My life (put) alongside God's word. Suffering and response section.
Engineers use their skills and their knowledge to do many clever and useful things. I remember seeing pictures of Sudan’s Merowe dam, about 220 miles north of Khartoum, on the river Nile. It is close to the 4th cataract where the river divides into small branches with islands in between. It is made of concrete-faced rock-fill dams on each riverbank.
The dam is 5.6 miles in length and up to 220 feet high. It is collecting a 3 cubic mile reservoir, taking about 20% of the Nile’s flow, and it will eventually hold back an upstream lake of 108 miles. It powers 10x125MV turbines supplying Atbara, Khartoum, Omdurman, Port Sudan, Dabba and Dongola with electricity.
It is amazing to think that water can be engineered in such a way. It helps to produce electric power for so many people, businesses and projects.
Of course the Nile with its Blue and White tributaries, are also used for irrigation to produce fruitful farmland. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people make their living from the water by offering boat transport to people or freight cargo. Engineers and entrepreneurs make such good use of this God-given resource every day. They make the miraculous seem almost mundane.
The same God who created the waters of the Nile also made you and me. He is the Master engineer and the Supreme designer, Genesis 2:6, Genesis 2:10-14. He wastes nothing, making proper use of all His immense resources. Since He designed us to fulfil the plans He had in mind for our lives, we can trust Him to use everything He involves us in. He works it together for our good, and makes us more like God the Son, Jesus Christ, into the bargain, Romans 8:28-30.
“God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong”, 1 Corinthians 1:27. He also said: “My power is made perfect in weakness”, 2 Corinthians 12:9.
One of God’s greatest servants, Paul, learned how to “delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties” because he realised, “When I am weak, then I am strong” in my Lord Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 12:10.
Seeing what great things human engineers can do, makes me want to stop and think for a moment – how much more can our great God and Father do? Whatever needs to be done He is more than able and to willingly do it.
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength”, 1 Corinthians 1:25. Our great God, who sends water to fully
flow and flood the Nile, knows precisely how to engineer fragile Christian human beings like you and me into powerful facilities channelling gospel light, life and energy to people throughout His dark, thirsty and needy world.
We may never get an entry in Wickipedia, but with our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life we have something much more important and longer lasting.
See Revelation 21:22-22:7.