During our time in Holland
our family visited Amsterdam .
Upon arriving at the famous Dam
Square which once fascinated and amazed a twelve
year old girl, who is now my wife, Wilma commented, saying; “The Dam Square”
has become very small; it is not as awe inspiring as it used to be”. What has
changed? Is it the Dam Square
or my wife’s perception of “The Dam Square”? Or may be both?
Isn’t it amazing what once
considered a “wonder of the world” now may not necessarily be a wonder as new
wonders are coming up all the time? For that matter what is a wonder to someone
may not be a wonder for another person? I’ve realized this while touring Amsterdam in a boat
through the many canals in the city. Mine and other Chinese tourists’ eyes were
popping out at every sight they came across, where as an average Dutch person
living in the streets of Amsterdam
may not even raise an eye brow at those sights.
While the rest were taking in the
beauty of the city the Lord quietly drew my attention to the very word “Wonder”
I began to wonder where exactly the wonder of the so called wonderful things
lie? Is it in the things or in the eye of the beholder? The Lord challenged me
once again about my wonder of Him. As a young, born again, on fire Christian in
the 80’s I was amazed at the splendor and the majesty of God. The mere mention
of the name God used to send such mixed feelings of awe and joy at the same
time.
As the years go by do I still
exhibit the same wonder? What has changed then? Has God changed, or my perception
of Him has changed? How has your perception of God been of late? Is it clouded?
Has your God become too small? What is bringing this perceptual blindness or
the distorted view of God in our time? When last have you considered the
wonders of God?
While several factors can be
attributed to this changing perception, during my time in Holland I came to realize two key factors
that could take our wonder of God away. One is the rise of postmodern thought
and our lack of scriptural and experiential knowledge of God.
First let me define the word
“wonder”: It
is a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something
beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. Wonder is one that arouses
awe, astonishment, surprise, or admiration; a marvel. Growing up in highly religious
India
I saw such wonder all around among the devoted people when it comes to God
regardless to an extent what religion people belong to. Interestingly in the
West both in America and Europe do I seldom see such awe and wonder of God? What could be the reason? It is the rise of
postmodernism.
I. THE RISE OF POSTMODERNISM
In order for us to understand the
word Postmodernism we must look at the previous era which is called the Modern
era from 1900-until present. It is the age of
exploration. Each episode in the Star Trek series begins with these words: “Space:
the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Its five-year mission is to
explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to
boldly go where no man has gone before.”[1]
Whether
we notice it or not we are currently living in the post modern era. How do we
define the postmodern era? The post modern mind adopts three distinct
ideologies that are contrary to the previous eras. First one, “All is
difference” It abandons the quest for a unified grasp of objective reality. It
asserts that the world has no center, only differing viewpoints and perspectives.
In other words there is no such thing as one universal truth or reality. Secondly,
the post modern mind is no longer convinced that knowledge is inherently good.
Thirdly,
they no longer accept the previous view that “knowledge is objective” In other
words knowledge is personal therefore it is subjective. The postmodern world
view operates with a community-based understanding of truth. This world view
affirms: “there is no absolute; truth; rather truth is relative to the
community in which we participate.”[2]
Isn’t that
so true of the world we are living today? Is postmodern thinking affecting our
generation today? Just like when you are in the water you can’t help but get
wet in the same way we can not but affected by the prevailing postmodern
culture. The rise of postmodernism has devastating affects on our families,
society and even upon the Church. Its crippling influence through mass media and
social media is eroding the moral fabric of our society. You might be
experiencing this at work with colleagues’ or within you own family, the moment
you speak about God or faith you are met with stiff resistance, lack of
openness and even ridicule.
A 2003
survey found that over all belief in God among Americans had dropped
significantly; with only 66% feeling certain about it. Astonishingly, 10% of
those who call themselves Protestants, 21% of confessing Roman Catholics and
52% who profess to be Jews don’t believe in God. Another 2003 survey revealed
that now 60% of all Americans believe that cohabitation is morally acceptable.”[3]
Sex on
one’s wedding night has lost its anticipation and wonder for many couples
today. The primary reason for couples not “becoming one” physically on their
wedding night is cohabitation. This trend is seen not only here but all over Europe . During my recent trip I met young people who
would wince but don’t blink an eye when it comes to moving in and living
together without ever getting married.
When a
society no longer accepts the reality of God is it any wonder we loose the
wonder of God and the wonder of the beautiful things that God has created such
as sex which is to be enjoyed only in a marriage relationship? How can we
regain the wonder of God in our lives? This is where the advice given by one of
the youngest friends of Job comes into place.
I.
CONSIDER
THE WONDERS OF GOD.(Job 37:1-14)
We are
familiar with the suffering endured by Job as a result of a challenge posed by
Satan. Three of Job’s friends could not convince Job of his error. Seeing their
inability the youngest among them stepped up not only to the challenge of
convincing Job of his error but also to speak of God’s justice and
righteousness. Let’s see what Elihu has to say to Job.
In the
first five verses we see the power of God’s thundering voice which Elihu likens
to the thunder, and the lightning. V 6-13 shows the absolute command of God over
nature and exposes the vulnerability of man over the mighty acts of God. Vs 6“For
to the snow he says, “Fall on the earth, and to the downpour and the rain, Be
strong.” Vs 7, “He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His
work.” We know a little bit about what snow storms and blizzards can do. They
have the potential to bring a whole city to a complete halt. No administration
can stop the snow from falling when it is falling. All we are capable of,
perhaps is to do the clean up afterwards
Those
who live in India
know the devastation of heavy Monsoon rains. A few days back there were heavy
rains in New Delhi ,
4 hours of continuous rain has brought the capital to a complete shut down.
People were outraged at the Governments inability to manage this crisis well.
They blamed the Chief Minister for this strong act of God, She responded
saying, “What can I do the weather is not in my control? “Please pray to God to
stop the rain” For mentioning God, the chief minister came under attack by the
secular media and the atheists association.
Rightly
so the insurance companies call Earthquakes, Tornadoes, snow blizzards, Tsunamis,
floods, “Acts of God.”? We wonder why
God allows such things to happen. Elihu has an answer for us, these are sent by
God to expose man’s inadequacy so that they might come to know Him and stand in
awe of His wonderful works. Vs 13, “whether for correction, or for His world, or
for loving kindness He causes it to happen. Therefore Elihu challenges, Job in
a way that applies to all of us. Vs 14, Listen to this, (place your name
here) stand and consider the wonders of God.”
Whose
voice are you listening to today? Is it the voice of the media? Or the voice of
the atheists, who say there is no God? The Bible gives them a fancy title, “fools”.
Are you listening to the skeptics who ridicule and mock this simple,
straightforward faith.? I want to challenge you to listen to the voice of God,
if you are still not convinced that God is as wonderful as one of His names
suggests read the whole chapter of Job 38-39 where God himself completely
overwhelms Job with many questions pertaining to His mighty power.
What I
shared with you this morning is only a fraction of the many wonders of God.
What more shall I say about many other wonders? Anything not within the compass
of reason this world calls crazy. But what do we find in the Bible? A
continuous record of happenings which we call supernatural, which can not be
fitted into our interpretations of normal cause and effect.
Let me
list a few of such supernatural acts of God. Abraham and Sarah have a child
when respectively a hundred, and ninety years old; Joseph’s foreknowledge of
the future through dreams; Moses bringing plagues on Egypt, crossing of the red
sea, bringing of water from a rock and daily manna for over half a million
people for a period of 40 years; How about the fall of Jericho’s walls and
Daniel spending a night among hungry lions? How about the N.T miracles?
Such as
Jesus walking on the water thus counteracting gravity (and Peter doing the
same); feeding five thousand with two fish and five loaves; turning water into
wine; healing all kinds of diseases, and raising the dead? How about the
Apostle Paul; people were healed by his shadow and touching his handkerchiefs?
How about Paul raising a dead young man who had fallen from the top floor of a
building? What logical explanation you give to these mighty acts of God? If you
don’t call these, wonders of God what else will you call wonders?
Stand and consider the wonders of
God. In closing I want to echo the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 66:1-5, “Shout
with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise
glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that
your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing
praise to you, they sing praise to your name.” Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man’s behalf.”
May the Lord bless you,
and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be
gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give
you peace.” Amen!
