How thankful are we to God for the beautiful creation He has given? Often I think, and observed, that instead of have gratitude, we take it for granted. The main proponent of this I think is our media soaked society. We are all looking for the latest “Wow” factor. Be it visual effects or cinematography, you fill in the blank. We've gotten so distracted by having the latest things (particularly in media) that we have become discontent. Or to put it in other words, we are so obsessed with the fake that reality has become boring. We are obsessed with the midst that covers majesty of the mountains and we beckon more of it to come.
Now some might be asking if it is fair you think of media as fake. Well, lets think about it. First off, if you are watching a movie and the electricity would all of a sudden turn off, does that story that you were watching really exist. The answer is plainly, no. Ah, some of you might say, what if it is a true story? (thinking particularly in the field of movies) So what? The watching of or the telling of does not make the story “real”. Now understand what I'm trying to say, I use the word “fake” very intentionally. A lot of books are “fake”. Almost any type of media has some form a “fakeness” to it. My point is that we are obsessed with it. We play with fakeness; we love fakeness. Another word would be “trivial”. We have a become a trivial/fake oriented culture basing our lives on things that don't exist. So turn off the TV or computer or video games and read God's word and then go outside and observe God's creation.
Why do I start this way? Because unless you understand the last paragraph you will not be thankful nor comprehend the beauty in which God has created for our enjoyment and the proclamation of His name. In junior high (and a little beforehand), I was obsessed with video games. I must have played hours on end on that pathetic game console. Just before high school, the Lord called me to music (specifically organ) and that got me away from video games, but there was still this fascination with media (movies and TV for the most part). It may not have been what it was in the past, but it was still there non-the-less. I would talk to people and we would talk about a living cell or something of that nature and I remember saying things like “isn't God's creation amazing” and I remember realizing that I knew that God's creation was amazing but indeed I didn't feel/comprehend how amazing it was (I'm still on that path of comprehending the amazingness of God's creation by the way). Then my mind would go back to when I was younger and first hearing these things, learning things about creation that blew my mind to pieces. So in essence, at that time, I was taking God's creation for granted and was over-occupied with special effects.
Then during my senior year of high school, I was taking a church history class and part of that was to read and then write a biography on someone in church history. I chose Jonathon Edwards. I remember reading about Edward's childhood and how he would watch nature for hours. I remember thinking in the back of my head, “well that's boring.” However, I do think that was the starting point of gaining more of an appreciation of creation.
It didn't really take off until I started studying at Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago. Where you are surround by everything but God's creation (I use the phrase loosely). All you have is buildings, no fields, no stars, no forests. On top of that, for the first few years that I was at Moody, you couldn't watch movies in your dorm (not really that bad of a rule, but it has changed). Therefore a combination of the city (and not being able to get away from the city) and the lack of media, I started appreciating more things in creation.
Another person that has helped people regain an appreciation for creation is C.S. Lewis. If you have read (if you haven't, you should) any of his fantasy books (Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, etc.) you will notice that Lewis is able to describe the world he is thinking very much like painting a picture with words. How is he able to do this? Through observation and appreciation of creation.
Why do I even bring up this topic? Psalm 19:1- “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”(ESV) Creation is a small part of the glory of God, and since Christ is creator of it, that means He is better than it. Actually Christ is the completeness of the glory of God in which creation takes a small part of.
Think about it though, the atom that is so tiny we can't seen without a powerful microscope which makes up molecules (still to small to see) which makes up the basic elements that you and I are made and I am a one person in the midst of millions of people in Chicago and Chicago is one of hundreds of cities in America and America is part of the world and our world/earth is a part of our solar system and our solar system is a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is 100,000 lightyears across (takes light 100,000 years to go from one end to the other) and has at least 200 billion stars [is your mind blown yet? I've got more], and the Milky Way has neighbors that are bigger than itself and as the Hubble Space Telescope has shown, to the limits of the “known” universe, is that there billions of galaxies all with 200 billion or more stars in the “known” universe. What about the “unknown” universe? And scripture states Psalm 147:4 - “He[God] determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.”(ESV)
Zooming in back on our little/tiny/dinky part of the universe, have you ever felt the wetness of water? How about the very nature that you have breathe this very moment? Or that the sun came up once again? This past summer I was able to observe a orb spider (I think it was a orb spider) making its web. It was absolutely fascinating! Now I can just image girls (and guys) going, “Eeewww....spiders.” Have you ever thought that it is spiders (and other insects and animals) that keep down the pest population like misquotes and gnats? Anywho, the spider was on the last step of the web, which is the laying of the sticky silk in a spiral fashion. It was amazing how it was measuring the distance between threads with it's legs and how it would patiently work around the web fastening the sticky silk as well as adjusting the web here and there, tightening, tweaking parts of it. Until it was finished and the spider then went off the web to wait for its prey. I also speculated how that God provides for a spider. A small insignificant spider and how more so He will provide for His children.
So what do you think of creation? What do I think of creation? What do we think of creation and to what it points to? As a disclaimer, I am not a environmentalist, by name. Creation points to something greater than itself. It points to, however, does not tell the story of Christ. Creation doesn't save. Plato had an amazing view of creation and actually very close to the Christian world view, but he was still a pagan and quite far from Christianity. I find Plato and example of what Romans 1 talks about the common man being without excuse that there is a God. Still, the only way of salvation is through Christ.
One more thing I'm going to cover is how creation affects our worship of God through Christ. If I were to mention the word “awe” as in that you stand in awe of something. Modernly speaking, we don't have a clue on what the word means. The dictionary defines the word “awe” as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” This is helpful but I still don't think it communicates what awe is. Actually in today's mindset, it's not preferred to be in awe of something because if your in a awe of something, your in awe of something great than yourself and also with our “self-poisoned” air we don't think of awe as being important. As a result what is thought of when we see or hear the word “awe” is probably distorted and we forget what it means. This is where I find creation helps (in accordance with God's word), by making a connection to the word. If you go to the Grand Canyon (or some other landmark that is incredible), I can guarantee that you will not be jumping, clapping, or anything that you might do when you feel good. Instead, you stand there and soak it in and you realize how small you are as you gaze at the uniquely crafted walls. The reality of your finiteness stares you in the face as you walk close to the edge and see the 1,000+ foot drop beneath you. In that instance the Grand Canyon has more to say than what your vocabulary consists of therefore you remain silent. How much more should we be in awe of God who created the Grand Canyon? Now does this mean that praise, prayer, or in general human response is not apart of worship? No, my point is that the adoration (awe) has been lost from worship (when I use “worship” I mean the lifestyle of worship, not specifically music). May we look with awe, wonder, fear, and reverence to the Lord Almighty who sent His Son to die for sinners and on the third day rose again from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty. To Him be the glory forever.
