Morning Devotional

November  30, 2005
"Seeing Is Believing" (Part 1)        
    by Don Emmitte

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The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world. The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it. (Psalm 19:1-4 NLT).

 

When explorers from England first went to Australia they discovered some strange and wonderful animals not seen anywhere else in the world. We marvel at these animals today - animals such as the kangaroo, the koala (which isn't a bear as it is often called), and the ornithorhynchus, a mammal that laid eggs; spent some time in water and some on land; had a broad, flat tail, webbed feet, and a bill similar to a duck (now known as the platypus). When the explorers returned home, nobody would believe their story about the platypus. All felt it was a hoax. Even after they returned to Australia and brought back a pelt from this strange animal, people still felt it was a hoax and refused to believe it was real.

Robert Ripley made quite a name for himself displaying oddities under the title of Believe It or Not! There are lots of people who declare, "I believe only what I see for myself." However, that's not necessarily true either, because, by and large, people see and believe only what they want to see and believe. They often refuse to see and believe all else regardless of the evidence.

You know the truth is that what I see and believe has absolutely no effect on what is. What is, simply IS, whether I see and believe it or not. For instance, I've never seen an atom but I've seen (at least in pictures) the evidence of its incredible power and believe it is real. I have lived close to a nuclear power plant and can't see the electric power it is generating, but its electricity was evident in many of the Texas towns near Granbury. I couldn’t see the electricity but whether I believe it is real or not doesn't affect its reality. It just is.

I've never seen God either but I see evidence of his presence and mighty power everywhere I look—I see and believe because I want and choose to believe. With God, as with many things in life, believing is seeing. Indeed, the heavens declare the glory of God. Believe it and you will see.