Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

Wonderful Works

by John Berry

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14b, NIV

I never cease to be amazed at the technological expertise of human beings. In the early years of computers I remember being bewildered at the skill of those who invented and manufactured golf ball printers. How did they work? I don’t understand how my mini android phone can respond to my touch and produce so many different images and functions. Someone was explaining to me how ground loops and unbalanced microphones work on an audio system. I sort of ‘got it’ but then ‘forgot it’. Glad he understood! How can scientists isolate a particle of an atom (or is it an atom of a particle?) and send it whizzing around an accelerator several kilometers in circumference when no-one can actually see it?

The psalmist says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14a), and often we quote this verse in the context of bringing healing to damaged people. Yet the remainder of the verse goes on to say that God’s works are wonderful, and maybe that is a wider issue than the way we use it in ministry.

The works of God are certainly seen in creation, and our TVs in the UK have shown many programmes recently celebrating the wonderful world that we live in. Almost daily there are documentaries about the sea, the coast, the islands, the countryside, the flora and fauna and the universe in which we are. How great is our God indeed!

But when we consider the works of our hands – the micro engineering and the macro constructions, the glorious symphonies and the dramatic works of art, the lovingly restored old buildings and the delicious products of the cookery experts – surely they too are expressions of the works of God? God delighted in all that He had made, and I would go so far as to say ‘in all that would be made by those whom He had made’. I am sure that our Father in heaven rejoices in man’s realisation of the potential He has put within us, both as we come into restoration of the image in whom we are created, and as we demonstrate God’s creativity by the amazing works of our hands.

Next time you’re amazed by some human achievement remember it’s but an expression of our Creator God, and give Him the praise for His wonderful works.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for making us, us. Thank You for the incredible skills and inventiveness You’ve placed within mankind. Thank You that Your heart is to restore us into our proper place of wholeness and potential, in which we’re able to fulfil the destiny You have for each one of us. Amen.

John Berry entered the Baptist Ministry more than 40 years ago, and joined the Team at Ellel Glyndley Manor in 2007 with his wife Jennie. They have both now retired from the team but remain as part of the Teaching and Associate Ministry Teams at Glyndley. John and Jennie have seven Grandchildren.

 

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