Most scientists will admit it’s a mystery how the Grand Canyon formed.
Let’s imagine you are at the Grand Canyon and the park rangers are talking to you about how they think it formed. What do you think they would tell you?
It is commonly said “The Colorado River formed the Canyon.” But did it? And why not?
Let’s look at the three basic theories we are told about how the canyon formed:
We will look at each theory carefully, and the problems that it contains and then talk about the one that not only has the best evidence to support it, but also, it harmonizes with God’s Word!
1. The Antecedent River Theory.
In the past, scientists thought that the Colorado River cut the great deep canyons and washed the sediment away. They claimed it happened gradually over millions of years. But upon a closer look, many scientists found some issues with theory:
The Erosion Rate:
In the last two lessons of Geology, we learned about sediments and erosion remember?
And one master of erosion would be the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon!
At flood stage, The Colorado river washes 55 million tons of sediment per day! This is the equivalent of 11 million 5-ton dump trucks running as fast as 125 of them per second! This sounds like powerful evidence that the Colorado River could have carved the canyon does it not? After all, it is cutting through the canyon. That is certainly an observation. So, did the river carve the Grand Canyon?
The Colorado River: Evil’s Erosion:
The world’s evil influence is a lot like the Colorado River, raging at everything solid and good; trying to wash truth away from our lives bit by bit.
The Bible says if the foundations shall be destroyed what can the righteous do? This question challenges us to strengthen our beliefs in the Lord and His Word.
If we don’t know the Bible as well as we should, it causes us to be weak. And when we are weak, we allow the world to eat away at what we believe without realizing that we are compromising our faith and being “brain-washed”. We need to grow strong in our beliefs like a strong rock and build upon the Rock which is Jesus so that the rivers of the world’s lies do not destroy our homes, or our lives.
The “Grand Canyon” in our Fellowship with God:
When we look at the Grand Canyon and how deep and distant it seems from where we stand, can you relate to feeling this way when it comes to your walk with God?
If so, is this distance we feel caused slowly because the world’s river of bad influences? Of course not! Blaming the evil of the world for why we are not close to God is not a good excuse in the same manner that Eve’s excuse of the Serpent being at fault for tempting her with the forbidden fruit, didn’t give her clearance with God.
The world is evil, but there are still plenty of godly people walking close to Jesus today! Yes, the river of worldliness does rage at everything that we stand for, but God is greater than the world! We can live pure and victorious lives for our Savior no matter what goes on around us in the world!
Let’s determine not to allow the world’s bad habits, teachings, and ways to cause us to sin and grow distant in our sweet fellowship with God or be moved from the strong foundational truths that are spelled out in the Word of God!
If there is a canyon of distance between you and your fellowship with Jesus because of sin, it is not the world’s fault. It is ours. We can always come to God and make things right by a confessing our sins to God and he will always be faithful and just to forgive and cleanse our friendship to a fresh new start!
We have a choice to choose to do right and obey God, and to strengthen our faith by building on God and His Word!
Rocks or Sediments? What are we building our beliefs upon?
Jesus talks about a specific story about a wise man building on a rock and the foolish building on sand. Even God knew that nature erodes things, and that it is important for a wise man to think about what he is building his life upon.
Sand can be easily washed out causing a structure to collapse!
The sandy sediment can stand for bad teachings or beliefs that we build our lives on instead of what Jesus has taught us. Jesus is the Rock of Truth and when he becomes who we choose to listen to, instead of the world’s voice, we begin to build our views upon what we learn from God’s Word. This is wisdom.
Anyone who builds on the Rock Jesus Christ, will have a household that stands strong and firm no matter how big the floods come or the rain falls.
Unlike the foolish man who builds his house on the sandy surface that moves with every current, the world will fall flat one day, and no house will stand that is built upon the sands of worldly lies and falsehood.
