Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Welcome back to the Daily Blade. This week we are looking at Psalm 136 as we focus on God's steadfast love and mercy. So each day we're looking at a different section of the Psalm. Today we're going to be looking at verses four through nine. I'll read them here. To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever. The sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever. The moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever. So as we focus in on God's steadfast love and mercy, we must see God's mercy displayed in his creation. So God is the cosmic architect. Okay? Time, space, and matter came into existence in a timeless, spaceless, and immaterial way because God exists outside of time, space, and matter. So I mean it really boggles the mind to even think about that, but that is part of the wonder and grandeur of God. And one of the amazing things about God's mercy and creation is that it is so ordered. Because if things were not ordered, then life, existence even, would not be possible. I mean, just look at gravity. If we're looking at one example, if gravity were slightly weaker, there would be no stars. If gravity were slightly stronger, the entire universe would collapse. And then we can look at even the tiniest of things. Let's look at the force that binds protons and neutrons, right? If it were slightly weaker, there would be no stable atomic nuclei beyond hydrogen. And if it were slightly stronger, all hydrogen would fuse into helium, which would mean there would be no possibility of water, and we would have no stars like our sun, right? I mean, you could see how this could all unravel pretty fast without the order that God established. Now, in describing all that, you might be thinking that the universe and everything in it is just some kind of equation, you know, something cold and lifeless, but that's not the case at all. You see, God's steadfast love and mercy is shown in that his creation leads to loving provision. He didn't fine-tune the universe just for the fun of it. He did so in order that there may be life, our life, human life. He did so in order for there to be humans made in his image, humans with the capacity for love and the ability to love him and his creation. And this shouldn't make us feel shame or anxiety. It should be absolutely one of the things in our life that just makes us feel so small, right? And if we ever get too big for our britches, God has a way of reminding us where we sit in the pecking order, right? And if you go to the book of Job in the Old Testament, you can see things go really sideways for Job. And then we see Job start complaining. He kind of does so early on in the book of Job. And given his circumstances, you can understand why. But he even gets to a place where he curses the day he was born. But then we get God's rebuke starting in Job 38. I'll start in verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is that that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man, I will question you, and you will make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determines its measurements? Surely you know, or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors, and said, Thus far shall you come and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed. And guys, it just keeps going and going and going, just like that. In fact, it goes for the rest of chapter thirty-eight like that, and then the entirety of chapter thirty-nine, then we see this final question from God to Job at the beginning of chapter forty. And the Lord said to Job, Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. I mean, if you've ever tried to make up a cosmic mic drop, I'm pretty sure that's the one, right? So it's not up to us to understand all the ins and outs of creation. It's not up to us to, you know, surmise the reason behind the goodness of creation. We are simply to marvel at the goodness and mercy of God expressed in creation. Creation is all around you. Today, give thanks to God for that. His steadfast love endures forever.

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