Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Kevin Corbin

  • Dancing with Joy

    Two trees dancing with joy

    Yesterday we went to a friend’s home for our weekly community group meeting. The first thing I saw when I exited the car was these two trees dancing with joy.

    Technically, I was experiencing Visual pareidolia. It’s a psychological phenomenon where your brain recognizes familiar patterns—especially faces—in random or vague stimuli. Humans are particularly wired to spot faces, so we tend to “find” them in things like clouds, tree bark, rocks, or even shadows.

    It happens to me a lot. It’s just the way I am wired. Yet, you don’t need a lot of imagination to look at the picture and see two trees dancing with joy.

    That image got me thinking about the state of the created world, both now and in the future. Right now, it is suffering and groaning.

    For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  Romans 8:22-23

    That will change. The Lord will set everything right.

    “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

    Isaiah 55:12-13

    That day is coming, for the Lord has promised it. Christians are the only people who have a true reason for hope. We ought to be giving thanks, singing, dancing, and praising God more.

    He gives us fresh mercies every morning, and He will deliver on his promises.

    I long for the days when the mountains break forth, and the trees clap their hands and dance. How about you?

    In the interim, remember his blessing and promises and rejoice.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    The Gospel – Spreading Joy
    # Right Belief Must Become Right Living

  • The power of the natural world points us to God

    Vedder River near Chilliwack - flooding with the powerful atmospheric river

    We have just come out of another atmospheric river, a powerful series of rainstorms. It has created powerful flood and near-flood conditions. It has washed out roads and caused mudslides and landslides. Just another typical spring in BC’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. 

    It’s a powerful sight, and it’s often commented on. There is no doubt that it can be an awe inspiring sight to see, and it can also be incredibly destructive

    I frequently hear people commenting about the “Power of Nature.” There is power there, but the power isn’t caused by “nature.” Nature has no power to do or cause anything outside the constraints set by God. There are rules that the natural world must abide by.

    The power that created this “Nature” that many worship is none other than the God of the Bible, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. As its creator, he stands outside of time, space, and matter, but can intervene in any way that He sees fit, in any manner that does not violate His character. There is nothing and no one more powerful than Him.

    Our world is a broken place and will continue to fall apart until the Lord redeems it at the culmination of time. The new heavens and new earth will be better than this one, even better than Eden.

    Those who worship the created are blind.

    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  Romans 1:18-25

    There is much to be admired and awed by in the natural world, but it ought to send us in search of the creator.

    Open your eyes. What do you see? The fingerprints of God are on everything in the created universe.

    Give Him the glory due His name.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    Creation is a Signpost: Why You Can’t Say You Didn’t Know
    General Revelation: Why No One Can Claim They Didn’t Know
    The Gospel – the best news you will ever hear