Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
January 19, 2010
A teacher asked her class to name the Seven Wonders of the World. Upon tallying the numbers, the class had determined the following to be the Seven Wonders of the World: the EGYTIAN PYRAMIDS, the TAJ MAHAL, the GRAND CANYON, the PANAMA CANAL, the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, ST.PETER’S BASILICA and the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Indeed, with the exception of the Grand Canyon, it appeared evident that man has surely accomplished some great feats of construction, which cause us to marvel.
But there is something rather flat in all these man-made structures, in view of the fact that there is no life in them at all. We can look at them and admire the beauty of design, but is there not, perhaps, another question one must ask about them? How wondrous would they be if we could not see them? Should the weapons of war flatten them, we would still be able to witness the aftermath of destruction with eyes so wondrously made. Are they the man-made structures or the things God has created, which are really the wonder of it all?
Would you not have to look at the life of a human being and simply wonder at the act of creation where God has taken the dust and brought it to life? Are our eyes not a thing worthy of wonder? Would they not be near the top of our list of the Seven Wonders of the World?
Who could listen to a great symphony, playing beautiful music, and not wonder at man’s ability to create such music? But is the wonder of it not really the fact that we can hear it? What good are the instruments and the musical composition without ears to hear? Is hearing not also high on the list of the wonders of the world?
I have had the amazing experience of being present at a buffet, on board a cruise-liner, which extended the full length of the ship, running down both sides of the deck the equivalent distance of three football fields. Nearly every morsel of food was shaped into an exquisite design. I stood in awe as I admired the buffet and my mouth watered. But what good would it all have been, if I could not have tasted the food so beautifully presented before me?
A mother loves her baby and a baby needs his/her mother. How would these needs be satisfied if the mother could not touch her child, and the baby could not feel the mother’s love? Is this new little life itself not a cause for wonder along with the fact that we can touch the child and feel the emotions of love, which it elicits?
Then there are times in life when circumstances become bizarre, even comical. Yet, where is the humor in it if we had not been created with the ability to laugh? Even the most difficult of situations can be lightened by laughter. Is it not a wonder of this world that our souls can experience mirth, which brings about laughter from the heart of a human?
Does the wonder of a dead, man-made structure compare with the wonder of God’s creation of a living human being? When one says there is no God, one might well wonder at the work of man without recognizing the work of God Who has made it possible for one to wonder in the first place. The structures of man may create a sense of awe in us but wonder is a feeling, and without that feeling the structure is nothing.
Satanic forces are turning our children and most of society into robot-like zombies who walk through life expressionless and without purpose or direction. Computer games, television pornography and violence can be Satan’s agents to do the job of producing couch potatoes, which have been robbed of the experience of smelling the roses or sharing mirth and genuine laughter with friends. These zombies may well have become the students who listed the Seven Wonders as being mostly man-made and all visible.
One student was slow to submit her answers, so the teacher asked if she were having some trouble with the question. She responded that she was only having a problem with the fact that there were so many wonders she was finding it difficult to choose which ones to put on her list.
So, the teacher insisted that she complete her list and submit her answers. As she did so, the teacher was caught by surprise to discover that the girl had submitted a very different set of answers from the other students. The words, which she saw were – SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, TASTE, FEELING, LAUGHTER and LOVE.
Can one look at this list and not be forced to ask how it would be possible for any of these wonders to exist without a God? How does man, as his own god and builder dare to stand and be compared to the one true God and the only Creator? Herein lies the real wonder of it all.
Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon (a man-made structure of a pagan god). And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only the torso of Dagon was left of it. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” (1 Samuel 5:1-7).