Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 8 (1893)

Ms 108, 1893

Diary/The Creative Power of God

Circa 1893

Previously unpublished.

The greatness and majesty of God is not to be limited by human finite conceptions. We are to study His Word. Many know little of God. We need to know what is meant by the prayer Christ offered to His Father. [Read] John 17:1-3. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (v. 3). May the Lord enable us [to] appreciate these words, [to] study to know the meaning of them. We are to obtain every ray of light shining upon our pathway that God has given us, and regulate our conduct toward Him by the infallible standard of His own plain and positive declarations. 8LtMs, Ms 108, 1893, par. 1

God is the great master Artist. We are to honor God in all things. We may say, “Behold, heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee” (1 Kings 8:27). A human artist can only fashion his work from materials from something already prepared for him and which he cannot make; but the Lord God is the Alpha and Omega. He was not at all dependent upon pre-existent matter in the creating of our world. “He spake, and it was done” (Psalm 33:9). “Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3). 8LtMs, Ms 108, 1893, par. 2

All His work is of a character that is not discernible; all things spiritual or material stood up before the Lord God at His word and were created at His pleasure, “the heavens ... and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6). “I,” said the Lord, “have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all the host have I commanded” (Isaiah 45:12). God made the world; He was not dependent upon pre-existent matter. “I,” saith the Lord, “have made the earth, and created man upon it.” He is Himself the great and constant worker. He watereth the earth and blesseth the increase on it; He “covereth the heaven with clouds,” and “prepareth rain for the earth. ... He giveth snow like wool: and scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes” (Psalm 147:8, 16). “He divideth the sea with his power” “and laith up the depths in storehouses” (Job 26:12; Psalm 33:7). Fire and hail, storm and tempest fulfill His word. 8LtMs, Ms 108, 1893, par. 3

In their finite comprehension men do not understand God or His works. Those who do not have the Holy Spirit's guidance attribute the steady course of nature to the effect of necessity rather than the continual working of an omnipotent power. The Lord is keeping everything under His all-wise direction. It is God alone who makes the dayspring know its boundaries and who stretcheth out the shadows of the evening, who commands the sun to shine by day and the moon by night. He prepares a place for the rain and a way for the lightning and thunder that maketh the herbs to grow upon the earth. The hand of the Lord doeth all these things. 8LtMs, Ms 108, 1893, par. 4

The Lord can, in a moment, blot out of existence the whole scene of nature. The houses built and supposed by the skill of man to be indestructible—fire-proof—He touches with His fire and they consume away. Nothing can stay the progress of His fire. He “removeth the mountains, and they know it not”: He “overturneth them in His anger.” He “commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.” He “shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.” “The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof.” “The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence.” “The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all their goings.” “The eyes of the Lord are in every place.” “He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth unto the whole heaven.” “The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.” Job 9:5-7; 26:11; Nahum 1:5; Proverbs 5:21; 15:3; Job 28:24; 1 Chronicles 28:9. He knoweth the things that come into our minds every one of them. There is not “any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). 8LtMs, Ms 108, 1893, par. 5