Bible: Earth is still the Lord's

I am not a science denier. You may hear otherwise, but I think that’s unfair.

To be anti-science is to be anti God, who created and owns everything in the whole cosmos. Our fathers in the faith used to talk about the value of studying God’s two books. One, of course, was the Bible, and the other was the created world we live in. They believed that God used both books to reveal himself to those who look for him in their pages.

The scientific method is one of the tools God has given humanity, so that we may progressively fulfill our original mission to “have dominion” over the world, as in Genesis 1:28.

I’m thankful for advances in science and technology. There’s no century previous I’d volunteer to go back to.

I’m not anti-science. I am, however, not a materialist. Which is to say, there are impassable limitations on science, concerning what it can investigate, and what it can pronounce as true. And, the real rub here is that it’s those things (the questions science can’t touch) that are the overwhelmingly important things.

I do get suckered in at times, though. I think most of us do. I get suckered into reacting to news as if this world is the only one that matters.

My family lost a loved one this Thanksgiving week, and the immediate temptation is to grieve as if that loss is permanent.

Even when we believe God, and know that a coming day will bring a glorious reunion, it’s still tough to feel it sometimes.

Or, when everyone I know is down with the Big C, it’s easy to feel some anxiety, as I run around doing my best to serve them.

Then, like the pilot light on the water heater, there’s a little glowing spot inside that remains constant and its message is simple: Jesus Christ rose from the grave.

There’s a world of good stuff that flows from that reality: Enough to occupy an enterprising preacher for a whole career.

One of the most basic bits of goodness is this, that death is not the end. If death was the end, it would’ve ended Jesus of Nazareth.

Christ walked out of the grave on the third day, and because of this, it’s OK to stop (while everyone around you is panicking); relax your hunched-up shoulders; breathe deeply; smile; and give thanks to God.

Nothing has happened that has removed the Lord from his throne. Pandemic or no, whether Delta, Mu, or Omicron, the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness including all who dwell therein. The gates of hell have not suddenly started prevailing.

What may actually be in danger, though, are our pretensions.

Maybe, and I’m not trying to poke at anyone here, just maybe, we’re not so “large and in charge” as we’ve thought. Is it possible our foundations have been firmly set in sand this whole time? Maybe there isn’t enough money in the world to fix everything, and if there was, there’s no one smart enough to allocate it correctly.

Christians who were happy to sing fierce, victorious, joyful hymns like, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” in 2019, should sing them louder than ever now.

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:

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