The movie Roots is on TV from time to time. A guy by the name of Alex Haley is the author of the book where the movie comes from. I read the other day he has an unusual picture hanging on his office wall. It’s a picture of a turtle on top of a fence post. Someone asked him why it was on his wall. He said “Every time I write something and I read my words and think that they are great and begin to feel proud of myself I look at the turtle on top of the fence post and remember that he didn’t get there on his own. He had help.”
You know folks, that is what thankfulness is all about. It’s to remember that we got here with the help of God and that He is the provider of all life and every blessing we have. God created the universe, earth and sea and all the creatures in the sea in the first 5 literal days of creation. On the 6th day, God created the animals and all the things that would live upon the earth. And then the same day.. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
You ever wondered why God created something that would rebel against Him? You ever wondered why God would hand us something as marvelous as the earth on a silver platter and He would say take care of this for me? God said in a sense, I’m giving you dominion over every living thing. I’m giving you complete control over it all.
You ever wondered why God would send Jesus His only begotten Son to pay for our sins and then we turn right around and sin again? You ever wondered why you and I sin and do the things to hurt God and then we cry out for Him to forgive us? The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Psalmist in Psalm 8 wondered the same things many years ago. “3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant from years ago liked to take long walks on a summer evening meditating and thinking. It was said that he was setting on a park bench when a policeman noticed that he had been there for several hours. The policeman came up to him and said, “What are you doing?” The philosopher said, “I’m thinking.” The policeman said, “Who are you?” Mr. Kant said, “That’s precisely the problem I’ve been thinking about.”
‘Who am I?’ He is the same philosopher who wrote that life could be about four basic questions: What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope for? And Who am I?
We got to wonder, looking at the greatness and majesty of His creation why God would be so mindful of mankind? What is man in God’s eyes? It’s simple. For those who belong to Jesus. We are a sons and daughters.
Abba is where we get the word Daddy. It’s a friendly name for Father. The Bible says these things we go through in the flesh are not to be compared to the things God has in store for His sons and daughters. How about you? Are you in the family of God? If not do it today because tomorrow could be too late.