Understanding God? & Prayer: Faith and God’s Sovereignty

It seems as though there is something inside all of us humans. There is this desire to figure out everything that touches our lives, whether corporeal or spiritual. However, as a Christian I believe every desire we humans have is or, maybe better, can be tainted by sin. As we perceive, we can explain and as we explain we can then rest easy that the world was truly created in our image. As if God created us to be gods as if we could somehow compete with and overthrow Him.

Why are so many scientist consumed with proving out and figuring out the beginnings of the universe? Why are scientists so consumed with proving how this planet came to be populated by us? Why are these same scientists so adamantly against Christianity? They are so quick to dismiss Christianity as a myth. Why?

(Genesis 2:8-9,15-17) Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
(Genesis 3:4-6) "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Humans have been evil and wretched from the beginning, even though we were actually able to walk with God, physically, we wanted more then He could give us. We wanted to know it all. We wanted to be like God. Dare I say we wanted (or perhaps even want) to be God. Sound familiar? We chose the tree of death, instead of the tree of life. It is interesting to notice that the tree of immortality, of life, was not restricted from man, only the tree of death, of the knowledge of good and evil. It was such an easy command, for our benefit and His glory, with free access to immortality with God. So the first sin was also the most heinous. God was with them (Immanuel). This was before the great divorce or fall. Man had direct physical access to God. He was there to be praised, to be worshipped and to directly inquire and converse with, like another person. Why didn’t Adam or Eve simply just ask God? Why did they trust a serpent they knew wasn’t sent to them from God? Even though they hadn’t eaten from the tree they already knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew the serpent was lying. They knew why they couldn’t eat this fruit and what the result of eating the fruit was. They already knew good from evil.

Fast forward thousands of years and man is still repeating the same old mistakes, except 100 fold. To me it seems utterly foolish to believe the world created itself somehow. Our planet orbits at the exact proper distance from the sun to sustain life! Closer (Venus) is too hot, further away (Mars) too cold. We are the only known sentient life forms, in corporeal form, in existence. Why? Why aren’t monkeys or fish or birds or dogs or cats or any other life forms capable of this? If evolution were true then surely other sentient life forms would exist. Wouldn’t “nature” be able to find a way for life to exist on the moon or Mars or Venus or one of the other planets or moons? Surely if it were powerful enough to enable man to come from a single celled organism it would be powerful enough to create a life form which could exist in a Mar’s like environment. Right? I mean Mars has an atmosphere, it’s not a complete vacuum. Surely nature could come up with something that could survive on Mars, no matter how strange or alien? Oh, wait a minute, our great scientists have already set boundaries for how life could form because they know it all. They already know how life could form. There has to be a set environment, with specific gases and specific amino acids and on and on. So we’ve already established boundary conditions for life. So suddenly “nature” is limited. It’s not all powerful. The universe has to somehow randomly supply all of the necessary components for life to then randomly form. Then somehow the universe created itself from nothing. Does this make any sense? However, it almost seems to when “they” explain it.

The below link was one part of the impetus for my discourse. I guess it kind of chaps my butt when self purported “intelligent” people, who have obviously never had an independent thought apart from the work and established opinions or scientific work of other people, state their opinions as fact. I try to encourage everyone to use the brain God has given us to investigate and figure things out for ourselves. For me the Bible is the only rock solid truth in writing. Everything else is subject to this truth and as I continue on in this life I find more and more how true the following verse is: (1 Corinthians 1:24 ) For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_re_us/intelligent_design_course_1

Sub-article: Prayer: Faith and God’s Sovereignty

The other catalyst for this article is a discussion I had with a friend of mine concerning faith and prayer. I described a health problem my mother is dealing with in which I’m applying prayer, and the belief I hold that my lack of faith is a factor with this situation remaining a closed door. My friend disagreed with me and holds to the belief (basically) that our prayers are under God’s sovereignty alone. I don’t disagree with him on this point and that’s why I pray “your will be done Lord”. I believe I’m too sinful to understand God’s ways, however, I believe scripture teaches that faith and God’s sovereign will are one. Just as the glory of Jesus and the absolute good (or best situation) in my life, as well as the entire world are all one. Sin (and we are all sinful) is counter to God’s will, counter to faith, counter to God’s glory and so counter to life (life as God’s good will). In part I use these scriptures to obtain this view:

(Mark 9:17-29) A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?", "From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer."

(John 14:12-15) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

(1 Corinthians 13:11-13) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(John 16:22-24) So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

(Mark 11:22-24) "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

However, here’s a clear example of pure faith in prayer and a closed door to a request. This would be an example of the Father’s sovereign will superseding a pure desire. However, notice the disclaimer “yet not my will, but yours be done.”
This is Jesus’ prayer just prior to be taken by the temple guards:

(Luke 22:41-43) He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Conclusion

The truth, in God’s word, is absolutely not subjective, however, human interpretations can be. When a man interprets the word, look for fruits of the Spirit. If there are no fruits then his/her truth become very subjective. This is what I try to do: Take any one piece of human truth (human interpretation of the word) and measure it against the whole (i.e. the entire Bible). I also ask myself: Which interpretation brings the most glory to God versus interpretations which give the most glory to man? Last, but not least, pray and trust that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth to you.

(John 14:16-18) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.