God vs Nature: Who or What is in Control?
By Kenny Luck
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7)
It’s strange to live someplace that was once under hundreds of feet of water. But like much of the western US, that was the case in Southern California. In fact, evidence of this once shallow sea can be found along the beaches and in the deserts in the form of ancient shells and other ancient fossils. Over the millennia oceans ebb and flow, rise and fall—reshaping the landscape, exposing and then burying vast swaths of land.
When King Solomon talks about the constancy of the seas, it’s as a man who has seen it all and done it all, and sees the futility of it. For Solomon, it’s a cycle we can’t control—a man is born, another dies, and on the cycle goes. In other words, we are all just drops of water in a vast sea.
But that’s not how Jesus views the order of things:
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20-21)
Notice that when Jesus talks about the natural realm—such as mountains that move by man’s faith—His message is, “Your faith is more powerful than anything on the Earth.” However, when Solomon—who was world weary and whose wealth brought him little peace—talks about nature, he views it as having command over man.
It’s not that Solomon was wrong: Our lives are the flicker of flashing flame, and when the light goes out, most of us might be remembered for two or three generations. (Think about that.) But Jesus’ truth is that as mortal men, our faith has the power to change our own life and the lives of people God puts in our path—today. How many men on this earth have the chance to effect positive changes that last forever? Changes that echo for eternity? That only happens when we allow the power of God to flow through us—to use us as His instruments of peace and redemption.
Now that’s a mountain-moving proposition that no ocean can drown out!
Lord, I know that my life is just a flicker, so use it to shine Your light on Jesus instead of me.
The above faith content was originally published at Every Man Ministries.
Pastor and author Kenny Luck founded Every Man Ministries in 2000 to revolutionize men’s ministry, free men spiritually and ignite spiritual health worldwide.