Week of October 1

A Special Communication 
By Skip Heitzig

A significant part of love is communication. You can see that with a husband and wife. When they are madly in love, they talk about everything. But when their relationship gets cold, they don't talk much. In fact, James Dobson said you can go into a restaurant and tell the couples who are married. They're the ones who are eating but they're not talking to each other. It's sad but very true sometimes. When the relationship gets stale, there's no longer that communication of sharing. Instead, there's a loss of respect.

But true love wants to communicate. God is love (1 John 4:8), and God has communicated. In fact the writer of Hebrews says that God has communicated to man throughout history in many different ways (see Hebrews 1:1-2).

Psalm 19 is a great example of two separate ways that God has revealed Himself. God has revealed Himself in a general way through his creation, and then in a special way through the Bible. We call one "general revelation," and the other "special revelation." The Bible is special revelation.

In verses 1 through 6, God's signature is revealed in creation. It says "the heavens declare the glory of God." All of creation is a means by which God revealed himself so that men would recognize His glory. When I hike through the mountains or go camping, I have a greater appreciation of creation than I did before I was a Christian, because I know the architect.

Verse 7 goes into the special revelation of God that is found in the Bible. God revealed Himself in a general sense through creation, but in a specific sense through the Word. As you look at creation you see that God exists, and that He is all-powerful. But it's insufficient. Looking at God's creation tells you nothing about His love. You have to look at the Bible for that. There, you see a God who loved the world so much that He sent His Son to live on the earth, to take all the sin of the world upon Himself, to die for that sin, and to rise again.

You can't get this communication of love from looking at a tree or looking through a powerful telescope. And so from general revelation we get some facts, and from specific revelation (the Bible) we get more facts, the greatest love story ever told.

Just your presence won't tell your wife or husband about your love. You have to communicate it by words and actions. And that's what God has done, by His words in the Bible, and by His action in sending His Son. There's not a more special communication of love than that!

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