I love the beauty of nature especially flowering plants and spectacular sunsets. Before I share my thoughts about discovering the divine in creation, I want to set the stage by describing my immediate surroundings to you.
My cockapoo (Buddy) has inserted his nose deep into freshly cut kentucky bluegrass and he’s taking a siesta in the shade of a crab apple tree. About a stone’s throw away, there’s an array of red and pink roses surrounded by red yarrow, yellow lilies, purple petunias, and a towering honeysuckle vine adorned with brilliant orange flowers. There’s a huge bumblebee darting in and out of the rose bushes.
While the plants in the garden enjoy the warm sun, there’s a mama bird whose babies chirp in a loud chorus every 30 minutes letting her know that it’s time to eat “again”.
Like clockwork, she flies from a large cottonwood tree growing in a ravine in the open space behind our house and lands on the perch leading to the opening of a rent-free bird house located two stories above the ground in an aspen tree growing next to the house.
I always know when mama is coming because she screeches loudly to let the babies know that she’s on approach to the bird house. She returns again and again with various creatures dangling from her talons.
As I watch her depart, I notice several other birds soaring in the updrafts in the open space. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot a large tiger swallowtail butterfly that moves up and down and left and right with each flap of its radiant yellow wings as it surveys the garden looking for a good place to land.
What can I say… it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Whenever I take a closer look at the details of creation, I wonder what God wants us to know and my thoughts coalesce into three key areas, as follows:
1. God Takes Credit for Creation
In school, I was taught about a big bang, a pond of goo, and a bolt of lightning. I was not taught that God takes credit for “all” of creation – as clearly documented in the Scriptures.
Isaiah 66:1-2 (NCV)
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. So do you think you can build a house for me? Do I need a place to rest? My hand made all things. All things are here because I made them,” says the LORD.
Job 38:4 (NIV)
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.”
Isaiah 45:12 (GNT)
I am the one who made the earth and created human beings to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
So, who made the earth and human beings? Who stretched out the heavens? Who controls the sun, the moon, and the stars?
God.
And, He wants us to know – in no uncertain terms – that He is the “Creator”.
2. God Speaks to Us Through Creation
We can “all” learn about God by studying His creation.
Psalm 19:1-4 (NIRV)
The heavens tell about the glory of God. The skies show that his hands created them. Day after day they speak about it. Night after night they make it known. But they don’t speak or use words. No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into the whole earth. Their words go out from one end of the world to the other.
Why is this? So, we know that something greater than us exists – something more powerful, something more extravagant, and something downright impressive. God created the universe and everything in it. Can you imagine how breathtaking He must be?
3. God Reveals His Existence to Us Through Creation
God wants us to know Him and God uses His creation to get our attention.
Every detail of creation has been carefully designed. Picture a lizard snagging an insect in a split-second with its tongue or a gorilla hiding in dense jungle vegetation. Imagine a polar bear on an ice flow, a starfish floating in the sea, the mask of a raccoon peeking through a bush, and the majesty and gracefulness of a thirty-ton humpback whale frolicking in warm tropical waters off a beach in Maui.
The details of creation are complex. Why? So, we can know that He exists.
Romans 1:20 (NIRV)
Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I’m talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made. So people have no excuse for what they do.
What have you learned (or realized) about God from His creation?
If you would like to learn more about discovering God in Creation, check out my book Rediscovering the Divine: Seeing God in a Whole New Way.
That God is awesome and He has created so much beauty for us to see in the world, it is mind boggling. I am so thankful that I am His child!