Cause And Effect

Each week I have the opportunity, and I count it a privilege, to write this blog. When I do so it is not often that I have specific topic in mind. There are thoughts or things that I have observed that seem to be by the Lord to direct me as to these thoughts to ponder.

Thoughts are an idea or opinion produced by thinking or occurring suddenly in the mind. To ponder is to think about (something) carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion. So, when I began this blog years ago someone suggested this be known as "A Thought to Ponder".

If you have read or are just beginning to read this blog each week, it is or it will become quite obvious to you that I have a lot of thoughts that I ponder regularly. I mean you should hear what is going on in my mind each night as I am going to bed. I am praying and talking to God and honestly, I am asking questions and quickly acknowledging to Him that I know He owes me no explanation or answer. As well, that I understand that I cannot understand His ways.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 using the NKJV we read the prophet Isaiah as he declares the words of the Lord Himself when He says-

⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Now with that in our minds, let me ask what is it that often causes us to have thoughts and thus ponder those thoughts? Well, it can be a book we are reading such as the Bible. It can be a show we watched or even an event we attended that can cause us to have thoughts that we ponder.

My thoughts are affected by those things and even more just like you. I am currently reading a particular book that is very deep in the subject matter which affects all of our lives. This book has caused me to have thoughts that began with a very simple one initially and it was what if it had never happened? Regardless of it occurring, many other things would have still happened, but the particular event would have never affected those events. Although the effect of that event has and will continually have great emphasis on them as it has in the past. Can it go away? Well, maybe but that is seemingly unlikely.

This happens all the time and it occurs in your life and mine. You and I know it as cause and effect. Here is a definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary," the direct relationship between an action or event and its consequence or result". So, something happens as the result of something else. One or more things happen as a result of something else. The cause is a catalyst, a motive, or an action that brings about a reaction or reactions. So, the cause instigates an effect. Thus, the effect is condition, occurrence, or results generated by one or more causes. The outcomes are the effects.

We see this happening every day in our lives, our communities, state, nation and of course the world. I think sometimes that mankind can't help themselves and keeps getting in the way. So, when did all of the begin? Not when God created the world that is for sure. We read Genesis and the creation accounts, and they are perfectly reflective of God's desire to make this world we live in and man as He intended us to be.

You ever had one of those days when everything seemed to be going on marvelously? Everything was on time and the weather was perfect. People were kind and generous. I mean they even sang your favorite song in the Sunday church service. You know the one you keep singing in your head. You are really having a good day and them bam, it happens. The car breaks down or the boss wants you do some extra work before you go home. You forgot to pick up something you needed at the house tonight. Any of those can be the cause that will affect your day and your attitude. It really doesn't take much to knock us off course on any given day.

Let me put this into perspective that might help you as to why things are the way they are today. That perfect creation that God made was soiled by the sin of Adam and Eve. It started that day in the garden and is the cause for all that effected man since.

I understand that this is the one you know about but in the history of man there are a lot of things that are the cause as to why we are affected today in so many ways. Remember that definition we spoke of earlier? The direct relationship between an action or event and its consequence or result.

You probably have heard of Pandora's Box.  In Greek mythology, Pandora was created by the gods as a punishment to mankind. She was given a box by Zeus and told never to open it. Curiosity got the better of her, and when she opened the box, she released all the evils and miseries of the world, such as sickness, death, and sorrow. The conclusion is that once it is out of the box there is no putting it back into Pandora's Box.

Let's be clear and honest with our selves. There is no going back. All we can do is each day is to try to right the wrong. Fixing the problem that should never have occurred is unfortunately beyond our control. Because it is out of the box and there is no putting back in, no way, no how.

So, what are you dealing with that you know about? Because believe me there are things that you don't know about that you will have to deal with in the future? Listen this is true for every one of us. I wish it were not so, but it is.

We put our trust and faith in the Lord. Accepting the truth that He knows all things. I was in Jeremiah today in my Bible reading. When we read scripture and especially the Old Testament it is important to understand what and to whom we are reading. We often use Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV which says-

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you;

We read earlier though that this is specific to Jeremiah because the verse continues and says-

I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Now in Psalms 139:15 NKJV David wrote-

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

So, as I was pondering thoughts as I do, it came to my mind to ask the Lord how do I incorporate your Word in my life? How do I distinguish between what I read and the context of it in my life?

Going back to the text in Jeremiah, then how can or should I apply that statement in my life? We use it often in services for the right to life Sundays. In the text, God is talking to Jeremiah. In the Psalms, David is contemplating what he knows God has done. God says I formed you and when I did, I sanctified you. To sanctify means to set apart for the use of God. In Jeremiah's case that is proven by the Biblical accounting we read. In David's accounting he states that he, as is all mankind was made in the womb and at that time life begins.

When you consider the book of the beginning in Genesis, we read that God created man in Genesis 1:26 NKJV-

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

When considering God's Word, it is clear that God made man in His image. That man is formed and hidden in the womb. That all mankind is sanctified to for the use of God. Yet it is that very man who rejected God's plan and desire. Our original sin is the cause and thus it affects all that we see in our world and our lives each day.

Praise the Lord that He loved His creation so much that He sent a Savior in Christ Jesus His Son.

In God's Grace,

Elbert Nasworthy