As I sleep tonight I can hear the gentle crashing of the ocean waves against the rocks just outside my door. I am visiting at my brother and sister-in-law’s and they have a cottage literally right on the ocean. At first the noise of the wind and the waves was gentle, but after our chatting and eating and a couple of games of dominoes, we all retired to bed and it was there in the silence that I realized the noise never stops. It can be drowned out, but it is continual. Sometimes stormy, sometimes gentle. But always present. Just like God. Always there. Never ceasing to be.
As the sun set this evening I saw something I have never seen before. There was a blue sunset. It must have just been the way the light was reflecting off the clouds and particles in the air, but where there would be pinks and reds, or gentle yellows and oranges, the panorama was blue. From sky to clouds to sun and sea, countless shades of blue filled the horizon. And I found myself reflecting how beautiful this world is that God created for us. A gift of beauty and imagination; an amazing habitat for the crown of His creation.
Not long after bedtime my phone signaled and a weather advisory flashed across the screen. A wind warning was being issued. That mighty ocean was soon to be whipped into white caps canceling the ferries and warning the cruise and container ships to harbor safely on shore. As trees swayed and wind whipped through the shaking branches, I could not help but think of what a safe harbour we have when we make the Lord our anchor. He is our rock and our salvation, and it is in the cleft of the rock that He hides us and calls us His own. (Psalm 62:7,8) “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people.”
Nature is truly the greatest witness to the handiwork and power of God. It is called ‘natural revelation’ because the words of Romans, the very words we started with this week, are so true. His Divine nature, His power and so many of His attributes are clearly shown to us in what He has created for us. It isn’t Mother Nature. It isn’t a ‘trust’ or ‘great ecological responsibility’ that we are emboldened to save. It is rather our home. It is what He has created for us and given to us.
Romans goes further to say, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20) Suppress here has the idea of the lid of a pressure cooker. You have to screw the lid down tightly or it will literally blow off. In the same way, to deny God through what we see around us is a task only possible by literally sitting on the truth and using all our might and power to keep it suppressed and denied. No, it is clearly shown that man is without excuse. We know. This did not all happen by chance. It is HIS handiwork.
This weekend I would like to give you some homework. I would like you to take a walk in the beauty of the world that God has created, and while you are walking along, thank Him for what He has done. Thank Him for the new life all around. Thank Him for the first signs of spring. Thank Him for the exactness of each and every petal of each and every flower, and for the sounds of crashing waves, waving trees and singing birds. Look to the beauty of the hills and know that is not where your help comes from, but rather your help comes from the Lord, the very maker of those hills; the Creator of the heavens and the Earth. And know that this beautiful world that is just waking up from winter into the advent of spring is His gift to you; both to enjoy and to wonder at when you see His handiwork and His attributes through nature around you. And as you fall off to sleep may the gentle repetitiveness of the waves, or the chirping of the frogs, or even the noise of the storm remind you that He created all this for you, and He did so because He loves you. Your homework is to look around you today and see the Master in the masterpiece.
Our song for today is So Will I (100 Billion X) by Hillsong Worship.