From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and his divine nature. So they have no excuse whatever for not knowing God. (Romans 1:20, NLT)
Probably all of us have had occasions when we’re looking for something we can’t find, yet it’s right before our eyes. “It’s there! Just look!” someone said. “Oh yes!” was our humbled reply. Well, says the Bible, that’s how it is with God. Just look! Open your eyes, look and see. There before you, in creation, is ample evidence of His existence and ample provocation to thank Him.
In Psalm 8, David describes how he looked at the skies and was overwhelmed with the beauty of God’s creation. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1, 9) he breathlessly exclaims at both the beginning and the end of the Psalm. But this psalm isn’t in praise of “nature” (an unbiblical concept at the best of times!); it is in praise of God. He is the one who brought all this into being. It didn’t just “happen”; He created it!
Sadly, so many of us have forgotten how to do what David did: to stop and marvel. Our technological age has robbed us of the joy of wonder. We are both old enough to remember the days of typewriters, carbon paper and duplicators. When computers came along, we felt, “Wow! This is amazing!” But nowadays, we don’t even to pause to think about these wonderful machines without which we couldn’t do our writing. Familiarity has caused us to lose a sense of wonder. And familiarity with God’s creation can do the same. Because we feel we now understand so much about how it works, we forget to think about why it works or why it’s there.
So, why not take some time today to do what David did: to “just look”; to look at familiar surroundings and praise God for them; to pick up a leaf, to feel the breeze, to touch your skin, to look at the stars. God made them all! Don’t let technology or familiarity rob you of the sense of wonder that leads to praise.
He is the Maker of all things. (Jeremiah 10:16)
© Copyright 2017 Martin Manser and Mike Beaumont
