WONDERFUL WORKS PSALM 40:5

 

Verse number 5 of Psalm 40 speaks of the wonderful works of God our Creator. Life has much more meaning when we acknowledge the work of God in our universe. A personal experience with the Lord is deep and rich, and such experiences are ours for the believing. God is always available to bless our lives with His nearness and His grace. When I eat a fine ear of corn, I enjoy it infinitely more because I know that God created the matter the corn is composed of, and He set in motion the laws of physics and chemistry that caused the corn to grow.

Psalm 40:5 says, “Many O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.“

 Writing and preaching about the wonderful works of God is discouraging in some ways, because it seems that what I say about them is so mundane. How can I speak words that can contribute to what the Word of God says? Even with a doctor degree on my wall, I stand beneath these great statements like a blubbering little boy trying to explain to his playmates just how great his daddy is. I feel just plain tongue-tied and inadequate. But with such a glorious task the Lord has charged me.

Every work that God has done is wonderful. There is not a single thing we can find in the Holy Writ that God has done that is simple or ordinary. God leaves the simple and the ordinary for us to do. For example, in the book of John where is recorded that time when Lazarus died. Jesus stood at the tomb of his friend, and wept. Mary and Martha believed that He could have prevented Lazarus’ death, but they needed to take another step of faith, and learn that Jesus Himself is the Resurrection and the Life, and that He Who had sustained Lazarus in life could deliver him from death to life.

 Jesus was ready to raise Lazarus from the dead, a task certainly, that no human could do. The healers on TV do not even make a pretense of raising the dead. The greatest men of God’s choicest servants have not been able to raise a dead body, but nearly anyone could move a stone with the help of some stout men. And that is what Jesus demanded. People must move the stones. In John 11:39 it is recorded that

“Jesus said unto her, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, Come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.“

Humans could move the stone. They could not raise the dead. God performs the works that man cannot do. That is why Jesus died on the cross in our stead. Only He could perform the wonderful work of man’s salvation. No other man or god exists who could perform such a work.

 God created animal and human life in such a way that it can adapt to its environment. There are squirrels living near both the north rim and the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The squirrels that live on the north rim look very different from those on the south rim, even though they are all squirrels. These squirrels never meet. It is about ten miles across the Grand Canyon, and the canyon is a mile deep. The squirrels can see across the canyon, but they are separated by a barrier that they cannot cross. They have adapted to their separate environments which are quite different.

Though these squirrels are different, they are still squirrels. Adaptation is not evolution. The squirrels adapted, but they did not evolve. Creatures must have a capability to change so that they can “get used” to a new climate, food, surface conditions, and many other influences, but they remain whatever they were. They do not – they cannot – evolve.

 I believe God must have created the animal kingdom for the wonderment and amazement of man. A thing as lowly as a frog can be a marvelous example of God’s many wonderful works. In Australia in 1973 scientists found a frog which gives birth through its mouth. According to “Creation ” magazine (vol. 15, no. 2, ppg. 26, 27) “The mother frog swallows her eggs after fertilization, and then stops feeding. For six or more weeks eggs develop and pass through a type of tadpole stage, all in the stomach, without being digested or passed forth along the intestine.”

The best story teller among evolution philosophers could not make up a myth that could explain such a phenomenon. Evidently, the eggs are covered with stuff that stops the digestive fluids from entering the stomach, and prevents the digestive tract from passing the eggs or the young tadpoles on down the digestive tract. In the stomach, the eggs hatch, and pass through a tadpole stage, as many as twenty-six of them, stretching the mother’s stomach to a very thin membrane. When they are fully developed, she goes to the surface of the water, and allows them to step off her lip into a life of their own.

“Many, O LORD God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done.“

It is absolutely amazing what microbiologists are discovering. It is almost too much to believe that a scientist can take apart a DNA strand, and put it back together. It is even more astounding that the scientist can see this beautiful handiword of God, and deny Him His glory. Seems that Man is tolerant of any religion on Earth, but faith in Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is out of the reach of most people.

The wonderful works of God are innumerable. Evolution, like faith in God, is based on faith. Almost every element composing living things seems miraculous. The faith required to believe in Evolution far exceeds the faith needed to believe in God. Can a scientist believe in God while doing the work of a scientist? It seems to me that giving God glory for His creative work would make a scientist much more honest and efficient. There is no sense in denying God. I believe that denying God is a deliberate effort to degrade the human race.

 It is a great pity that evolutionists attribute God’s wonderful works to natural selection and the other fabricated means of evolution. The lake in Tanganyika is teeming with beautiful and amazing fish. National Geographic in its special on public television had a story to attribute all these creatures to evolution. They were not creations of an omnipotent Creator, they were simply the result of matter creating itself, or moving itself into more complex forms. This is a pity for people who believe such fables, but it is most dangerous for the people who are responsible for this, because God will not permit people to handle Him and His Word so contemptuously.alt, which is essential to life, is composed of two deadly poisons. Water, which puts out fires, is composed of two highly explosive elements: oxygen and hydrogen. Plants receive the energy of the sun, and convert it into matter. Given enough time, uranium decomposes into lead; potassium decomposes to argon gas. Gravity is so common that it is rare that anyone takes time to think of the wonder of it, and the mystery of it. The magnetic field of the earth is a wonder that man can only guess about its operation. Consider the distant stars, and other objects in the vast universe.

The word “wonderful” itself cannot convey the actual depth and height and width of the phenomena around us that tower above our poor understanding. Worship involves wonder, and a holy awe and fear of the Creator. A man who walks with God is more god-like than the man who denies God, and makes himself a god, for man cannot instill in himself a wonder of himself. There is wonder in knowing we are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator. Where is the wonder in thinking we are the products of the chance movements of mindless matter.

 The Lord God has many wonderful works that involve His creative work. Think upon the cross of Calvary where the Lord God took upon Himself all the sins of mankind. Listen to our text as it continues　

“. . . and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.“

I can testify that the blessings of God upon my life overwhelm me when I think upon them. And I am only one in the vast multitude of persons who have lived upon this spinning orb. The cross of Christ, the cleansing blood, the marvelous grace, the limitless mercy, propitiation, justification, everlasting life; access to the Throne of God; the hope of eternal life; the expectation of the Lord’s return – the blessings and benefits are without number.

 My lips are numb when I endeavor to speak of the things that God has done and is doing and will do, both in His creative work and in His redemptive work. Yet will I lift my voice in praise and worship to Him Who has created me and redeemed me.

God was good for the poor old human race while He was recognized and worshiped. Now Man has decided that he can live bettert without Him. This is a mistake. Cling to your faith in God and His Son.