom? If not, your god is too small, and he is not the God of the Bible. Let's begin with the default position of faith in God's ability to do whatever He pleases, and work from there.
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