Week 1 Day 2: Our Deepest Desires

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.” Acts 17:24-25 NLT

Scientists and theologians alike say that we have to either believe Science or God. But if you believe in God you must believe facts about science because nature/science is an integral part of who God is. You cannot have one without the other. For years scientists and theologians have been trying to put God in a box of their own designs, but how can you contain the uncontainable? It cannot be done.

Rick Warren said that our search for understanding God is like standing on the beach and looking at the vastness of the ocean holding a teacup. We demand that the vastness of the ocean come into our teacup so we can control it.

That is what it is like to understand God. We are each given a different teacup and we each can contain a certain amount of knowledge of God, but we certainly can’t contain it all. If we could we would no longer be human, we would be God. Our desire to be in control is the same as the desire to be a god, or even the God.

Where does this desire come from? In the beginning, God caused a portion of heaven and earth to overlap, creating Eden. Then He gave the garden to man to rule on God’s behalf, alongside Him. Our creation was always about being part of God’s creative and ruling nature. It was also about being in relation with Him and the other humans He created. We were made in the image of God so He exalted us to rule over this portion of His creation. But man was fooled into believing that it was not enough to rule with God. Man’s rebellion caused him to want to be a god, following his own way, doing his own thing in his own time. This put man in direct conflict with the nature of God, which removed him from the presence of God.

Since God created man with ability to rule and create, it is still part of our desire. What we fail to realize is that our ability to do anything is terribly limited when not used in conjunction with God’s ability. The crazy thing is God doesn’t need our help, but He desires to work with us and through us because He loves us and wants a relationship with us. But we choose to do things our way and instead of thanking God for our abilities, we get prideful and think we are God.

So man thinks with his knowledge, he can control nature, reproduce and create anything, just like God. But let a natural disaster, an illness, a death or a disappointment come and we realize how little we can control. And when the unthinkable happens, we often look to the heavens and shake our fists at God for allowing it to touch us. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t act like there is no God, working against Him and then blame God when things go wrong.

Do you struggle with the need to control and fix things? How can you let go of people, things and circumstances?

Memorize and Meditate on Acts 17:24-25