We are kicking off a new series called “God Questions.” Here’s the idea … we live in a culture where God is questioned A LOT in a lot of circles.
Some people’s questions arise from curiosity, some from doubts, and others from disappointment. Having questions and doubts is never a bad thing … unless we simply walk away and never try to answer them.
And this is why getting answers is important ….
many of us have grown up hearing about Jesus and the Bible. We read stories about Noah’s Ark with all the animals sticking out and we think, “How cute.” Or, we read about Jesus’ miracles, and we’re really impressed.
But then someone challenges our faith and suggests that none of it is true. And our child-like faith is shaken. Suddenly, we have questions that we never knew we had before.
And if those questions aren’t answered, our shaken faith can become a broken faith.
Our Christian faith is not just a comforting myth for kids, it can be a bedrock reality for all of life. In fact, the Bible itself invites us to tackle the tough questions of faith and life. Here is some help from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians…
“Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.” 1 Corinthians 14:20
Paul is saying that it is good to be naïve about engaging in evil. You don’t need experience in a murder or doing other terrible things, or having terrible things done to you, to know they are terrible.
Then Paul says you need to be adult in your thinking … in your questions about God.
And so, we are going to ask some adult questions about God. MIT Professor Rosalind Picard stated publicly of few years ago that her journey to faith was based on this principle … “How do we learn, if we can’t ask?”
We have to be willing and able to ask. And that is what we are going to do in this series.
Today, we start by asking perhaps the most fundamental question involving this topic…
Is there a God?
I feel I need to start with a confession since I cannot fully address this question in a sermon. In truth, believing there is a God and believing there is NOT a God are both matters of faith. Neither can be proven.
But what I can do today is to begin to give you a few things to think about. And this takes us to our text. In Psalm 19, the Psalmist David is going to give us some clues to God’s existence.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands. 2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. 6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.” Psalm 19:1-6
Here we see the Psalmist using creation to help us think about God.
I love this because creation is so accessible … so visible to everyone. You don’t need a PhD in philosophy or logic to understand and consider these clues.
There is an illustration from a book titled “Five Proofs of the Existence of God” (Edward Feser) that I want to share with you. It is called the Aristotelian Proof, and it goes like this…
“The occurrence of any change C presupposes some thing or substance S which changes. The existence of S at any given moment itself presupposes the concurrent actualization of S’s potential for existence. So, any substance S has at any moment some actualizer A of its existence. If A’s existence at the moment it actualizes S presupposes the concurrent actualization of its own potential for existence, then there exists a regress of concurrent actualizers that is either infinite or terminates in a purely actual actualizer.”
This logic is not only true, but it’s actually a pretty good argument. Now, did you follow it completely?
Of course not, and neither did I … even after studying it for a few moments. Which is why I like what the Psalmist does in Psalm 19. Not only is what he says brilliant, it’s also simple.
Let’s take a little closer look, and see if you don’t agree with me as we detail some clues to God’s existence…the first being…
the Beauty of Creation
Let’s look again at the beginning of Psalm 19…
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1
The Psalmist looks up at the sky and says, “The beauty of all this is a clue to the glory of God.”
And if you’ve ever looked at a sunset or sunrise, and been overwhelmed by it, then you know what the Psalmist is talking about.
Part of the problem with unbelief is that it strips beauty of its meaning. Think about this for a few moments … if we are just a random collocation of atoms, then we HAVE NOTHING, but neurological hardwired responses to particular sets of data.
Beautiful scenery, beautiful music, even a beautiful person who we love aren’t really beautiful. We’re simply attracted to them because they, in some way, help us become fit for survival. Our ancestors found food during sunrises and sunsets, and so we like them.
Beautiful music and people attract us to intimacy, which helps us procreate the next generation, and that’s why we like them.
The beauty that overwhelms us isn’t really inspiring, and it doesn’t really have meaning except to move us to our basic needs. It’s all just about survival. Isn’t that line of thinking … really depressing?
Augustine, an early church author, noted that our desires correspond to real objects that can satisfy them.
For example…
Hunger corresponds to food.
Tiredness corresponds to sleep.
Relational desires correspond to friendships.
That being the case, what does a desire for beauty correspond to? Do you think it corresponds to something bigger than us … perhaps like the Psalmist is suggesting?
An obvious example of incredible beauty is the Northern Lights. Wouldn’t you agree?
I think unbelief just collapses at this point. I am ready to proclaim that if there is beauty, there must be a beauty maker. Thus, the first clue to God’s existence is the Beauty of Creation. Now, the second clue to God’s existence is…
the Rhythm of Creation
Let’s continue at verse 4 of our text…
“In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.” Psalm 19:4-6
The Psalmist notes that there is order to creation. The sun rises and sets over and over again … every day. The Psalmist is citing that as a clue to the existence of God. One of the most famous verses in the Bible is Genesis 1:1…
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”
But I want you to notice what comes next. Verse 2 says,
“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths…” Genesis 1:1-2
In short, there was chaos. Everything was “formless and empty.” There was no life.
It wasn’t until the 6 days of creation that God put things in order and continues to keep things in order. There are no symptoms of chaos in Creation.
It seems that one cannot talk about Creation without mentioning the scientific concepts of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Entropy. Long story short … when energy changes from one form to another form, or matter moves from one form to another, disorder, which is often called entropy, in a closed system increases … continually gets worse … and in every observable instance.
And yet, the Psalmist says, “The universe has this rhythm. And rhythm by definition is not random … it cannot be chaos. If that is the case, then who ordered all this? The universe is certainly ordered, it is not chaotic.
Here is another interesting quote from a rather famous person in the scientific world…
“This most elegant system of the sun, planets, and comets could not have arisen without the design and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.” – Isaac Newton
So, the first clue we discussed was the fact that IF there is beauty, there must be a beauty maker. Then, we looked at the ordered Rhythm of Creation.
Finally, I love how honest the Psalmist was by including…
the Tension of Creation in the Psalm, which is the third clue to the existence of God.
The Psalmist shows us that what we SEE can clue us into the fact that there IS a God, but it cannot tell us WHO God is. There is still a mystery about it.
Notice the tension in verses 2 and 3…
“Day after day the heavens pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.” Psalm 19:2-3
Verse 2 says there is speech. Verse 3 says there is no speech. Which one is it? Well, both really, and here is the point.
We can LEARN about the existence of God from Creation, but we CANNOT LEARN about the character of God this way. That is why the Psalmist continues in verses 7-8…
“The instruction of the LORD is perfect … the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy … the precepts of the LORD are right … the command of the LORD is radiant…” Psalm 19:7-8
Did you notice the switch by the Psalmist? He finally takes his eyes off the sky and moves to the Bible. The Bible gives him the details about who God is by detailing the attributes of God.
In verses 1-6, the Psalmist refers to “God”, where the word “God” is a generic term for divinity. There is some big being, but it doesn’t tell you who that being is.
While in verses 7-8, he refers to “the LORD”. In Hebrew, this means “Yahweh,” the personal name of God. The Psalmist says, “If I want to KNOW OF God, I can look up at the sky. If I want to KNOW God, I need to look in this book.”
My invitation to you is to keep looking UP and looking IN … as you ask yourself … “Where did all this come from?”
Then, ask yourself, “Does this book have some things I should consider?”
Here’s what you will find in this book … you will not only learn that God exists, but that God loves you.
And more importantly, that God has not just theoretical solutions to the puzzles of creation, but practical help for things like … worry, heartache, love, guilt, anger.
It’s not just that God created you. It’s that He’s interested in you! You are His child.
The wonder of it all … “Have you ever imagined what a baby is thinking as it comes into the world?” Don’t you wish you could remember that miracle?
Jesus not only cares about what we do with His creation, but He really cares about us AS His creation.
The cross is not only a clue to God’s existence, it’s a clue to God’s character. And that realization is not just something we should believe, it’s something we all desperately NEED.
One final thing … this is a picture some students drew regarding a crosswalk.
When you see this crosswalk, you have a premise based on what your eyes seem to be telling you. But the reality is … it’s just paint on a cross walk.
You surmise that those raised blocks will destroy your car, if you hit them. But if your premise is wrong, you must understand the truth, and change your premise, if you intend to stay on God’s path for your life, instead of turning to a godless alternative way because you have a wrong premise.
You DO NOT have to ever continue living under the umbrella of false premises or false teachings or misunderstandings. Seek the truth always. Ask the questions.
I can tell you that I believe with all my heart, mind, and soul … that God exists. And it helps in my conversations when I can frame my beliefs around clues like “the Beauty of Creation”, “the Rhythm of Creation”, and “the Tension of Creation.” May God bless all your efforts to continue to understand, believe, and experience faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Amen