The Human Hand - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

This is part one of a two part series on the mightiness of God's crown of creation. To see part 2 of this series, click here. The Human Heart - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

My wife and I were just discussing our hands the other day. Yes, I know, that’s an unusual topic of conversation, but we looked at our hands and saw with amazement, how they are formed, shaped, made, constructed, I mean fashioned. Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that our bodies were in any way created, I just can’t think of the right word. What I meant to say was that our bodies have been developed in a very structured orderly way.

I am not a scientist so you can write me off if you want, but I can recognize a great wonder when I see one.

If you (at least most of you) look at one of your hands, you’ll see five fingers – well, actually four fingers and a thumb.  You will see three segments or phalanges on each finger, but on the thumb, only two. The human hand, with the wrist, has 27_[i] total bones in it.

You will find three “knuckles” or “interphalangeal joints” (where the fingers bend between phalanges) on each finger, but on the thumb, only two that protrude past the webbing of the fingers.

According to the website eatonhand.com, each hand has:

• 29 major and minor bones (many people have a few more).
• 29 major joints.
• At least 123 named ligaments.
• 34 muscles which move the fingers and thumb:
• 17 in the palm of the hand, and
• 18 in the forearm.
• 48 named nerves:
• 3 major nerves.
• 24 named sensory branches.
• 21 named muscular branches.
• 30 named arteries and nearly as many smaller named branches.

The bible says: 

     “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19.1) and
     “The heavens declare his righteousness.” (Psalm 97.6)

However, you won’t have to even look up to see his glory. You can still see it by looking down at your hand, for the same bible states:

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalm139.14)

As I looked down at my hand that day, I said; “It amazes me how all of that just happened.

Dear friends, it really takes more faith on our part to believe that the amazing formation of the human body happened by chance over time and that it randomly happened to us all in the exact same way. I realize we are not all formed perfectly, but the exception only enhances the rule. This kind of faith is not based on actual evidence but upon believing what we want to believe and what is convenient. When I see a magnificent structure, I know that there is an architect. I cannot accept that it got there by chance.

I have news: THERE IS A GOD!

I have very good news: HE GAVE US A SAVIOR- HIS SON!

Now, go read the bible and find out more about him.

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[i] 29 if you count the sesamoid bones in tendons of flexor pollicis brevis and adductor pollicis – quiznet

What do You Wish?

“What do you wish?” Caleb said to his daughter. How a father delights to bless his child. Caleb’s daughter didn’t go to Joshua for the blessing, she went to her father. She didn’t go to the government (Elders) of Israel nor did she go to her new husband’s parents. She knew exactly where to go and ask. She asked her father.

Caleb’s daughter was not afraid to ask land of her father even though he had already given her some land in the south of his portion in the land of Israel. Many would have said, “I don’t have the heart to ask anything of my father since he has already given me what I now own. I don’t want to trouble him for more.” But she knew her father, and she knew that he wouldn’t be bothered in giving her more as well.

This young woman was not afraid to ask for the best from her father. She didn’t ask for anyone’s rejects and did not ask for someone’s hand-me-downs. Rather she asked for springs of water. She was not satisfied with the stale, stagnant sludge that might be more easily accessible. That would be an affront to her father’s dignity and generosity!

Caleb was probably just as delighted to give his daughter an extra portion of land as he was in receiving his own portion previously (Joshua 14.6-15).

Not only so, he actually seems to have given her even more than she asked for, because we’re told in the text that “Caleb gave her the upper springs, and the lower springs. (emphasis mine).

God, our Father in heaven, loves to bless us too. Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7.11)

Jesus said to his disciples; “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” James tells us, “You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4.2) Let’s not be afraid or unbelieving about asking God, our Father, for the things we desire in the name of Jesus.

Sometimes we might think, “What if I ask but don’t receive?” I understand, but we may never receive that blessing if we don’t ask.

God has given us plenty in the past and he will continue to provide for us in the present and in the future.

Whenever we pray to God, we must not settle for the easy things that almost any human source could provide. We should ask him for the kinds of things that only he could give. This is an expression of our faith when we pray for God to do the impossible, knowing that nothing is impossible with him. (Luke 1.37; Matthew 19.26)

God wants the best for us, but he must decide what is good and best, for often we don’t have the discernment to know. But the bible does say, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84.11) Caleb was happy to grant the springs of water, because he knew that it was good for his daughter. I think sometimes that God grants to us Spiritual springs of water, but we might reject those blessings, thinking that we know better what we need. We might be interested in the physical blessings and disinterested in the Spiritual ones. But God’s word says that he has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”

Finally, just as Caleb blessed his daughter with more than she ever asked for, so God does for us.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3.20-21)

Jesus said:

...but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

A songwriter wrote:

I wandered in the barren land of sin and shame
Where nothing satisfying there I found
But to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came
And springs of living water did abound

Drinking of the springs of living water
Oh, happy now am I
My soul they satisfy
Drinking of the springs of living water
O, wonderful and bountiful supply! [1]

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[1] Words by John W. Peterson

Is There Love in Your Home?

Many think of love as a good feeling that we get. But the real test of love is not just in how well we can receive it but in how well we can give it. We are not commanded to make sure everyone else loves us but we are commanded to “love one another,”

Where love prevails in a home, jealousy does not.

A family with love is free to be honest with each other and still accept one another.

A husband and father who talks a good talk without real love for his family is nothing and his wife and kids know it. It is just empty clatter.

A wife may act very Spiritual, go to church, and be a real “do-gooder” but if she does not love her family, no one is the better for it.

What a lot of couples really need is to just grow up and quit acting like children. Their kids need to see some maturity in their lives. Adults should know something about handling difficulty. Hardship is not a reason to fly the coop; rather it is a reason to cling to those God has placed in your life. 

Sir, you took a vow, saying; “Until death do us part.” 

Ma’am, you promised, “For better or for worse.” I know, at the time you didn’t know it could get this worse, but where there is love, there is hope.

A child may be very gifted and talented but if that child shows no love for his parents, “it profits him nothing.” I don’t care how brilliant or athletic a kid is if he or she doesn't respect Mom and Dad.

There is no greater agony than that of families that fight. Instead of fighting, have you thought of praying? 

Instead of hanging out at the bars late on Saturday night, have you thought instead of retiring early for the night and getting up early on Sunday morning to prepare for church? 

Instead of clamoring to get your own way, have you considered doing what’s best for the rest of the family?

You would probably go across the ocean to another country and fight for your family. Why not make the necessary sacrifices right where you are that would allow your family to stay together and love one another?

If love dominates the home, individuals will put up with some of the others’ shortcomings. And there will be no place for pride and arrogance.

Individuals in a family with love will not just be interested in their own thing, but in that of the rest of the family. Conversations there will be polite – not self-centered.

When love prevails in a marriage, a wife will not take off and abandon her husband just because “things are not going my way.” Love will prevent a man from leaving his wife for a “younger,” “prettier,” or “sweeter” woman. Love is an allegiance, not an emotion.

Money cannot hold a family together; family pride cannot, but love can. 

Good looks, charm and youthful energy may not last, but love can.

Where is the source of true love? The answer: “God is love” (1 John 4.8,16). There is no true love apart from the Lord in your life. God loved you and gave his Son for your eternal salvation. Trust in him and love will enter in. After that, you must decide what you will do with it.

Please take the time to read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in the Bible.

May God bless you and your family with the love of God.

Exhorting Daily

Exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,"
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

God tells us to exhort one another daily. The Greek word translated "exhort" is παρακαλειτε from parakaleo meaning to call to one's side, exhort, entreat, encourage, comfort, or instruct.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit "another Comforter" (parakletos). This means that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are exhorters. 

The word παρακαλειτε is also imperative. God is telling us that it is imperative that we talk to each other regularly, even daily, about the dangers of falling away from the faith. This was a very real problem among the Hebrew believers of the first century A.D. There was great persecution of the believers at this time and a great deal of pressure to abandon the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ and just wander back into Judaism (meaning that the law and sacrifices and the religious activities of Israel were sufficient). It would have been easy to just say, "Well, we all live in a society of diversity and we should just coexist."

Many Christians are feeling that same pressure today. We see a large number of young adults who have abandoned the faith of Christ. I am in constant prayer about how to reach or rereach this generation.

The key must be to reach them before they stray. God's word says it is imperative to exhort one another daily so that the other may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. How deceitful sin is! We must not succumb to its snares.

We must learn again to love others one on one, taking time to talk to that single individual before he or she approaches the precipice of the danger of falling. When we do, we are more like our Lord.

Who Looks Worse?

I once knew a young lady who thought she had an intruder in the house. She went and got her Daddy’s gun to protect herself. She walked through the house to see if she could find the prowler. Once she turned the corner into a room, clearly there was someone there, also armed. She was about to shoot when she realized that the hideous person was herself … in the mirror. She had almost shot at her own image.

Before we start firing at others, we might need to realize that the flaws we see in others might actually be our own and sometimes in a worse fashion.

Suppose you were looking at someone through a pair of glasses and saw them doing something really wrong. But suppose also that when you pulled your glasses off you realized that you were actually looking into lenses of mirror and that what you thought you saw in others was really something in you?

What bothers you the most, your sins or that of others’? This is an important question if anyone wants to really be right with God.

I hear people complain all of the time because of something someone else did or is doing? I have done the same thing myself. For some reason, sin looks uglier on others than it does on us.

When was the last time you wept over your own evil ways – something you did, something you said or a wrong attitude?

If someone cuts you off in traffic, do you cry aloud, “You idiot?” Have you ever berated yourself for the same? “What’s wrong with me, why do I treat people that way?” Have you ever gotten on your own case for interrupting or ignoring another? Are you very angry with yourself for neglecting the precepts of the bible?

Jesus said we cannot help others with their problems unless we first take care of our own:

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” (Matthew 7.3-5)

If we have sin in our lives we must seek to make it right before we get all bothered about what is wrong with others.

Sometimes we can even get more upset over the little errors in others than we do about the big wrongs in our own lives.

And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. (Luke 11.46)

Will you join me in this prayer and pledge?

Dear Lord, help me to focus less on the sins and faults of others and more on correcting my own. I know I need to help any brother or sister that is overtaken in any fault, but I cannot see to do that unless I make my heart right with you first. So many times I have criticized others for the very things that I was guilty of myself. Help me not be a hypocrite. I want to be honest with you, with others and with myself – in Jesus’ name, Amen.

What Sets the Christian Faith Apart from All Others?

Everyone has faith in something. When people say they don’t believe in God, they probably believe in themselves instead, which actually sets themselves up in the place of God.

What sets faith in Christ apart from the many faiths of this world?

Is it our unique experience? Having trusted Christ, most all believers have felt a peace that passes understanding. There is nothing quite like knowing that Jesus died for our sins and that all has been forgiven. He removes our guilt of sin and we are free at last to follow him without the dark cloud of judgment hovering above our heads. So, yes, Christians do initially and often experience great peace.

But there may be days when the peace is lacking. Whenever Christians get busy in life and don’t take time to give thanks to him, the peace may be sorely missing. When we find ourselves walking outside of God’s revealed will, choosing to sin, we lack peace then too. When we wrestle in prayer over a son or daughter, we may not feel great peace. Sometimes Christians may experience unexplained depression, thus reducing peace down to almost nothing.

Is it our changed life that makes Christianity unique? Christ does make a big difference in the believer’s life. The bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

What happens though, when a believer in Christ backslides and falls into sin? I know some non-Christians who seem more morally upright than some who call themselves Christians. I am a Christian and have seen some non-Christians conduct themselves better than I did at times. Does this prove the gospel to be untrue? If this were all that our faith is about then, yes, it might cause many to doubt what they’ve been taught from the bible. In fact, many young adults are leaving the faith by the droves right now – partially because they became disenchanted with what they have seen from Christians. A famous man is purported to have said, “I would be a Christian if it were not for Christians.”

There is one very unique thing which truly sets faith in Jesus Christ apart from all other beliefs. This truth, having been verified, is a solid rock upon which all those who are in the faith of Christ can continue to stand. It will never change or be disproven. That thing is the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ resurrection is a fact that was historically testified to by hundreds of eye witnesses. The four gospel writers wrote about the historical veracity of his resurrection. Paul (or Saul) the apostle went from Christianity’s greatest persecutor to its most powerful defender after he encountered the resurrected Jesus. (See Acts chapter 9). Paul was one of the most persecuted individuals ever to live on this earth, all because of his newfound faith in the Lord Jesus.  Yet he continued to boldly exclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In fact, all the disciples and many thousands of early Christians gave their lives for this truth – that Jesus had indeed risen from the grave.

If Jesus had been merely a good man, merely a prophet, merely a founder of a new religion, merely a great teacher, this belief would be no different than any other. But because he is risen indeed, he can indeed save. Because he is risen indeed, he did indeed die for our sins. Because he is risen indeed, he did ascend to heaven and he will indeed come again. And because he is risen indeed, he can give us peace indeed and make us a new creation in him indeed.