Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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18 May 11
Good morning, dear ones.
And some of my dear ones are here in the room with me making a lot of noise and goofing off. I’m having to develop some stronger focus skills.
I have a guy coming soon for some custom sawmill work…so I better get on with knocking out the preliminaries…which I intend will include a jog.
Blessings on your day. And blessings on your quest to seek an obvious God.
Love, Dad/Ray
18 May 2011
Psalm 17
Focus: “They close their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.” Psalm 17:10.
Is there any better explanation than this for why an intelligent and educated scientist (or anyone, for that matter) does not fall on their face in worship before an obvious God?!
I ventured a comment at the lunch table yesterday that I believe gravity is a “God thing.” To me, it is glaring evidence of the SUPERNATURAL (God) embedded in the NATURAL world all around us. And I don’t think you don’t need to go to college to know that gravity doesn’t really make any NATURAL sense. Magnetism is understandable—and we can reproduce it and test it. But gravity? I’ve never heard a clear scientific explanation for it, and to my limited knowledge, I don’t think man can reproduce it.
It is truly amazing the volume of knowledge available to us via the internet. I had a little fun this morning and simply entered a question into the Google search engine box—“what causes gravity?” Bingo! The first link in a big list is about all I need get a “Haleluia” worship response from my own heart—that also offers huge factual support to my hunch. That link contains a short quote from some science publication. Here it is: “Aug 10, 2007…Science can measure gravity, but its source eludes discovery.” Did Jesus really mean what he said when He affirmed, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5, KJV). Man—if I’m connecting dots correctly, I can’t even stick to the earth without Him!
Is the Apostle Paul just expressing his biased opinion at the end of Romans 11—or is it HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED TRUTH? Listen again as he worships and quotes Old Testament Scripture out loud: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:33-36). Are you still on your chair?
With my little head pondering these big things, I penned what I believe to be a simple sensible question on my yellow pad this morning. Is my thinking valid? “If something mindless creates something orderly and wonderful by accident, doesn’t it make sense that you should be able to use your mind and reproduce it on purpose?” I don’t know what’s wrong with me—but it just makes a lot of sense to me that INTELLIGENCE should be able to outsmart NON-INTELLIGENCE!
“In the beginning, God” still registers in my mind as the best scientific explanation available.
“Two men please God: who serves Him with all his heart because he knows Him; who seeks Him with all his heart because he knows Him not.” - Nikita Ivanovich Panin