Seeing Creation

In his most recent posting Rob talked about the intensive search we made for a desert tortoise while we were in Mojave National Preserve earlier this month.  For three days we looked for this elusive creature.  As Rob noted, our diligence paid off and the last day we were in the park we finally found a tortoise.  I was thrilled to get to see and photograph this iconic reptile.

This past Saturday I was working in my office at the church when two boys entered and showed me the box turtle they had just found.  They wondered if I might like to photograph it.  Needless to say, I did.  We took the turtle outside and I took several images of it before giving it back to the boys.  You can see photos of both turtles here—the desert tortoise that took days to find and the box turtle that was basically laid in my lap. 

Over the years I have discovered that seeing God in Creation is similar to my experience with these two turtles.  Sometimes it is quite easy to find God in His handiwork; at other times it requires time, effort and much searching.  The same thing can be said of my search for God in other areas.

I have no doubt that God wants to reveal Himself to us.  He truly loves us and wants us to know Him and love Him too.  He made Himself known most fully through the sending of His Son long ago but He continues to reveal Himself through the Scriptures and through Creation.  At times He makes it easy for us.  There’s no way we can miss His presence.  At other times I think He makes us work a bit to see how much we really want to see Him.

Through the prophet Jeremiah God said, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (29:13)  Sometimes the reason we fail to see God in His Creation is that we’re not looking hard enough.  Perhaps we’re expecting God to do all the work.  God is certainly out there waiting to be found but there are times when we must do our part too.

–Chuck