The seasons send such a strong message of beauty to me. The cheerful color of flowers in the spring. The bright blue sky and the fragrant harvesting of strawberries, blueberries and blueberries in summertime. Of course the splendor of fall foliage, resplendent in the autumn sunshine. And even winter displays grandeur with the occasional snow but also the breathtaking view of bare tree branches against the blackness of the clear night sky. All through the year, what some call “Mother Nature” issues a call to look and enjoy, to observe and ponder, to feel amazement and gratitude.
The psalmist tells us that “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.” (Psalm 19:1-4) What is the message that the beauty of the skies (and indeed all of creation!) is so powerfully proclaiming, even without words?
I am sure God is declaring more truths than I can count, much less cover in this column, but I see at least three I’d like to share. First, that He is GOD. Nature is not God and God is not nature. He CREATED nature and its beauty, vastness, complexity, and magnitude tell us very clearly that He is beyond our capacity to understand. That should actually cause us to rejoice and to relax – we don’t want to serve a God who is so finite that our human minds can grasp Him! When you open your eyes to see what God has done, you see glory. His genius, His creativity, His power. His glory is not something that can be conveyed by mere words, nor understood by mere mortals. But it is something that can be perceived. Perceived by the revelation throughout “nature” and it is indeed an awesome thing to behold the glory of God in the sky.
Secondly, the glory declared by the heavens make us feel incredibly insignificant. And that is exactly what should transpire! The unfathomable size of the universe. The immensity of the planetary bodies. The mind-boggling force that holds it all together, at exactly the right distance from each other to sustain life and order. It makes me think of what King David said in Psalm 8:3-4
“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?”
Certainly, the glory of the skies (and all of nature) should make us ask – who in the world am I? This seems to be a far cry from what the world today tells us about how special we are!
The last thing I’d like to share pertains to this part of the message the heavens are declaring. Compared to the magnitude of the skies, we do indeed seem insignificant. Next to nothing. And yet, Scripture tells us that all of nature – including the glorious stars and skies – are not the most impressive display of God’s creation. After He made the world and all that is in it, He said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26.) And the remainder of the creation story as recorded in Genesis 1 tells us that is exactly what He did. Male and female, He created them. Mankind. Created to display His glory in a way that “nature” cannot. Humans. Created to enjoy all He had created. Created to commune with Him in perfect relationship and enjoy Him forever. And “because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to the. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19,20)
More than marveling at the beauty of “nature”, you and I can know the Creator. His glory is revealed in the works He created but He wants us to know and serve Him, not mistake His creation for Him. He made the way for us to do exactly that – the glorious sights of His creation should make us realize He exists and then long to know Him. We can know Him through His Son, Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, the preeminence of all creation. (Colossians 1:15). Enjoy His magnificent world, yes. But don’t miss what is above it all – Jesus Christ.