The image above serves probably looks like a generic leaf to most people, but to me it is an entire sermon.

The image above serves probably looks like a generic leaf to most people, but to me it is an entire sermon.
The first thing we know about God and His character—before anything else—was that He created, profoundly speaking the very existence of something into being without canvas, brush, paint, wood, metal or even clay for that matter.
Have you ever stopped to consider how experiences in your childhood may have impacted your perceptions of God?
Harari assumes a God-of-the-gaps approach to science and progress generally; he assumes that, because we now know how things like disease, weather, and war arise and function, we can no longer chalk these things up to God’s Will. Though this is a faulty assumption—just because we know about the biochemistry of sickle cell anemia doesn’t mean it cannot be part of God’s plan—it is not an uncommon one, especially in scientific humanism.
The nations surrounding Israel can praise Yahweh not because of any suffering, pain, or judgment they are currently experiencing, but because of what God has done with Israel—and through repentance and faith and the ongoing plan of God, what God can do with them as well.
After years of persecution, years of praying, years of crying out to God, years of waiting… God shows up and fights for his people just when all hope is gone.