Keener Thoughts – Who Actually Constitutes a Life

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jer 1: 4-5)

No doubt, all who claim Christianity, and yet accept abortion as anything except murder for convenience, should take this passage to heart. Whatever else this passage teaches, it is a statement that Jeremiah was, in the mind of God, a person with a purpose, before he passed through the birth canal. I believe it is unreasonable, and inconsistent with the revealed attributes of God, to suppose that this principle is not true with all human beings. If we would learn what life is, what defines genuine life, and what the implied responsibilities of life are, we must start with the information given by the author and originator of it. Many passages of Scripture foretell the birth, attributes, and future actions, of different human beings long before they were born. It seems that the inescapable conclusion of this revelation would be that the lives of all men are eternally in the hands of God. If you argue against this premise on the basis that it is my personal conclusion, then I direct you to clear statements of Scripture.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Act 17:24-28)

These Scriptures leave us with the inescapable conclusion that God is, not only the author and originator of life, but He is also the governor of life, and the only one who sustains life. This is true of every living plant, insect, bird and animal. It is equally true of people, and even more relevant to us, as intelligent and responsible beings. As the rivers begin with drops of rain in obscure places, on house tops, in open fields, in rain forests, and other places where they have no individual significance, so it is with our lives. Some people are born to wealth, nobility, reputation with great opportunity, and yet die of epidemic disease in youth, and are soon forgotten. Some of the wellborn die at the hand of criminals, and some of them die committing crimes, or in drunken debauchery, with no more note than if they had been born to a harlot, with an unidentified father. They flow on down the river of human history, with no more notoriety than a drop of water in a muddy overflow. In 1988 my wife and I visited the Hurst mansion on the west coast of California. The family wealth displayed by this mansion, and the many buildings accommodating it, was absolutely overwhelming. They entertained dignitaries from all over the world, and especially the wealthy people of Hollywood. Yet, Patty Hurst is famous, not for philanthropy, or charity, but for involvement in an atrocious crime of robbery. Then, there are those like George Washington Carver. Every black person who has not read Carver’s story, should. What a heritage this man leaves us! He was born a black slave baby, when he was just a little child, soon after his father died, his mother was stolen by slave traders, “night riders,” men who kidnapped slaves, and transported them away to be sold like rustled cattle. The Carvers, George’s legal owners, were God fearing, elderly people, and they raised him, and educated him, as well as his older brother, as if they were their own sons. George Washington Carver became one of the most accomplished agricultural scientists of all time. Surely, this would teach us something! “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all,” (Ecc 9:11) Solomon, in this passage, observes, that from a worldly viewpoint, that is all that the natural man can see of current, transpiring events, that is to say that, in the eyes of man, circumstances occur arbitrarily. However, we who by faith accept the sovereign, governing actions of God, know that all such things are always, and in every detail, controlled by the Divine hand. We are foolish and presumptions, to imagine that we can understand the details of what God is doing, but we are more foolish to conclude that God is not active in all things, simply because we cannot see Him, or analyze His actions.

Now, think of any baby born to poor parents, in an obscure part of the world. The child’s parents can never give him a college education, indeed, a highschool education is almost impossible. Many people cannot understand how such circumstances could exit, but they surely can, and do. I know first hand. But let me repeat the words of John Bunyan, “I am thankful that my parents were able to teach me both to read and to write.” Not a very high academic standard, is it? Still, his writings have blessed and encouraged multitudes of people, over more than three centuries. Obviously, much of this spiritual insight was given to him, not by what we could identify as blessing, but what we would see as terrible disadvantage, oppression and persecution. I have known several well known preachers, who were born into great poverty. They often went hungry, or at least, greatly modified their diet, to buy books, so they could educate themselves. Remember that most of what we can learn, in the academic world, comes from what has been written down. It does not come from, but only through, those expensive professors. If we will acquire written, and now the available electronically preserved material, starting with God’s written Word, all recorded truth, which is available in even the finest university, is now available outside that university. Degrees may not be available outside those institutions, but real education certainly is. Many of the greatest preachers, and of course, men of other walks of life, throughout history, have been self-educated men. Many of God’s prophets were “unlearned and ignorant men,” but being taught of God, they have been conduits of great blessing to us. A life is not necessarily length of days, recognition attained, or degrees received, but it is rather the course determined by the hand of God. Moses was born under sentence of death, yet was divinely granted unimaginable secular favor, which became worthless to him, and which he finally disdained. At forty years of age, he illegally killed a man, which act forced him to flee into the desert. This could have destroyed his life, but instead, the experience prepared him for one of the most notorious, memorable, and useful lives in all of human history. The hand of God upon him was stranger than fiction, but no one can read his history, and believe it, without understanding that God’s hand directed his ways, as definitely as He does the channel of a river.

Now, let me regress briefly to mention some incidental events in human lives that, apparently, could be nothing but destructive. When Fanny Crosby was born, the doctor, intending to put a drop of a commonly used cleansing agent of that time, into each of her eyes, mistakenly put some acid into both of her eyes and permanently blinded her. Certainly, none of us can know what her life would have produced, if she had been permitted normal sight. However, probably because of the apparent handicap, she became one of the most prolific song writers in all of religious history. The depth of insight she had of biblical truth, could have come from no one but God. No doubt, her doctrinal understanding was limited by religeon, but as I read and sing her songs, I behold some of the grandest perception of God’s grace, that any human being has ever expressed. Surely, she was an earthen vessel, but she was a vessel purged, and fit for the Master’s use. I expect that we could discover no human cause of her success. I think we must finally attribute it all to the sovereign government of God. Some of the greatest human contributors to science, agriculture, music, medicine, art, academic advance, and countless other fields of industry, were born blind, crippled, quadriplegic, and even autistic. Unquestionably, the elements of our lives, both righteous and wicked, that we, at our best, can only see as random circumstances, have often been the most formative influences of our lives.

Slumgullion Pass, in western Colorado, is 11, 360 feet above sea leavel. It freezes there almost every night of the year. I have seen it snow there, in July and August more than once. That pass, and the eight miles of highway, down to Lake City, a nearly 3,000 ft. drop, is unbelievably scenic. Though it is paved now, it is so steep and the curves are so sharp it is a serious challenge to many vehicles. Just over 200 years ago, a mountain just northwest of the pass, became so soaked with water from snow melt and rain, that it caved off and literally flowed almost eleven miles down the valley to the west. Thousands of tall trees were turned upside down, and green foliage was replaced, or covered, by red, brown and gray gravel. Great amounts of that “devastation” are still visible today, from the highway I just mentioned, and from “scenic view” stops along the way. That landslide created Lake San Cristobal, which is a governing funnel to the Lake Fork Of The Gunnison River, which flows into the beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir, very near to where the main Gunnison flows in, and then flows on out at the dam, and down through the beautiful, breathtaking, Black Canyon. Lake City, Colorado is so named because of Lake San Cristobal. The lake is one of the most beautiful tourist attractions and vacation spots, you will ever see, and Lake City is one of the most beautiful little vacation towns in the United States. Obviously, neither of them would be there, or at lest would be what they are, without that landslide. What the natural man would see here, as a freak of nature, Christians should see as the divine government of God, over every mountain and river on earth. Like this landslide, that effected both mountain and river, I believe our lives are, just to this extent, in the hands of God. I also believe that if we can, by faith, embrace this philosophy, we can see a great deal of beauty in our lives, yes perhaps, even in the ugliest aspects of them. In our depravity, we will, by nature, see only opportunities to sin, but when we, by revelation of The Word and The Spirit, see God’s governing, and His Son redeeming, terrible ugliness can be identified as a wonderful pathway to beauty.

My point is this: Our lives are like the rivers. As the rivers flow along by God’s control, so the minutes, hours, days and years, of our lives, progress through time, not only being changed by what they pass through, but changing many of the things which they pass through, some for good and some for evil. I must confess that I am very ashamed of some of the effects of my life. I am ashamed of many actions of my life, from which I know of no particular effect one way or the other, though they may be there, yet unknown to me. Could some of those actions have caused someone to fall into great sin, or even cost someone their life, or saved a life in a way I will never know? It is impossible for me to tell! However, I do know that I have caused many tears, and hurt people, in ways of which I am aware, and will never forget. I need not, nor should I, speak of these things of which I am specifically aware, because they are insignificant compared to things I don’t know. In the same sense, other people have done things, both good and evil, that have drastically effected my life, both positively and negatively. That fact painfully illustrates my own guilt in such matters. I have no way of knowing how many people have effected my life for good, as we passed by each other, and I will never be aware of it. I sometimes get a call from someone, whose name I labor to remember, who wants to tell me of a blessing my life has been to them. That always makes me feel wonderful, and causes great gratitude to God, for the grace He granted me in that matter. Sometimes, however, it reminds me of the many people who would never call me, because I offended them or ill-effected them, as my life flowed by, rather than blessing them. Are there those who lay along the riverbanks of my life, permanently wounded, or perhaps dead, or humanly speaking, condemned, because of evil effects I had upon them. I wish I could be negatively assured, but I just do not want to know. The Rivers build up and they tear down, and so it is with our lives.

There is one thing I do know, rivers never flow backward. In some places, they flow peacefully, and in other places, the same river flows swiftly and violently. There will be flat areas of terrain, where the banks are shady, and the river forms clear pools, with pleasant sandbars. In these spots, children will be playing in the cool, still waters, and animals will come there regularly to drink. Those seasons of our lives can be remembered pleasantly. Just a few miles down stream, that same river will be rushing through a narrow, rocky strait, and a traveler, ignorant of the river as a whole, will try to cross at the wrong spot, and lose his life for the effort. Such is the character of the rivers flowing, but they do not flow backward. I am aware of a few apparent exceptions to this rule. Once in Alaska, I was fishing in a small steam for Dolly Varden Trout. When I started fishing the water was flowing gently from my left to my right. About twenty minutes later I realized that it was flowing from my right to my left, though I certainly had not crossed the stream. Upon careful reflection I realized that because I was fishing near the Alaskan straights, where the tides often changed the immediate sea level by more than twenty feet, the tide was coming in, and thus producing this apparent phenomenon, of the water flowing up stream. I saw the same thing once, near where the Mississippi enters the Gulf of Mexico. Of course, that is quite different, since the tides in that part of the world, seldom change the water level more than two or three feet. No, I do not know why tides are so different, in different parts of the world, and I expect I should. What I do know is this: The water that comes down these rivers ultimately flows into the ocean, and never for very long does it flow back up that steam. So it is with our lives. Our deeds, good or bad can never be undone. You cannot return water, spilled on the ground, back into the container. You can never unscramble eggs. You can never undo your sins, nor can you undo your good works. You may counteract them, in many cases, by restoration for evil, or by tearing down good things you have built. But, in general, your life is like the river. What flows by is indelibly, whether written or unwritten, a part of your history. We can live pleasantly with the memories of the good we have done, and we must also live with the evil. But another unavoidable fact is that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive our just reward for those deeds, whether they be good or evil. The song writer said, “So sow the good seed, wheresoever you go, for you’ll reap whatsoever you sow.” May God bless our short paths with mercy.

FLK