Vacation, God, and Creation

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice

that by the word of God the heavens existed long

ago and the earth was formed out of water and by

water, through which the world at that time was

destroyed, being flooded with water.

II Peter 3:5-6

My family and I just returned from an 9 day vacation in Wyoming and South Dakota.  It was a great time for us all, the diversity of beauty in Wyoming was incredible to behold, and the Black Hills of South Dakota were a very pleasant surprise.  One of the highlights of the trip was a two hour horseback ride in the Tetons.  On this ride we ascended over 2100 feet to one of the peaks in the area, and on the way up I couldn't contain myself and started singing "How Great Thou Art." And if you are not familiar with that hymn, the first two lines are as follows:

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

They pow'r thro'out the universe displayed.

When thro'the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And the chorus is:

Then sings my soul my Savior God to Thee,

how great Thou art, how great Thou art. x2

As I was singing this, I was considering the greatness and grandeur of God's creation, and how the evidence of His handiwork is there for all to see; and, as a result, how all are without excuse for not seeking Him (Romans 1:19b-20), and to paraphrase something I read recently about how to reply to the atheist who wants evidence for God's existence, "You are standing on it!" 

Shortly after this, we were at the pinnacle of our ride on a peak about 8,400 feet high, and we had an uninterrupted 360 degree view of all the mountains and valleys around us.  Our guide, an old and gentlemanly cowboy named Doyle, was telling us about the other peaks and mountain ranges we were viewing, and he brought our attention to the mountain range to the west, which had several peaks around 11,000 feet high.  He then proceeded to tell us that those peaks were once part of an ancient seabed and contained fossils of seashells and marine life.  That is when II Peter 3:5-6 came to my mind.  Not only is there evidence that the world was formed out of water and by water, but there is world wide evidence of the flood, and it all  escapes man's notice.

Why does it escape his notice?  We see the answer in the one Greek word for escape notice, the word lanthano.  In the tense and voice used, this word means that man is willfully ignorant, culpably ignorant.  This is not a benign neglect on man's part, but a don't confuse me with the facts because I am being intentionally ignorant mind set.  It escapes their notice because they will it so.  It is hidden from them because they don't want to know the truth. In other words, it is a deliberate overlooking of the facts and their reality. It is the outcome of Romans 1:21, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

On the way back down I was thinking about all of this in light of the recent kerfuffle over the video of Al Mohler at the Ligonier conference a couple of years ago.  In this video Al makes the case for a literal reading of the creation account in Genesis 1-2, and therefore for a young earth.  You see, for us as Christians, it is a matter of faith (Hebrews 11:3) to take the Scriptures at face value, and to value the Scriptures above the science that man foolishly calls wisdom.  This is not a blind faith, but a faith in what God has chosen to reveal to us.  And, personally, I believe He has not revealed any more to us concerning creation than He has in order to test our faith.  You see, what we believe about creation is a matter of faith.  We will either place our faith in the Bible, or place our faith in science; and placing our faith in science is no more than placing our faith in man, for science is the wisdom of man.  Science is man's attempt to explain creation, and it leaves God out; and even the old earth and theistic evolutionists have given in to the wisdom of the world, and have subordinated the Word of God, to the wisdom of man.

My friends, don't be swayed by the prevailing wisdom of the day, but be persuaded by the eternal truth of God.  Look at creation, in all its diversity and complexity, and marvel at this God who created it all.  Then bow down with the hosts of heaven and proclaim, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created." Revelation 4:11.  Amen, Lord, Amen!