Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
And all that is within me,   
bless His holy name.   
Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
And forget none of His benefits.   
- Psalms 103:1-2   
415 N. Mill Street   •   London, KY 40741   •   606-878-6108

    Teaching

    Articles

    Sermons

    Special Series

    Bible Classes

    Q & A

    Videos

God's Desire

There is a purpose for the things which God has created. We are told in Isaiah 45:18 that He created the earth with the purpose of being inhabited. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else."  In Genesis 1:26 we are told that the creation of the animals are for man's use as either food for mankind or as help and assistance to man. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."  In Genesis 9:23 we are told that the plants and herbs were created for mankind to use as a food source. "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."

            And so we come to man. What is God's desire and purpose for mankind being created? We were made to seek God and to worship Him. As the apostle Paul stood on Mars hill and spoke to the Athenians we find these words that were presented to them in Acts 17:24-27. "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 anything, 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:"  We were created to search for someone who is invisible and that can't be concretely seen. This sounds challenging to us and we might even wonder if we could even actually find Him.

            But God tells us where to look to find evidences of His existence. In Romans 1:19,20 we read " Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"  God is not at all hard to find, we just need to know where to look. Paul told the Athenians that they could find Him and that He " be not far from every one of us."  Look at what God declared about Himself in Jeremiah 23:23,24 " Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."  He desires to be known and to make Himself known to us. God through Jeremiah says that He can be found "  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord:"  (Jeremiah 23:13,14). What is required of us in this endeavor is to search Him out with our whole heart. Lamentations 3:25 records " The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him." There are great benefits and blessings in seeking and finding the Lord God Almighty.

            We were created for the purpose of seeking and finding the Almighty God-our Creator. And upon finding Him and seeing the glory and majesty that surrounds Him we should be compelled to reverence and worship Him. Remember how the Preacher summed up what the duty of man was in Ecclesiastes 12:13 " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

- Larry Bumgardner



Back