Seeing Creation

I am writing these words while sitting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport.  In a little over three hours I’ll board a plane headed for Salt Lake City.  Once there I’ll be picked up by my friend, Stan Burman, and we will head north to Yellowstone National Park.  I’d be lying if I said I was not extremely excited.  Photographing Yellowstone in winter has been on my wish list for a very long time.  I have visited this park a number of times before but never in winter.  Numerous people have told me that Yellowstone in winter is extra special.

I sometimes get the feeling that the Psalmist must have just visited our country’s first national park when he wrote the words, “How marvelous are your works, O Lord, in wisdom you have made them all.”  What an incredible place it is!  This ancient caldera is home to an abundance of majestic wildlife.  Bears, wolves, elk and bison get most of the attention but there are many more terrific species inhabiting the park.  Yellowstone also contains scores of magnificent waterfalls, rivers and lakes.  And then there are the thermal features.  I never tire of watching one geyser or another erupt high in the sky.  I always marvel at the thermal pools and mudpots.    Depending on the timing of your visit, the wildflowers can be spectacular too.  The sights, sounds and smells of Yellowstone make for an inspiring encounter with God’s Creation.

Yellowstone is also the kind of place that reminds us in a very powerful way that God’s Creation is an ongoing process.  God did not finish His work on the sixth day.  Although God did, indeed, rest on the seventh day of Creation He was not done.  To this very day He is still the Creator God at work.  He is the One who “makes all things new.”

I’m thankful that there are places like Yellowstone where the ongoing work of God seems so obvious but you do not have to be at such a special place to recognize this neglected truth. Wherever you are, if you look close enough you will see the hand of the Creator still at work.

–Chuck

(This image of Castle Geyser was taken during a summer trip to Yellowstone NP a few years ago.)

One of my favorite novelists is Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  I’ve read most of his novels but my favorite is The Brothers Karamazov.  In a section of this classic book one of the characters says, “Love all of God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it.  Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.  Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.  If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.” 

Jesus taught that the “greatest commandment” is that we are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength.  I think loving God’s Creation is also pretty important.  In fact, loving what God has made is one way we can show our love for God.  And if Dostoyevsky is right, it is also one way that we can come to know God better. 

It is also important that we come to love God’s Creation so that we can protect it.  We have a natural tendency to protect that which we love.  If people don’t care about the earth or the environment, they will not likely make an effort to preserve and protect it.  

There are a number of ways we can come to love Creation more.  First, we can do so by spending more time outdoors in nature.  I like looking at pictures of nature but they are no substitute for the real thing!  Second, we can study about the world God has made.  By reading books on natural history or individual species I have come to love and appreciate God’s Creation in new ways.  There is no shortage of wonderful books that will help you better understand God’s handiwork.  Third, pay close attention to the role nature plays in the Scriptures.  Literally from beginning to end the Bible shows us how important God’s Creation is to Him and for us.   Realizing this will lead us to love His Creation more. 

Loving Creation may not be the “greatest commandment” but it is definitely something Christians should strive to do. 

–Chuck 

(The leaves above were photographed on Monday in Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest.)

I recently ordered a book called Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation.  I wasn’t real sure what it would be like but thought it might be interesting.  It came a few days ago and I have found it to be a wonderful little book.  It offers readings for three prayer times each day, enough to take you through an entire month.  Each day there are hymns to consider, Scripture to meditate on, and a diverse collection of readings to ponder.  All of these focus one’s attention on the Creator and His Creation.

 Earth Gospel is designed to help one pray for Creation.  I wonder how many people actually take the time to pray for the physical world we live in.  Praying for the earth might seem strange to some but didn’t Jesus himself teach us to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?  For those who love God and His Creation offering prayers for the earth should come naturally.

 One prayer that deeply touched me in Earth Gospel comes from The Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland.  It reads: “Lord, you love life; we owe our existence to you. Give us reverence for life and love for every creature.  Sharpen our senses so that we shall recognize the beauty and also the longing of your creation, and , as befits your children, treat our fellow creatures of the animal and plant kingdoms with love as our brothers and sisters, in readiness for your great day, when you will make all things new.”   This particular prayer is followed in the book with a blessing by Ray Simpson, “God bless the earth that is beneath us, the sky that is above us, the day that lies before us, your image deep within us.”

 I recommend Earth Gospel to you.  Even more, if you are not already doing so, I encourage you to begin offering prayers for Creation.  I truly believe that prayer  makes a difference.  Praying for the earth may help lead to its healing, as well as our own.

 –Chuck   

(I photographed the pika above in Colorado.  I like to think he’s praying for Creation too.)

Over the years biologists have come up with various names to identify groups of animals.  Alligators form a congregation, beavers a colony, birds a flock, frogs an army, gorillas a band, lions a pride, monkeys a troop, sea otters (like those above) a raft, owls a parliament, sharks a school, whales a pod, and wolves a pack.  Human groups go by different names: crowd, community, gang, mob, tribe, etc.  But what if we wanted to come up with a group name for all creatures, what would it be?  I’d like to suggest family.

Obviously there are many things that are distinctive for each animal group but there is also much that they all have in common, especially theologically.  For starters, we all owe our existence to God.  Every creature, including man, can say with the Psalmist “It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.” (Ps. 100:3)  Second, God has declared all of His creatures to be good.  Following the fifth and sixth days of creation (the days all creatures were made) we are told “God saw that it was good.”   Third, we have all been “blessed” by God.  This, too, has been made clear in Genesis 1 (see v. 22 and 28).

 There are still other things all creatures have in common.  Fourth, we have each been given the ability to reproduce and perpetuate our species.  For all of His creatures God said “Be fruitful and multiply” (once again see v. 22 and 28).   Fifth, we are all mortal.  No creature can live forever.  Finally, we all look forward to Creation’s fulfillment in the age to come.  This is the apostle Paul’s teaching in Romans 8.  He writes, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (vs. 19-21)

There truly is much that all God’s creatures, including man, share in common.  That being so, wouldn’t it help if we began to look at all creatures as family?  I cannot help but believe that is precisely what God intended “in the beginning.”

–Chuck

Toward the end of Psalm 104, having spent thirty verses praising God for His greatness made manifest in Creation, the Psalmist says in verse 31: “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works…”   What God has created is worth an eternity of praise!   It is the Psalmist’s hope that God can “rejoice in His works.”

We know that when God created the earth that following each creating day He paused and “saw that it was good.”  Like an artist (or photographer) standing before his or her work, God looked upon what He had made and took delight in it.  In the Psalmist’s words here he seems to be hoping that this delight will be ongoing, that God would always be able to take delight in what He had made. Did he have reason for concern?

I don’t know if he did then or not but as we observe God’s Creation now there does, in fact, seem to be reason for concern.  We have polluted the skies and water that once was clean.  We have destroyed mountains and made new ones piled high with waste.  We have hunted some of God’s creatures into extinction or destroyed their habitat to the point that they can no longer survive. We have poisoned the land and cut down the majority of the earth’s forests.  If present day scientists are correct we have even altered the environment to the point where the climate is being changed in a detrimental fashion. 

Is God still able to rejoice in His works?  My guess is that He still does find much to delight in (just as we do) but I also cannot help but feel that He must experience some degree of sadness at the current state of the world.  That which He created “good” has been marred.  Out of love for God we should all seek to do everything we can to preserve and restore God’s Creation.  It should be our concern, as it was the Psalmist’s, that “the glory of the Lord endure forever” and that He “rejoice in His works” always.

–Chuck

(The image above was taken at Peyto Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.)

As noted in my last blog, Psalm 104 is a beautiful nature psalm.  There is so much here that connects God with His Creation.  Starting in verse 5 the Psalmist gives us his own glimpse of Creation.  He speaks of God setting “the earth on its foundations” and covering the earth with water that would eventually flow over the mountains and into the valleys.  In verses 10-11 he writes, “He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between mountains.  They give water to all the beasts of the field…”  

In the next few verses the Psalmist indicates that God has designed His Creation to meet the needs of both animals and humans.  He notes that our basic needs are met by what God has made but also reveals that God went beyond meeting our basic needs to provide “wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine…”

Even non-believers will have to admit that this planet is put together in such a way that it perfectly meets our needs.  Those who are believers affirm this was all a part of God’s good plan.  He created a world where both animals and humans would have all that they need. We cannot help but marvel at the incredible power and wisdom it took to make such a world, but we should marvel just as much at the amazing love that stands behind Creation.  Like a loving parent God has done everything He can to make sure that this place we call Earth will meet our needs and provide joy for the journey.

There is so much about our life that we take for granted.  Passages like Psalm 104 remind us to be mindful of God’s many blessings and provisions.  They also call us to worship and thank our blessed Creator.  I hope you will take time in the days to come to pause and consider all the ways God has provided for your needs through His Creation.

–Chuck

(The picture above was taken in Yosemite Valley at Yosemite National Park this past May.)