I once overheard a person telling someone about a project he had accomplished all by himself. Standing nearby–within earshot– was another individual who had actually done most of that project for this person. I know he heard the conversation and I couldn’t help wondering how he took that. I’m sure he had to be very hurt to have someone else take credit for what he had done.
When our son-in-law Ron was in college at Montana State University (go Bobcats!), he had an opportunity to take a friend over to Gardiner by Yellowstone Park for a late elk hunt. Ron and his friend went out the night before and scouted the area to see where they needed to be in the morning. They got up long before daylight to hike through the deep snow to get close to a ridge where they waited for the elk to come out of the Park. Sure enough just at daybreak, a herd of bulls begin appearing. Ron picked out a nice six-point and downed it with one shot. But…before they could make their way to the bull, some hunters on horseback were there already gutting it out, telling Ron his bull–a spike–was over there! Ron didn’t want to get into a fight over an elk, so let the horseback hunters take the big bull and he and his friend took the spike. Then he overheard the man say, “This six-point will make a nice rack for my son’s first elk!” (And his son wasn’t even with him.)
We had the opportunity to spend a night at a cabin in Glacier Park a week ago with friends who used to attend Three Lakes Bible Church where I pastored. The next morning we hiked in to Avalanche Lake (saw three grizzlies!). We decided to start out with a tour group led by a Park Ranger. We stayed with the group for the first three stops and then headed out on our own. I knew it would be difficult to continue listening to her evolutionary “tales.” She very excitedly showed us a “fossil” rock which she said was 2 1/2 billion years old, formed by layers of sediment and bacteria. She went on to say how life then developed some 70 million years ago. When she finished, I asked, “So how did it get from the bacteria in the rock to you?” She said, “We’re not really sure, but we are working on that.” “So,” I added,”do you mean that given enough time the impossible becomes possible?” “I guess so,” she replied. I then said, “You know, there is another option. The Bible says ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ (Gen. 1:1). To create means to make from nothing, so it had the appearance of age.” Her reply was simply, “I’ve heard that.” I knew then that we had better go on ahead of the group! (I’m sure she was glad we did too!) I couldn’t help but think of how God must “feel” when we don’t give Him credit for what He has made. When I look at the amazing world that we live in, I am just overwhelmed with the awareness of what a mighty God we serve who made this and then judged it by the flood, which explains much of what we see that evolutionists try to explain by a process of time and chance. (I also asked the Ranger if she had ever studied what took place at Mt. St. Helens that gave appearance of having taking thousands of years yet happened in a matter of hours. She said she hadn’t looked into that!).
It’s bad enough to claim you perfomed a task that someone else actually did, or to confiscate a bull elk that you actually didn’t shoot and consider it your own, but to try to explain away God’s creation by giving a theory that over billions of years living matter formed from non-living matter (and where did that come from?) is a very serious offense. The Apostle Paul spoke about that in his letter to the Romans, saying, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Ro. 1:18-23).
It is important to give credit where credit is due–especially when it comes to what God has made and done.
Forever His,
Pastor Dave
Wisdom of The Week 