Normally, my posts on this site are about topics that come to mind during my time in the scriptures. God, through his inspired Word, often reveals something to me that I am eager to share with anyone who will read it. However, this week a message was impressed upon me by a different source.
Where I live, yesterday was the first day of deer hunting season. It was a cold day and I’m very thankful that I’d chosen to set up a blind that offered a good deal of shelter from the wind and snow this year. As I was sitting out, watching nature, it struck me that there was a reoccurring theme in scripture regarding how creation itself speaks up about God.
David’s Wonder
In Psalm 19, David records an example of how creation declares God’s glory.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6
The greatest lightshow on Earth and we are so accustomed to it that we take it for granted! It is absolutely amazing that there are millions of stars out there and plenty of planetary bodies circling a lot of them. God made all of that for the purpose of declaring his glory to us. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Alaska or South Africa, you can look up and have that message declared to you. Day and night, they “pour forth speech”. Without a word, the message goes out to everyone across the globe!
Not only are the heavens beautiful but they have also been arranged in a way that the sun can be counted on to give us needed warmth (even on cold days out in the elements!) Astronomers commit a lifetime to studying all the intricate ways in which these objects all interact with one another.
Jesus’s Witnesses
This next example isn’t exactly like the others I’ll be mentioning, but it still shows how creation was made specifically with the intent to bring praise to God.
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Luke 19:39-40
People were blessing Jesus with “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” and it upset the Pharisees, who thought that the praise was too extravagant for Jesus. However, again we see an example of how creation, even the stones, declare that same glory due their creator. Silencing the witness of our creator’s glory is an impossible task. Everything in all creation will continue to shout it out!
Paul’s Warning
In Romans 1, Paul addresses the witness of creation as the reason people have no excuse not to praise God.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:19-20
Again, the message of creation is discussed, how it demonstrates God’s eternal power and divine nature. Throughout history, many people have not had a copy of the Bible in their language. Through most of history, the Bible was still being recorded! A majority of human history occurred before Jesus walked the earth as a perfect revelation of the Father, too.
Yet even though plenty of people have gone without those ways of knowing God, still everyone in all of history has witnessed some of God’s creation. Whether it’s looking up at the stars or out at the rocks and trees, we’ve all witnessed the breathtaking splendor of an amazing creator’s work!
Job’s Humbling
When we look at creation itself we can see what it says about God. From powerful storms (Job 37) to fearsome beasts (Job 41) God’s power is expressed in things he has made. Though we may try, we cannot have perfect control over creation. How much less than, can we contain the God who made them?
As the wind whipped through the trees and the snow was driven around, I was reminded of that power. The harshness of the world in which we live may be a sign of the fall but it still is ultimately under God’s sovereign hand. We can bundle up against it, as I did with my many layers of clothing and the flimsy walls of my blind, but we only have control over what God has given us to control while he is Lord over it all.
The Blessings
However, while nature can be harsh, we also depend upon God’s providence through it for our survival. As I walked out through the now harvested corn fields, covered in snow, I was reminded of the way God provided fruitful plants for food, how he provided seeds so that his providence could continue, and how he provides all the things needed for those seeds to grow.
The very reason I was out there was to hope to harvest a deer for my family to eat. While he chose not to bless us in that way yesterday (I saw nothing), yet I am thankful for the many ways things he has provided for us! He provides not only for his people but for all people everywhere.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:45
He created the vast reaches of the farthest galaxy and took the time to ensure that we here on our little planet have the sun and rain to provide for us anyway!
In fact, when observing all the mighty works of God in creation, David asks a question out of awe for him:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:3-4
It is truly amazing that the same being who created everything that exists (John 1:3) still cares for us.
Are You Listening?
One need only look beyond the man-made concrete and parking lots to see how powerful and gracious our God is. Even if you’re surrounded by a cityscape, life there is still dependent upon the natural blessings God provides to all of this planet upon which we live. It witnesses to his awesome power and also his loving care for us. We have a God both all-powerful and perfectly benevolent. A God worthy of all fear and all adoration! Praise God!
