Why Be a Nature Lover?
I am currently reading Matthew Sleeth’s newest book, The Gospel According to the Earth: Why the Good Book is a Green Book. Overall, it seems to do a good job of showing the biblical basis for Creation Care. For that reason I commend it to you.
In a chapter called “God the Creator” Sleeth says “We need to become nature lovers—because God is one.” He goes on to ask, “Does God concern himself with an endangered species or desert grass being bulldozed into extinction?” Sleeth answers “most definitely” and as proof asks us to consider God’s word to Job: “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?” (38:25-27)
Sleeth feels this passage offers proof that “humanity is not the be-all and end-all of the entire universe. We are not the center of everything.” Even though this is a message Rob and I have echoed numerous times in our blog I had not thought to include God’s words to Job as evidence. This truly is a passage worthy of our contemplation.
The words found in Job 38 have added relevance for me following the journey Rob and I took to the Mojave Desert last month. The area may no longer be “empty of human life” but it remains true that few people live in this desert region. That has not, however, stopped God from providing for the plants and animals that live there. There is much life in the desert and this life is sustained by the One who created it. Apparently this provision has nothing to do with man at all. God does what He does simply out of love for His Creation.
Matthew Sleeth is right. There is good reason for us to be nature lovers—“God is one.”
–Chuck
(The images above were taken last month in the Mojave Desert of California. Both scenes show evidence of God’s love.)