Day 11 – God Speaks Through Nature & Creation
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s reflection and practice. What did you think about and learn? What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.
Romans 1:20
For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
I love nature and the outdoors, and I am often grateful for how much beauty we get to enjoy here in the Pacific Northwest. I can, however, think of three hikes I’ve been on that I absolutely despised. One of them was Mount Storm King on the Olympic Peninsula. I started this hike quite naively, having read that it was four miles round trip. That’s not much longer than a 5k, so I felt confident I could do it easily. Well, I had neglected to note that this hike, short though it was, had an elevation gain of 2,065 feet. From the very beginning, it felt like I was walking up the side of a 90 degree angle. I lost my breath immediately, as my lungs pumped overtime to help my poor oxygen-less muscles. Just to make things fun, the maintained trail ended 1.3 miles up, and the last 0.7 miles of the climb involved navigating narrow pathways and sheer cliff sides, then scrambling up a muddy washout clinging to a rope installed in the side of the mountain.
But oh, what I found at the top.
To my left, the Pacific Ocean. Directly in front of me, Lake Crescent, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the background. To my right, in the far distance, Canada, and nearer, the north-western most corner of Washington. A deepening evening sky wrapped around the scene, and plucky little Canada jays flitted around me fearlessly.
If my heart was pounding before, it skipped a beat now. I suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was something beyond just the immediate scenery that was touching my soul and causing me to recognize the creativity and beauty of what I was beholding. The creation carried a message from the One who made it that He is Great and Good and True and Beautiful, and that He extends all of those attributes in love towards me.
David must have felt the same way I did, during all those nights he slept under the stars as a shepherd boy. He wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). Nature is a universal language. Like music, it transcends words and speaks right to the soul. We could stand side by side with someone from a completely different background than ours and agree, “This is beautiful”.
In theological terms, nature is a form of “general revelation”. That is to say, nature reveals truths to us about God because He created it; his fingerprints are on it and his character influenced what He made. Nature is not as specific as the revelation God has given us through the Scriptures and Jesus. It doesn’t explicitly tell us about Jesus’ death and resurrection and how to follow Him. God is also not to be conflated with nature, as if they are one and the same, or as if He inhabits nature and makes the rocks and the trees into deities.
But let’s appreciate that God did make nature to speak to us; it is a mouthpiece telling us of something of God’s character. Paul addresses this in Romans 1:20 – “For [God’s] invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made”. Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said this another way: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil…” Imagine the flash and glint of light on foil, or a mirror, or a diamond. Now look around you today and look for the flashes and glints of God’s presence in the world around you. If you keep your ears open, you will hear whispers and shouts of His eternal power and divine nature speaking to you today through His creation.
Prayer:
Creator God, every day I wake up to a world that You have made and sustained through Your power and creativity. Thank You for this beautiful universe we live in. Awaken my heart and open my eyes to the things I can learn about You through the book of nature. May I join with all creation in praising You today.
Journal:
Take a few moments to journal through the following question(s).
What is your favorite season of the year? Journal about a few attributes of that season. What does this season tell you about God, who made that season?
What is your least favorite season of the year? Journal about a few attributes of that season. What does this season tell you about God, who made that season?
Pick three things from the list below, and journal about their attributes. In what ways do they show you what God is like?
Trees
Ocean
Fire
Mountains
Rain
Birds
Flowers
Today's Practice:
Read Matthew 6:25-34 (below). Then, go for a walk or spend some time sitting somewhere with a view and consider all the ways God’s character is revealed to you through what you see in nature.
By Megan Netherton, Campus Ministries Assistant
Matthew 6:25-34
Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.