Friday, May 16, 2008

God-centered in "all" things

Folks, I am convicted over and over again that the church must get back to a God-centered orientation in the Christian life.
There is too much man-centered theology that is taught and in a culture like ours it is absorbed in and through every area of our lives. If you get a chance this week look closely at the praise of King David to the Lord in the presence of the people in 1 Chronicles 29:10-14.

I am quoting out of the New Living Translation:

Oh LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, may You be praised forever and ever!
King David recognizes the true and living God of Israel and puts the emphasis where it needs to be and that is to praise God!

Now King David goes on to praise the various attributes of God:
Yours O LORD, is

* the greatness
* the power
* the glory
* the victory
* the majesty

Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the One who is over all things.
King David here not only praises the attributes but confirms that all belongs to God and that He is over all things. This is a strong statement once again
as to the sovereignty of God.

Now look closely at what King David says about the hand of God in all things or about the way God ordains according to His good and pleasing will.
Riches and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. (Folks if we should want to know how God rules over everything King David is going to explain in these verses.)
Power and might are in your hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and given strength. (Doesn't that also imply that God is also over those who are small and weak?)

In other words King David is saying that not only is God self-sufficient in all things, which means He needs nothing but He is sovereign over all to the degree that He decides who receives the things that He alone decides to give. If that is true with power and wealth within this sovereign context of God would not it also be true of salvation?

Then King David ends with this:
O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!
But who am I and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? (There is much good theology in these verses. First of all it again is the praise and honoring of God's name and putting Him at the center of our lives. Then we admit that we don't add anything nor can we add anything to the greatness of God nor can we give Him anything that He does not already have. Then he concludes with this statement.
Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you have already given us.

Again I am impressed with the breadth, width and depth of God in and through all things on heaven and earth. A.W. Tozer said that the greatest thoughts we can ever have are the thoughts that we think about God. Theology starts with theos (God) and means thoughts of God. Shouldn't the church and those in the church get a high and accurate view of God Himself?