Notes from class.

WHY HEAVEN IS THE STARTING POINT FOR UNDERSTANDING NIGHT & DAY DEVOTION

A. The Center of All Things

1. God's Existence

• In the revelation of Scripture God Himself is the ultimate center of all things. He dwells in the glorious solitude of self-existence and compared to His absolute necessity all things are feeble and frail-a vapor that appears and vanishes; grass that withers away in a moment.
• From the smallest insect to the most brilliant man, all are on a level plane in that they hang dangling over the abyss of non-existence, upheld only by His sovereign word. This in and of itself requires a profound shift in our thinkng because we tend to view the world, our lives, and everything in between myopically and egocentrically.
• In truth His identity is the unshakable rock of certitude with which all must reckon and find their orientation. This radical, all-encompassing centrality in all things means that only by throwing ourselves into Him and moving outward can we discern the truth about anything.

2. Contingency & Reality

• The consequence of this truth is that the further a creature drifts from the will of God, the less real they become. "Real" here doesn't denot any metaphysical qualities but simply that the greater the discord from God's commandment and design, the less relevant they are in the ultimate sense.
• This is due to the fact that only God has meaning in and of Himself because His existence alone is essential. Consequently any significance creation possesses is a bestowed or derivative signigicance and not inherent to them.
• In other words, the importance of someone or something hinges solely upon its relation to the Creator of All.
• This requires quite a shift in our thinking because we typically do not view the world from this perspective. Though the political, economic, and military leaders of the earth appear to be so influential, in God's eyes they are but a vapor that appears for a moment and then vanish.

With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing...It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. "To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. - Isaiah 40:14-15,22-25