Memory Text: Proverbs 1:7 NIV “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
Proverbs 1:7 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The fear of the Lord not only is the first step in the acquirement of all true knowledge but is also the central emphasis of knowledge. If knowledge does not lead to a surrender of life to Jesus Christ, it has missed its aim.

Sunday, May 6 Anthropic Coincidences
Genesis 1:1 NKJV “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 LIFE APPLICATIONS BIBLE Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world. Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency. To say that the universe “just happened” or “evolved” requires more faith than to believe that God is behind these amazing statistics. God truly did create a wonderful universe.
Genesis 2:1-2 NKJV “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
Deuteronomy 4:32 NKJV “"For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard.”
Psalm 100:3 NRSV “Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
Psalm 100:3 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY God’s claim to our praise rests first upon the fact that He has made us His people.
Isaiah 42:5 NKJV “Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:”
Isaiah 45:18 NKJV “For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
John 1:1-3 God’s Word to the Nations “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was already with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.”
Colossians 1:16 God’s Word “He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers–– everything has been created through him and for him.”
Hebrews 1:2 God’s Word “In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe.”
Revelation 10:6 God’s Word “He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, "There will be no more delay.”
Revelation 14:7 God’s Word “The angel said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the time has come for him to judge. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs."”

Monday, May 7 Astronomy
Jeremiah 33:22 KJ21 “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister unto Me.’"”
One of NASA’s scientists responded to the question of how many stars there are by saying, “We believe that there are on the order of 10(21st power) stars in our Universe. If you write that number out, it looks like this: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.” http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/
answers/970115.html
Job 22:12 NLT “"God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.”

Tuesday, May 8 Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Psalm 139:14 NLT “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.”
Psalm 139:14 COMMENTARY CHARLES SPURGEON (The Treasury of David Who could dissect a portion of the human frame without marvelling at its delicacy, and trembling at its frailty? The Psalmist had scarcely peered within the veil which hides the nerves, sinews, and blood vessels from common inspection; the science of anatomy was quite unknown to him; and yet he had seen enough to arouse his admiration of the work and his reverence for the Worker.

Wednesday, May 9 A Merry Heart, A Broken Spirit
Proverbs 17:22 NRSV “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22 LIFE APPLICATIONS BIBLE To be cheerful is to be ready to greet others with a welcome, a word of encouragement, an enthusiasm for the task at hand, and a positive outlook on the future. Such people are as welcome as pain-relieving medicine.
Philippians 4:6-8 NRSV “6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:6 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions. When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that kind Providence which has hitherto befriended us; when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed, and for God's merciful interposition in the former days of trial, and for his goodness in now sparing our lives; when we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God has interposed to save them; when, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray for pardon, we have abundant cause of thanksgiving that there is a glorious way by which we may be saved.

Thursday, May 10 Science and the Flood
Genesis 7:11-24 NIV “11 ¶ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month— on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 ¶ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. 17 ¶ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. 21 ¶ Every living thing that moved on the earth perished— birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.”
Genesis 7:11 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY This earth, which had never before experienced rain was suddenly flooded by huge masses of water. A heavy and incessant rain set in. Simultaneously the crust of the earth was broken open, with the result that masses of water from beneath the surface of the earth gushed forth to work havoc and completely to inundate the once-dry land.
Genesis 7:17 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Everywhere over the surface of the earth we find fossil remains of plants and animals obviously deposited by water. These deposits extend, in certain localities, to depths of at least three miles, but the average depth is somewhat over half a mile. The universal distribution of these remains and the depth of their burial testify unmistakably to both the worldwide extent and the terrific violence of the Noachian Deluge.

Friday, May 11 Further Study
Ellen White makes a number of statements dealing with the mind and its effect on the body in Ministry of Healing:
1. p. 241 – “The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces and to invite decay and death.”
2. p. 244 – “Great wisdom is needed in dealing with diseases caused through the mind. A sore, sick heart, a discouraged mind, needs mild treatment. Many times some living home trouble is, like a canker, eating to the very soul and weakening the life force. And sometimes it is the case that remorse for sin undermines the constitution and unbalances the mind. It is through tender sympathy that this class of invalids can be benefited.”
3. p. 245 – “Exercised in the right direction, it [a person’s will] would control the imagination and be a potent means of resisting and overcoming disease of both mind and body.”

The SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 1 has some ideas dealing with the Flood worth mentioning:
1. p. 90 – “fossil species appear much more widespread over the surface of the earth than living species.”
2. p. 91 – “There is a significant volume of sedimentary rocks on the surface of the earth. Because quite often fossils are present, much of this is assumed to have been deposited during the Flood. Some regions of the earth have no sediments, elsewhere sediments reach a depth of about 16 km. (10 mi.). The average thickness is estimated to be about 800 m. (2,600 ft.) (Blatt 1970; Pettijohn 1975).”

Amen.

Thanks


olger