God provides for us, causing us to worship Him. This devotional reading looks at how animals give us their best and how God gives His best through the Plan of Salvation and the promise of eternal life.
Nuggets
- Animals provide for mankind.
- God provides His best for mankind by offering us the Plan of Salvation.
- God provides His best for mankind by offering us eternity.
I don’t know about this devotion. Charnock didn’t give us verses to clue us in to what he was thinking.
And what Charnock gave us is out there in first read.
I was considering skipping it, but we’ll see where it takes us.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Finding Jesus through Spiritual Worship study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this series is Menander and Charnock’s Spiritual Worship.
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The headings on the first two sections are Charnock’s words.
All Creatures Serve Man
“All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables” (Gen. 9: 2-3 NLT)
Animals provide for mankind.
Well, the heading is almost Charnock’s words. He actually wrote, “All creatures serve man, by the Providential order, with their best.”
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From the start, mankind was to have supremacy over the animals. “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground’” (Gen. 1: 26 NLT).
We know the animals didn’t necessarily fear Adam. “So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one” (Gen. 2: 19 NLT).
At least, they didn’t fear Adam on the day he named them. I guess an argument could be made as to whether each and every animal came to Adam. Was Adam naming the species dog, or was he naming them Rover, Spot, and Puddles?
We don’t want to put too much emphasis on our domination over the animals, but we do need to keep it in perspective. “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Ps. 8: 6-9 ESV).
Mankind has been given authority over animals. That doesn’t mean we can be cruel to them.
It means mankind is higher on the pyramid than animals.
When we read the verses in Genesis 9, we know God gave the animals to Noah and his family to eat. He was providing for mankind’s continued presence on earth.
Leale made an interesting observation. He gave the following list of what else it did.
- “Raises the relation between the sexes above all degrading associations.
- “Tends to promote the stability of society.
- “Promotes the tender charities of life.”
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Part of me says, “Now, how did he get that out of the verse?” Oh, we get #2. That tries in with providing mankind’s continued presence on earth.
#1 and #3 look like they are a stretch.
But remember, we are talking about best here. There is no qualification made on animals of the earth. It does say all.
So, there is no distinction between gender.
Hopefully, that will promote the charity between mankind and animals.
God Has Served Man with His Best
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29: 11 NLT)
God provides His best for mankind by offering us the Plan of Salvation.
It kind of threw me at first to read that God served man with His best. We usually think about God giving us what is good, but not best.
Think about it, though. Mather reminded us all that God has done for us. He wrote,
“Try to think of the future of God’s lost children in the light of what He has done for them. If we consider it in the light of the Incarnation of the Son, His heavenly teaching, His mighty works, and His voluntary sufferings, we shall never despair. Think further of what God is doing through His Spirit; for He is through His Spirit enlightening men’s minds, leading them to the truth, convincing them of sin, and purifying the nature and perfecting the character of believers.”
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The best God could give us was the birth, death, and resurrection of His Son. By no other way could we gain salvation.
“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 11-12 NLT).
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
God could have given us nothing better than the Plan of Salvation. It restores our relationship with Him as it pays the penalty for our sins.
God Will Serve Man with His Best
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8: 28 NLT)
God provides His best for mankind by offering us eternity.
Mather also reminded us that God is training us. He is giving us good right now, so that we can get to the best later.
What God is doing is sanctifying us so that we are holy as He is. Sanctification is the transformational process of the mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
That is definitely God’s best. It leads to perfection. There is nothing better than that.
James put it this way. He wrote,
“The ‘good’ here spoken of does not apply to our health, ease, or fortune, but to our eternal interest. Who does not see that afflictions have a beneficial tendency? They bring us to reflection; they quicken prayer; they wean us from the world, etc. But even spiritual good is not the highest reference. ‘Good’ looks to heaven and points to eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17).”
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I love how James connected Romans 8: 28 with Jeremiah 29: 11. All the different things that happen to us are not isolated events. They are connected to navigate God’s plan from inception to completion.
Making the Connections #1
God is giving His best. We have to put our confidence in that promise.
I like how James explained it. He wrote, “‘We know.’ It is not a mere conjecture; an opinion; it is a declaration of absolute certainty. We have the promise of a God that cannot lie; and we have the power of a God who can do all things that He wills to accomplish His promise.”
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We have to put our faith, trust, and hope in God.
Faith is a gift from God and a work of the Spirit that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Trust is assurance that the promises of God are true.
Hope is the expectation, also called a living hope, based on the confidence that, because of our relationship with God, our names will be found in the book of life.
Glossary
We have to believe God when He is saying things to us. Are we going to listen to Him and be His children?
Making the Connections #2
What does this have to do with spiritual worship? I think a lot.
We aren’t going to worship Someone in Whom we have no faith, trust, or hope. God’s provision for us proves He is worthy of all three.
How Do We Apply This?
- ABCD
- Increase our faith, trust, and hope.
Father God. We praise Your name. Help us to increase our faith, trust, and hope as we navigate the Secretarial route. Amen.
What do you think?
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