A Chuck Smith commentary, March 3

This is a point of view/experience Chuck Smith (Founder of the Calvary Chapel movement)posted on his web site. It may give you a new perspective on an important matter.

Now this last week I had a very interesting experience. We have a fellow in our church who is the president of a polygraph firm, and so he has been doing some experiments with his polygraph machines. By hooking the connections up to a plant leaf and then watching the responses on the polygraph as the electrodes are hooked up to a plant. And he had been doing these experiments and he wanted me to come over and observe some of the things that he had discovered. And I found them very interesting.

As we are thinking about the earth showing His handiwork and day unto day they're uttering speech. And the question is, just how much understanding or knowledge is there in a plant? And so, as he hooked up the electrodes to the plant, and the needles started just moving up and down as it was measuring the responses within the leaf, he said, "Now move the needle upwards. Move in an upward position on the graph." And as he commanded it to do so, the needle started moving upward. And he said, "Now show us the downward movement." And the needle moved down on the graph. And then he said, "Now show us some violent motion," and the needle began to swing all the way across. Then he said to me, "Now you choose a number in your mind." And so he said, "Is the number one?" And of course I didn't answer. But he was just measuring the graph. "Is the number two? Is the number three?" And the needle was just going up and down, and when he got to my number seven, the needle goes way up and then came
back down again and leveled off, and then, "Eight? Nine? Ten?" And I looked at the thing and I thought, "I can't believe it." What kind of communication, you know.

Now I am certain that there are many things of God's creation that we don't understand. That there are vast facets within nature that we have only begun to scratch the surface. That God has coded in many things, wisdom that is phenomenal, things that are just amazing. And I think that there is much to be learned and much to be discovered. God says that day unto day they are uttering their speech. That it's a universal language. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. You say, "Well, what do you make of it?" I don't know what to make of it; it was weird. But it was interesting. And it just sort of opens up your mind to the fact that God's creation is far vaster than what we ever dreamed. What kind of intelligence is just in a cell itself?

There was a gal who pinched the leaf, one of the leaves on the plant, not the one that the electrode was attached to, and the needle began to move violently. She went out of the room to get something and the needle settled down. When she came back in the room, the needle started moving violently again. The way this was all discovered is a fellow had attached the electrodes to a plant and he was just watching the movement of the needle, sort of fascinated with it. And he decided to water the plant, and as he picked up the water to water the plant, the needle started going crazy. So instead of watering it, he stopped and he put the water back down, and the needle settled back down again and so he picked it up as though he was going to water, deciding he wasn't going to do it, but just see what the needle would do, and this time it didn't do anything. And he made several gestures like he was going to water it, but not intending to do it, and the needle did nothing. And this guy started
getting bugged. And so he finally decided, "Okay, I really will water it this time. I'll go ahead and really water it." And the needle started jumping again and he watered the thing. Now I don't know the explanations of it. I have no explanation for it. But it's interesting. "All nature," we sing, "All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres." Who knows? The wisdom of God who has created life forms, the infinite variety of life forms. What kind of understanding has He put into some of these life forms? I don't know. It is fascinating.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows His handiwork, and day unto day they utter their speech." They are talking to us. "Night unto night their voice goeth forth. There is not a speech nor a language where there voice is not heard." God speaks to man universally through nature. But though nature speaks to you of the existence of God, the testimony or the witness of nature then falls short because it cannot tell you of the love of God and the redemptive plan of God for your life. For that we needed the special revelation, and God has thus given us the special revelation that we might know His love and His plan for our lives. But the fact that God exists, we all know just by the fact of life around us and life forms around us.

This is Bruce talking now and I just want to say this "story" awakened a sense in my heart that I have always had: God is omnipresent, He is the Living Water, He knows when a hair falls from your head, the air we breathe is as the Holy Spirit made alive, the Scriptures say that the very rocks would cry out if we did not declare God. In another place the Bible says a dove descended and said "this is My Son in whom I am well-pleased". We know that not a bird falls from the sky of which He is unaware, the trees clap their hands in praise of him and on an on as the Bible teaches us how it is that He cares about us, loves us, protects us and encircles us in a more complete way than we may have ever imagined. Our God is present in every created thing. We truly never walk alone. Acknowledge Him as you feel the breeze, see the flowers, breathe the air and drink the water He has provided. He is truly omnipresent.

Praise God for His revelations. He is indeed Abba, Father, as a caring Dad and He sent His only Son, Jesus, who makes it possible for us to stand in the Father's presence. We could never encounter God's presence and experience His leading if we were approaching him as sinners, haters of the Word or enemies of all that is good.

One final point; we are sinners, saved by grace and we are servants of our Father, the Living God, all day, every day. The following words characterize the fruit of a servant and they open us up and enable us to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. If we are angry, impatient, depressed and unkind, we are missing what our God intends. Father, we are alive in You, we shed Your Light, we are energized by Your indwelling Spirit. Jesus, our worthiness is in You. In Jesus' name, amen.