The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-07-05
The God Who Acts
Lesson for July Z. 1868

Believing there is a God is
necessary to religion: but just
believing that God exists doesn't
make a person religious. Belev-
ing there is a school doesn't
make me educated; believing
there is a hospital somewhere
will not mend my broken leg:
believing that woman exist does
not make "a marriage. So believ-
ing that God exists does not
make religion, it is only the bare
start of it.
That God is. is important;
what He is, is more important;
but the Christian religion. and
the Jewish before us, believe
that we haven't got to the heart
Of the matter till We have asked,
What does God do: The God Of
the Bible is not serene infinite
Contemplation. lost in his own
great thoughts. viewing human
affairs with Indifference, as an
emperor might look at an ant
hill. The God we worship is a
God who acts. He S a God
whose actions, SO far as they are
concerned with us, have been
revealed to us through the BIZ
BILE. At the beginning of the
Ten Commandments God is iden-
titled. not by describing what
He is like. but by recalling what
He has done.
Why God acts
The very first mention of God
in the Bible, in the very first
sentence. tells Of something God
did He created the heavens
and the earth We must not
fancy that God had been spend
ing eternity in idleness and that
now for the first time He was
stirred up to action. But what
ever else God has done His
dealings with men and women
began, we may say. when He
made the world in which we live
The Christian theologians gen
orally believe that God didn t
have to create any world at all,
n this one in particular; He was
entirely free in creation.
Still. He must have had rea-
sons. He is not God who
does anything Just for the fun
of it," We are not left to sheer
guess work We can perhaps not
comprehend why God should
create anything at all, but we
can think of some good reasons
why God created this kind of
universe. The story in Genesis
tells Of Gods creating a world
carefully ordered; a world begin
ing with light; a world filled
with life It is fair belief that
God acted in this way because
He does not approve of disorder,
darkness and death.
Where God acts
God doubtless acts in ways
and places far beyond our power
to follow Him even in thought.
But within the range Of our
line Of sight, SO to speak, God
acts in two realms the realm
of nature and the realm Of man.
God does not force His way into
nature or the life Of man. He
belongs in both because He
created both. and He did not
shut himself out when He made
them. People sometimes make
the mistake of ascribing to God
only events that are mysterious
and terrible. On insurance con-
tracts. for example. act of
GOO" means disaster of some
kind. But God is in the world
on a sunny summer morning
just as in a blizzard. It is by an
act of God that the sun is bright
and the sky is blue: for it is by
IN act of God that there is a
sun and sky at all. Christians
do not believe that God made
this world and tossed it-this
earth and all the stars there are
out into space to spin in the
emptiness as best it can. Rather,
God upholds the earth and the
heavens, keeps them going. is
at work continually. The growth
of a flower is as much of a mir
acle as could be imagined, only
We have grown used to the Nigh
ty and amazing acts of God that
We can see every day.
How God acts
God also acts in man. We be-
lieve that all good comes from
him. Wherever we see an I'M