General Essay on God’s Creation
(continued from the home page)
General Essay on God’s Creation
Summary Beholding God’s Creation (or, Men are Without Excuse) — In the Beginning (or, Gentler Before the Fall) — Sin and Curse — Post-Flood Climate and Food — Groanings Now — Looking Past Armageddon (or, Gentler Again During the Millennial Reign of Christ) — Animals Dutiful in Observing their Appointed Seasons — How Should the Creationist Act?
Beholding God’s Creation
The creationist literature is filled with important rebuttals of evolutionary and uniformitarian principles, however in years of reading about Biblical creationism I have often returned to one key passage of Scripture for edification and contemplation. It is this:
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, NIV translation)
This is profound and compelling. Whether one has a menagerie of wonderful creatures in one’s back yard in the middle of the countryside, or simply watches the pigeons from a narrow apartment room in a smog-choked city, God’s natural panorama speaks to men’s hearts if only we will be open to Him. Changes in society and in the economy have caused many to be frazzled, yet in spite of ourselves we catch glimpses of unassuming cows, sprightly dogs, and blurs of thousands of starlings moving in beautiful and indescribable unison through the air. What are these animals teaching us? If indeed they are the repositories of some aspect of God’s eternal power and divine nature, then it would seem they have plenty to teach us.
In the Beginning (or, Gentler Before the Fall)
In Genesis 1, we see that on the fifth day God created the sea creatures and the birds of the air, saw that it was good, blessed them and told them to multiply. Then on the sixth day God created the livestock, the creatures that move upon the ground, and the wild animals; then God made man in his own image, blessed them male and female, and told them to multiply and fill the earth, indeed, to subdue the earth and rule over the fish and the birds and the creatures on the ground. God told man to use the seed-bearing plants and the fruit trees for food; and God provided the green plants to be food for everything that had the breath of life in it—that is to say, the beasts of the earth, the birds of the air, and all the creatures that moved on the ground. God saw that all he had made was good. Clearly, plant-eating was the norm. In Genesis 2, the man and his wife were naked, and they felt no shame because the Fall had not yet occurred. In Genesis 3, after the Fall, the LORD God told the serpent he would be cursed more than the livestock and more than all the wild animals, that he would have to crawl on his belly and eat dust. The LORD God told Adam that the ground would be cursed because of him, that it would produce thorns and thistles and he would have to toil for food throughout his life. It is clear that man, as well as everything that had the breath of life in it, ate plant-based food before the Fall. As for the sea creatures, God pronounced them to be good before the Fall, so it would seem likely that they ate plant-based food as well. The rough, tearing teeth of so many sea creatures could conceivably have been used for tearing at plants like kelp before the Fall, but that is a surmise. It would seem likely that man and animal alike began their meat-eating ways after the Fall. If that is the case, then the Millennial Reign of Christ will truly be a kind of paradise regained, in the sense of man and animal regaining a long-lost gentler aspect. Watch out wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt (suggested diet in Ezekiel 4:9), because here we come!
Sin and Curse
Of course, sin got its start with Lucifer. Isaiah 14 consists of a taunt of the evil king of Babylon, and in the midst of the taunt is what would seem to be a description of the fall of Lucifer: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high.’ Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Is. 14:12-15, KJV) Interestingly enough, Luke the physician also made mention of the source of the disease of sin. He quotes from Jesus: “He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”‘ (Luke 10:18-20, NIV)
In Genesis 3, the evil serpent, the most crafty of the wild animals, deceived Eve into thinking that she could eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not suffer the consequence of death. Of course, the evil serpent’s lie came from the pit of hell, and the consequence of Eve’s fall was death. Eve’s punishment would entail increased pain in childbearing and being ruled over by her husband. Adam’s punishment—for listening to his deluded wife and eating from the tree that God had commanded he not eat from—would include the ground being cursed because of him; having to go through painful toil in order to eat from the ground; having to endure painful thorns and thistles in the process of eating the plants of the field; having to work up a sweat to get food; and having to die and go back to the ground from whence he came. And the evil serpent’s punishment would include having to crawl on his belly and eat dust; being cursed more than the cattle and more than the beasts of the field; having enmity put between him and the woman (i.e. Israel), and between his offspring and hers; and having his head crushed by the Lord Jesus. Because the enemy was cursed more than the cattle and more than the beasts of the field, we can see that the cattle and the beasts of the field were cursed too as a part of the Fall. This is important to bear in mind, because the ruthless and cruel world that we see in nature is really a consequence of the Fall. Therefore, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that when a brown bear lies in wait for a salmon springing up a waterfall, and finally crunches the salmon to death in its mouth, that process of mayhem and death bears witness to the Fall. When a hawk sits patiently in a tree and dives on a rodent, finally ripping said rodent apart in its powerful talons, that event bears witness to the Fall.
I have seen a mouse bounding across a highway and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen; the mouse bounded in powerful arcs, and its “hop-hopping” was truly a thing of beauty. I don’t believe the beauty of the mouse’s little face, the fastidious way it cleans itself, and its inquisitive and perky stare were bestowed by its loving Creator just so the mouse could be ripped apart by a powerful bird. On the contrary, I believe the mouse has intrinsic worth and beauty, and that the mouse’s current plight in a dangerous world is a result of the Fall. I look forward to the Millennial Reign of Christ, during which time the mouse will be able to carry out its mouse affairs without rude (and fatal) interruptions by coyotes, bobcats, and hawks. This is an important distinction to make, because the evolutionists would like people to believe that it has always been a dog-eat-dog world, but that is not the case. It was sweeter before (in the pre-Fall Garden of Eden) and it will be sweeter again (on earth during the Millennial Reign of Christ, and subsequently, in the New Jerusalem in eternity). In other words, mice will have their day, when they can spring around in the fields and not have to hide from the other creatures. They will be able to share their “a-bounding” beauty freely and without fear. The perspective of a creationist—taking into account the Fall and what that meant for the creatures—means that when he looks around, he sees creatures that are not at their best; they’re simply doing the best they can. Moreover, the creationist sees that the ground itself was cursed because of Adam’s fall. The very fact that trees and roses die, the thorniness and prickliness of plants, the rash-causing agents in the leaves of poison ivy and the like, and all of the poisonous mushrooms and poisonous hemlock and the like—all of these things seem to be evidences that point to the Fall.
Post-Flood Climate and Food
Climate is much in the news these days. Some say the earth is warming up, but others don’t believe it. What is the truth regarding the climate? A good place to start is Genesis 8. When Noah and his family, and all of the animals, disembarked from the ark, Noah then built an altar to the LORD and took some animals and birds and sacrificed burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD then indicated that He would never again curse the ground because of man or destroy all the living creatures, indeed, that “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:20-22, NIV) As long as there is an earth, there will be springtime planting and autumn harvest, as well as the hot and cold of summer and winter. Clearly, winter is here to stay and the global warming hysteria is misdirected. That’s not to say that the distribution of hot and cold, of good growing conditions and plentiful rain, will be evenly distributed around the globe. There can be drought and famine, and certain locations can get warmer or colder, but the hot and cold flux is here to stay as long as there is an earth. Then in Genesis 9, God’s Word points out that the beasts of the earth, the birds of the air, the creatures that move along the ground, and the fish of the sea will be made to dread and fear man; that all of them will be given into man’s hands; that everything that lives and moves will be food for man; that just as God gave man green plants to eat (before the Flood), God later (after the Flood) gave man everything to eat. But God prohibited man from eating meat that had its lifesblood still in it. We now have a digitized culture and technology is everywhere to be found, therefore many people have an overzealous feeling for their gadgets and they no longer read the old strictures from the book of Genesis. If they were to read Genesis, they would certainly know that vegetarianism is a choice rather than a moral imperative, on the basis of Genesis 9. “I don’t eat anything that has a face” is the glib humanistic caution about eating meat, but that sentiment does not have a Biblical mandate in the current era as we see from Genesis 9. It would seem that now it’s more a matter of good stewardship to give the animals the best lives possible, insofar as we can affect them, and to be humane with the one’s that we do take for the eating. Taken to its extreme, a love of the animals could potentially lead one into a worship of God’s animals, but that would be a grave mistake as we remember from Romans 1:21-25: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” (NIV) It’s great to appreciate and love the sweet animals, but to let that appreciation devolve into misdirected worship is the wrong way to go.
Some become so enthralled with penguins, or tigers, or some such, that the fascination borders on idolization, much as some kids idolize pro athletes. Keeping things in perspective would seem to be better for the animal too—cats and dogs and horses all seem to have a built-in time-limit for pats and admiration. Even they seem to know when enough is enough. Some transcendentalists want to be one with everything, even to merge with a raindrop! But the raindrop is having nothing to do with such mystical zealotry. My worship is for the Creator, not for the created things.
Groanings Now
In Romans 8:22-25, the Apostle Paul gives a most helpful summary of the state of the creation: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (NIV) This means that people have been groaning ever since the Fall. Not only that, but giraffes, anteaters, blue whales, dinosaurs, hummingbirds, California redwoods, bristlecone pines, venus fly-traps, and rose bushes (or their genetic cousins) have been groaning all these many years since the Fall. Moreover, the saved person groans inwardly in anticipation of his or her adoption as a son or daughter, in anticipation of having his or her body redeemed. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 we see the same truth, that believers groan to be clothed by their respective heavenly dwellings, so that mortality will be replaced by eternal life:
“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, but we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (NIV)
While in the “tent” of this mortal body, we groan and are burdened. This mortal body affords us pleasure, to be sure, whether it be married bliss, good food and drink, warm sunshine on one’s shoulders, or a cool breeze on a summer’s day. But inevitably, the effects of the Fall catch up and the mortal body begins to decay, inducing pain and fear. Joel 1 describes man and animal in agony because of starvation and drought:
“How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. To you, O LORD, I cry; for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; for the water brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” (Joel 1:18-20, NASB)
Even though the people and animals had calamitous physical needs, the groanings, as it were, were directed at the Creator, the LORD God of Israel. The brooks were dried up and the land was fire-ravaged, and the beasts of the field panted for the LORD, their Creator, and the prophet Joel cried out to the LORD. In effect, the prophet and the animals were calling out to God for rescue. I know that my spirit yearns to be with the LORD God of Israel, rescued from this world of deceitfulness, treachery, and violence; I believe that horses and mountain lions and cows and banana trees likewise yearn for better days when horses won’t have to worry about a cougar attack, when cougars won’t have to worry about being pursued by dogs and hunter, when cows won’t have to worry about polluted waterholes, and when banana trees won’t have to worry about being plagued by beetles. Psalm 5 records David’s contemplation of the vicissitudes and fears in life: “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” Indeed, David groaned under the weight of being surrounded by lies, violence, deceit, and wickedness.
Looking Past Armageddon (or, Gentler during the Millennial Reign of Christ)
In Isaiah 11, we have a picture of life in the upcoming Millennial Reign of Christ—at this time the animals will get along and plant eating will apparently be in full swing once again! “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6-9, NIV) Indeed, the Branch from Jesse (another name for Christ Jesus) will judge the needy with righteousness, render just decisions for the poor, strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips; He will have a belt of righteousness and a sash of faithfulness (Isaiah 11: 1, 4-5). Therefore, Isaiah 11 shows us how King Jesus will come back in righteousness at the Battle of Armageddon, slaying His enemies and setting up His Millennial Reign on the earth. Revelation 19 and 20 also give a picture of how the Lord Jesus will come to fetch His bride, the church; hold the wedding ceremony and wedding supper in Heaven; and return to earth in righteous judgment at the Battle of Armageddon:
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me: “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev. 19:6-9, NIV)
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev. 19:11-16, NIV)
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:4-6, NIV)
Indeed, blessed and holy people who take part in the first resurrection will reign with Christ as priests for a thousand years. Theirs will be a long reign—under the lordship of the LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS, the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, Isaiah 1 1 and Revelation 19 and 20 seem to be describing the same pivotal epoch in the Lord’s dealings with His creation, as is further demonstrated by the following comparisons: The Branch of Jesse has a belt of righteousness and a sash of faithfulness (Is. 11:5); the rider on the white horse is called Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11). Also, the Branch of Jesse will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips (Is. 11:4); the rider on the white horse will strike down the nations with a sharp sword that comes out of his mouth, ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter’, and He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty (Rev. 19:15). Therefore, it is comforting to think that after the purging effects of the Battle of Armageddon, the animals will be able to enjoy each other’s company in the Millennial Reign of Christ. They will no longer harm or destroy each other on God’s holy mountain. It will be nice to see hawks that no longer have to train their eyes on their next potential kill, just to get enough food in the belly; to see cats that no longer feel the urge to lunge after any blue jay, dove, robin, or swallow in the area; to see brown bears that no longer stand atop waterfalls waiting for salmon to jump into their mouths; and to see wolves that no longer crouch in the brush, sizing up their next kill. Personally, I want to pat a mountain lion, a tall elk, a grizzly bear, a polar bear, a badger, a mustang, a wolf, a caribou, and a moose. Petting zoos are not just quaint places for the soft-hearted: they are places where one can have a meaningful, enjoyable interaction with God’s creatures, catching a whiff (if only for a moment) of a sweeter aspect that blessed and holy people will enjoy in the Millennial Reign of Christ.
(As for the gathering up of the believers in the first resurrection, in what is often referred to as the rapture, I believe that believers will go through the tribulation just as Matthew 24 indicates.)
Animals Dutiful in Observing their Appointed Seasons
Jeremiah 8:6b-7 shows the prophet lamenting over the way people ignore the commandments of the LORD, and how even animals can do a better job of sticking to their appointed business than people can: “No one repents of his wickedness, saying ‘What have I done?’ Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.” (NIV) Jeremiah well captures the stark sadness of the situation in which sinners do wickedness, refuse to repent, and do not even know what is expected of them by the LORD God, their Creator. As Jeremiah alludes, birds know their appointed seasons and certain birds observe the time of their migration. So it is, I think, with the cow, which reproduces on time, takes care of its young, keeps track of the water and food situation, warns of invading wolves, and circles its own young in the presence of a predator. They are amazing animals and yet people often make fun of cows as seeming simpletons that graze, chew the cud, and stare. The term “bovine” is used to describe a dullard, but perhaps the somewhat doleful gaze of a cow is more profound than people normally realize. For instance, cows are incredibly powerful, yet they rarely bother anybody. They are reticent and yet speak up, so to speak, when something needs to be said. They’re watchful, but without malice. They embody a lot of great traits, and yet many people hardly give them a glance. Like almost no other creatures, except for horses, cows truly sprinkle the landscape with a pleasing and unassuming beauty. Better that cows dot the pastures instead of peacocks! A pasture full of peacocks would raise the blood pressure of all who saw, as the flamboyant birds would all vie to see which one had the most rousing plumage. The preening and prancing would be almost unbearable!
Birds know their jobs, as do cows, and yet so many people become convinced by the lies of the world that the goal is to set oneself up as high as possible, pull up the ladder, and crow about one’s own greatness. I like the cows and I think they have something great to teach us. For me, the effects of the Fall are not as readily evident in the cow as they are in, say, the ravenous and routinely brutal wolf. On the other hand, cows do moo a lot, and I reckon that some of that mooing is actually groaning as only a cow can groan, and they certainly do die, so they too show the effects of the Fall. Jeremiah 8:9b-11 shows the arrogant foolishness of a people who chose to reject the LORD, and by extension, did not even stick to their duties as well as the stork sticks to his: “Since they rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” (NIV) 1 Thes-salonians 5:1-3 says a similar thing: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (NIV)
Therefore, wayward people who refuse to repent of their wickedness are even outperformed by the animals who stick to their appointed activities pretty well. Jeremiah and Paul preached at different times, of course, but both were very wise to the problem of a wisdom-less people vainly imagining peace, while a train of destruction that is just out of sight is bearing down on them.
How Should the Creationist Act?
Truly seeing God’s creative power at work in His creatures should spur the believer to do God-honoring work—buoyed by the fact that the Lord saves and has defeated death, and by the anticipation of receiving an immortal body at the sound of the last trump. In 1 Corinthians 15, we see that it is God that gives body to a wheat seed as it grows into a mature plant, that it is God that determines how all seeds grow into the “plant bodies” that we have come to know. In the same way, men have a certain flesh and certain bodies based on the characteristics that God built into their “seed”; the same goes for birds, animals, and fish. One has only to look at the beef, chicken, and fish all neatly cut and packaged at the grocery store to discover that indeed the flesh of animals, birds, and fish is very different. God’s Word is true. Moreover, according to 1 Corinthians 15, heavenly bodies and earthly bodies are different, each having a different kind of splendor. We all know about the splendor of our individual earthly bodies, given that we can swim and hop and dance, and given that we can smile at each other or feel the soothing warmth of sunshine on our shoulders in spring or summer. But the matter of heavenly bodies would seem to refer to the glorious spiritual bodies that will be given as a gift to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son:
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor 15:42-58, NIV)
Here a link is drawn between a recognition of God’s role as Creator and an appreciation of the need to do the Lord’s work. That is to say, just as one can sense the glory and power and splendor that is inherent in the development and maturation of a person, a horse, a tree, or a star, so too God’s people should feel compelled to do the Lord’s work and honor the God of creation. The very God of creation is the same one who died on the cross to defeat sin and death, and to give everlasting life to born-again believers—therefore the believer can thank Him for making him, thank Him for saving him, and thank Him for the expectation of receiving a spiritual body at the sound of the last trump. Essentially, the power and glory inherent in God’s creation should rightfully snap people to attention, causing them to wonder at the sheer beauty and awesomeness of God’s handiwork, and bringing them into a reverential worship of Him. What is the meaning of the fragrant smell of a lupine wildflower in spring? I believe it is a reflection of God’s beauty and love. Why should the lupine smell so good? Because God is love. Why would God want us to have wildflowers? Because God is love.
Flowers beautify the landscape and they cause people to stand and wonder at the majesty of the sight, a majesty that reflects their Creator’s power and glory. People tend to be overly proud. They think they’re fancy. But what person could make some flowers and strew them throughout the length and b
readth of a field, or along a series of fields? That’s totally beyond all human capacity, and the little wildflower, then, sobers and humbles a man. A real fancy-pants man may strut onto a flower-laden field, fresh from a board meeting or a power lunch, and is feeling his strength . . . and there they are: a veritable throng of petite, unassuming, and fragile wildflowers staring back at him! They’re perfect, intricate, beautiful, and awesome, and they have all the capacity to draw a man up and away from his own selfish concerns. Indeed, the flowers and the flowery field are witnesses to the power and glory of God!
What about a windstorm that pommels an entire region and part of the country next door, like the wild windstorm that hit the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada in November 2006? Or the punishing rains that shut down part of I-5 in southern Washington, around Chehalis, in December 2007? Sadly, horses and cows were trapped and perished in the Chehalis area floodwaters. What did those events mean? “Oh, it’s no problem,” some would say. “The severe wind and rain don’t bother me. I’m from the Northwest!” Strut, strut. Well, it’s fine to be gritty. But what happens when the wind speed finally exceeds one’s level of toughness, and one is really reduced to fright and awe? What happens then? At that time, one would do well to turn his gaze to Jesus and worship Him. If the wildflower doesn’t draw one to Christ, then maybe a wild windstorm will. Ideally, of course, we ought be turning our gazes to Jesus the Christ in light breezes and in still air as well, not only in gales.