As I look out my window this morning, I am profoundly moved by the beauty that God has designed for me to view. The beauty of the earth cannot be compared to any manmade beauty. The leaves are red, golden, green, orange, and some hints of brown. The lake is still and the sun flickers off the water like diamonds. The squirrels are running up and down the trees, chasing each other and looking for places to hide their acorns for their winter stash. The birds are singing and eating seeds from the plants that have reached the end of their season. All this was designed by God and it’s beautiful. In Genesis chapter 1, God lays out His design for His earth and His people. In the beginning, everything was perfect. There was nothing ugly or dysfunctional. God created it all and at the end of each day of creation He said, “it is good.” However, after He was finished creating the world, He created Adam and Eve and gave them dominance over His creation for them to take care of and enjoy it. Then He said, “it is very good!”
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Today I feel as David did in Psalm 8:3-4. When I think of all God has done to give us such a beautiful place to live, of the power and majesty of Him, I am in awe!
Psalm 8:3-4a “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”
Isiah was one who understood the magnitude of the beauty God had provided. He often used the imagery of nature to express the joy of the Lord. In Isaiah 55:12, he is so overwhelmed with the goodness of God, and he speaks of nature breaking forth in singing and the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12 “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Today, look to the Heavens and declare His glory. Enjoy the beauty of the clouds, the sun, the moon, and the stars. We need to think and feel as David did in Psalm 19:1 when he said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handywork.”
In Psalm 66:1-2, the psalmist tells us to make a joyful noise to God, to sing forth his honor. We are to make His praise glorious. In verse 4, “All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.”
Psalm 66:1-2 “To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honor of his name: make his praise glorious”
We live in such a hurry-up world we sometimes forget the blessings God has given us in nature. We spend countless hours and large sums of money to achieve a beautiful room, yet all we need to do to see beauty is look out our window. We cannot do better than what God has given us.
It is time to slow down and be thankful for all God has given us, especially His creation. He is so worthy of our praise and our thanksgiving. I love how the commentator Albert Barnes expresses the thought in Revelation 4:11; “It is proper, then, to “look up through nature to nature’s God,” and wherever we see greatness or goodness in the works of creation, to regard them as the faint expression of what exists essentially in the Creator.”
Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure, they are and were created”
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