God communicates with me. The one who sits enthroned over the earth talks to one of his grasshoppers. Yes! How could we ever look at reading and studying our Bibles as boring.
God never ceases to amaze me. This “year” my reading through the Bible is taking two years, and this morning I have come to Ecclesiastes 9 and, again, God did not disappoint. Yes, I have read this many times but God’s truth washes over me and refreshes and deepens my understanding as I bow before him in acknowledgement of his greatness.
__________
Excerpt from God …
- (Ecclesiastes 9:3 NASB95)
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.__________
Excerpt from The Local: Sweden’s News in English - … common to both highly creative people and schizophrenics, may afford a greater richness of thought, less filtering of information and thus the ability to make more associations, in more ways. Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box. (Fine line between genius and insanity: study; more excerpts at end of post / http://www.thelocal.se/26708/20100518/
As in so many places in Scripture, God peels back all of the layers and speaks to the stark reality of life on Planet Earth. Here is his piercing commentary as he speaks to what is deep within each of us.
” … the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives.”
How do we face truth like that? How do we cope with “God’s facts of life” as to who and what we are?
Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
We need to understand that we weren’t merely transitioned from a good person to a good Christian person with a few tweaks and alterations.
We were dead in our sins.
- (Ephesians 2:1-2 ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
But now we are alive in Jesus Christ. (If we have believed in Christ and received his gift of life.)
- (Ephesians 1:7-8 ESV) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
From darkness to light …
When God looks into our hearts … full of evil and insanity.
But now through our trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ, he is changing all of that. New life, new creation, clean heart because God is at work.
The price of passage into this new realm: The shed blood of Jesus Christ.
- (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
So what do we take from this dark passage in Ecclesiastes?
A renewed biblical perspective …
- We better understand our fallenness and our redemption.
- We don’t have to be surprised or afraid to think that God has overlooked something when he brought us into his family that may now jeopardize our standing with him.
- We can more easily and biblically accept who we are as very flawed beings who are now under the care and direction of a Sovereign King who has our best interests at heart.
- We do not have to rely on fluff. No need to question whether the glass is half-full or half-empty, whip up some positive thinking or spin our circumstances and nagging suspicions. God came out and said it, and now he is remaking us into the image of Jesus Christ.
God knew what he was getting into when he entered our lives. He knew what he had to work with. He will finish his task to his glory.
- (Philippians 1:6 ESV)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - (1 John 3:2 ESV)
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
________ Very interesting excerpts from an article on “the fine line between genius and insanity.” I have also included the link for the entire article.
http://www.thelocal.se/26708/20100518/
- The distinction between psychological illness and creative thinking is wafer thin, new Swedish research confirms, arguing that there is a feasible explanation for why the age-old myth of genius bordering on insanity could in fact be true.
- It is previously known that highly creative abilities are somewhat more common in people who have familial history of mental illness and thus carry a greater risk of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Researchers at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute have now sought to explain this link by studying receptors in the thalamic region of the brain.
- We have studied the brain and a certain type of receptor, known as dopamine D2 receptors, and we have shown that the dopamine system in healthy highly creative people is similar to that found in schizophrenics,” Dr.Fredrik Ullén, who led the study at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at the institute, told The Local on Tuesday.
- A lower reading, common to both highly creative people and schizophrenics, may afford a greater richness of thought, less filtering of information and thus the ability to make more associations, in more ways. Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box.
Now you can understand me a little better. 🙂
