The fact that man is by nature a religious creature was underscored with the discovery of the oldest known religious sanctuary in the world. The shrine was discovered in northern Spain. Evolutionists say that the shrine was built by early Stone Age man. In terms of biblical history, the sanctuary was probably built by some of the first post-flood settlers in Spain.
Scientists declared the ancient structure a religious sanctuary based on three criteria. First, it is a large structure that required the effort and cooperation of many people to build. Second, it has features that are unnecessary for daily living. Third, the structure is associated with a supernatural being. Scientists noted that the stone floor of the sanctuary shows a great deal of wear, indicating that it saw a lot of use. The worship center included an altar made of a limestone slab weighing nearly a ton.
The shrine also had a stone sculpture of a head. The right half of the head is human and the left half of the head is a carnivore of some sort. Worshippers at the site had separate storage places for sewing needles and hunting tools. Spear points, animal bones, and shells were found in a trench in the sanctuary.
Man is undeniably a religious creature. We have been made by our Creator in such a way that we are dissatisfied until we have a relationship with Him. You, too, can have a relationship with Him through the forgiveness of your sins which was earned for you by His Son, Jesus Christ.
Acts 17:27 “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…”
Prayer: Dear Lord, only in You can I be satisfied. I thank You that I can indeed be satisfied without fear because You have carried my sins to the cross and brought me new life through Your resurrection from the dead. Amen.
Notes: C. Simon. 1981. “Stone-age Sanctuary, Oldest Known Shrine, Discovered in Spain.” Science News, Dec. 5, p. 357. Photo: Envato
David, when he composed Psalms 23, knew this. Looking at life from the standpoint of a sheep, he wrote “He [the Good Shepherd] leads me beside quiet waters.” In other words, he alone knows where the still, quiet, deep, clean, pure water is to be found that can satisfy His sheep and keep them fit.
Generally speaking, water for the sheep came from three main sources: dew on the grass, deep wells, or springs and streams.
Most people are not aware that sheep can go for months on end, especially if the weather is not too hot, without actually drinking, if there is heavy dew on the grass each morning. Sheep, by habit, rise just before dawn and start to feed. Or if there is bright moonlight they will graze at night. The early hours are when the vegetation is drenched would dew, and sheep can keep fit on the amount of water taken in with their forage when they graze just before and after dawn.
Of course, dew is a clear, clean, pure source of water. And there is no more resplendent picture of still waters than the silver droplets of dew hanging heavy on leaves and grass at break of day.
The good shepherd, the diligent manager, makes sure that his sheep can be out and grazing on this dew-drenched vegetation. If necessary, it will mean he himself has to rise early to be out with his flock. On the home ranch or afield he will see to it that his sheep benefit from this early grazing.
In the Christian life it is a more than passing significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident, and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s Word. It is in the quiet, early hours of the morning that they are led beside the quiet, still waters where they imbibe the very life of Christ for the day. This is much more than mere figure of speech. It is practical reality. The biographies of the great men and women of God repeatedly point out how the secret of the success in their spiritual life was attributed to the quiet time of each morning. There, alone, still, waiting for the Masters voice, one is led gently to the place where, as the old hymn puts it, “The still dews of His Spirit can be dropped into my life and soul.”
One comes away from these hours of meditation, reflection, and communion with Christ refreshed in mind and spirit. The thirst is slaked and the heart is quietly satisfied.
In my mind’s eye I can see my flock again. The gentleness, stillness, and softness of early morning always found my sheep knee-deep in dew- drenched grass. There they fed heavily and contentedly. As the sun rose and the heat burned the dew drops from the leaves, the flock would retire to find shade. There, fully satisfied and happily refreshed, they would lie down to rest and ruminate through the day. Nothing pleased me more.
I am confident this is the same reaction in my Master’s heart and mind when I meet the day in the same way. He loves to see me contented, quiet, at rest, and relaxed. He delights to know my soul and spirit have been refreshed and satisfied.
But the irony of life, and tragic truth for most Christians, is that this is not so. They often try, instead, to satisfy their thirst by pursuing almost every other sort of substitute. For their minds and intellects they will pursue knowledge, science, academic careers, vociferous reading, or off-beat companions. But they are always left panting and dissatisfied.
Some of my friends have been among the most learned and highly respected scientists and professors in the country. Yet about them there is often a strange yearning, and unsatisfied thirst which all their learning, all their knowledge, all their achievements have not satisfied
To appease the craving of their souls and emotions, men and women will turn to the arts, to culture, to music, to literary forms, trying to find fulfillment.
And again, so often, these are amongst the most jaded and dejected of people.
Amongst my acquaintances are some outstanding authors and artists. Yet it is significant that to many of them life is a mockery. They have tried drinking deeply from the wells of the world only to turn away unsatisfied — unquenched in their soul’s thirst. There are those who, to quench this thirst in their parched lives, have attempted to find refreshment in all sorts of physical pursuits and activities.
They try travel. Or they participate feverishly in sports. They attempt adventures of all sorts or indulge in social activities. They take up hobbies or engage in community efforts. But when all is said and everything has been done, they find themselves facing the same haunting, hollow, empty, unfilled thirst within.
The ancient prophet Jeremiah put it very bluntly when he declared, “My people… have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
It is a compelling picture. It is an accurate portrayal of broken lives – shattered hopes – of barren souls that are dried up and parched and full of the dust of despair.
Among young people, especially the “beat” generation, the recourse to drugs, to alcohol, to sexual adventure in a mad desire to assuage their thirst is classic proof that such sordid indulgences are no substitute for the Spirit of the living God. These poor people are broken cisterns. Their lives are a misery. I have yet to talk to a truly happy “hippie”. Their faces show the desperation within.
And amid all this chaos of a confused, sick society, Christ comes quietly as of old and invites us to come to Him. He invites us to follow Him. He invites us to put our confidence in Him. For He it is who best knows how we can be satisfied. He knows that the human heart, the human personality, the human soul with this amazing capacity for God can never be satisfied with a substitute. Only the Spirit and life of Christ Himself will satisfy the thirsting soul.
From: W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 (Zondervan, 1970) p.61-64. Great book and I heartily recommend it to our readers. Carl
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark and a Corps of men to follow the Missouri River westward hoping to find an overland route to the Pacific Ocean. Their successful two year trip opened the West to trappers and the westward migration of America.
Several years after their trip, seven native Americans (aka Indians) showed up in St. Louis, MO seeking Bibles. They had learned about the Bible from the Christians in the Lewis and Clark expedition. The native Americans attributed the white man’s “power” (technological advances), to this mysterious book. Clark was able to provide the Indians with Bibles, but unfortunately they all died prior to returning to their tribes.
When word reached the churches in the East about these Indians wanting Bibles, there arose a missionary zeal to evangelize the western Indians. In July, 1836, missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza Spalding attended a trapper’s rendevous on the Green River, where they were paired with western tribes.
Whitman settled in what is now southeastern Washington state among the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes, six miles from Walla Walla. Years later, Whitman found it necessary to return by horse to the east coast to address mission matters. This was at the same time the wagon trains were beginning to make their way westward to Oregon, California and Washington. While in the east, Whitman was sought out by the wagon train leaders for his experience traversing the wilderness. Of course, the leader’s greatest concern was how to deal with the Indians they would encounter, but Whitman had more important instructions for them.
“Travel, travel, travel; nothing else will take you to the end of your journey; nothing is wise that does not help you along; nothing is good for you that causes a moment delay.” “A day spent enjoying prairie flowers may cost you your life in the snow covered mountains.” Marcus Whitman
There is wisdom here for we Christians. It is this:
No matter what happens in your life, keep traveling on toward your new heavenly home. Do not let any trial stop you.
When someone died on the wagon trains, some would bury the dead at night in the wagon path, so the grave would not be noticeable to the ever watching Indians. They did not spend days in mourning or have a proper funeral.
The pioneers had to keep the big picture in mind. They had a very long way to go by foot, horse, mule and wagon. It was up to them to keep moving and not focus on the loss or they could experienced a far greater loss of life.
In our Christian walk, we may experience the “death” of many things:
Maybe the premature death of a career;
Maybe the future we envisioned will have to die;
Maybe our self-image will die due to revelations from God’s Word;
Future plans for our children may have to die, due to unforeseen problems;
Maybe we lose a loved one to some seemingly unfair disease or tragedy;
We may experience a loss of our health or our spouses health;
Our finances may tank and we find ourselves in financial straits;
Some may experience the death of friendships they highly value;
It may be physical torture, imprisonment or death for our Christian faith.
Whatever the “death” or hardship may be, we need to keep the big picture in mind. We are just a pilgrims passing through the devil’s kingdom, on the way to the heavenly Jerusalem. Keep trusting in Jesus and His Word. Keep pressing on in Him, until you arrive in His physical Presence. He said He would never leave or forsake us. The Comforter is always with us.
In closing, I am reminded of an elderly sister in the Lord, who lived in communist Lithuania. She had a chronic disease that paralyzed her total body except for one finger. The secret police never searched her home due to her condition. She used this safe setting to translate Christian books from U.S. and western Europe into her mother tongue, for her fellow countrymen. She typed them out one letter at a time with that one finger that was not paralyzed. She had experienced the “death” of her health but she kept pressing on in her Lord and as a result, was a tremendous blessing to her brother and sisters-in-Christ under the yoke of atheistic communism.
Let us keep pressing on in spite of whatever comes our way. We do not know what the future holds, but we do know Who holds the future and has us in His hands.
In addition, let us be sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters who are going through trials and the valley of death. Paul said we should consider others more important than ourselves. Let the words of Hebrews 3:13 direct us:
“…encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called “Today”…”
To “encourage” someone means to “to give courage; the attitude or response of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, difficult or painful, instead of withdrawing from it” (Webster). Lovingly give courage to them that are going through trials and the valley of death.
Psalm 119: 38 