IT'S A SPRING THING

 MAY 16, 2022

At this time of year, when we are emerging from our winter hibernation and witness the “new life” that the spring season brings, I find my thoughts turn to the “wonderful, wonderful world” around us.

We have been reflecting on acknowledging God’s presence in our world, asking God to help us notice where our creator is at work. A fundamental way God nourishes our souls with his loving presence is through the beauty of nature. Scriptures tells that God is speaking to us and warming us from the heavens. (Psalm 19:1-6). The joy of the Lord comes to us in splashing waves and playful animals! (Psalm 29:3, 6)

The testimony of the Bible that we read, tells us of God communicating to us in the skies, ocean waves, breeze rustling through the trees, fields and flowers, and birds that sing cheerfully. Jesus reassures us that our Father in the heaven is always near and if God cares for the little sparrows and provides for them, how much more will he extend his care to us. "Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? (Matthew 6:26).

It is, I believe, undeniable that nature reveals to us God’s beauty, glory, power, wisdom, presence, creativity, and, his loving care. I believe it is these experiences that draw us to creation, to nature. To take a walk on a beautiful day, play with your dog in the grass, or hold your cat listening to her joyful purrs, watch the squirrels acrobatic jumping from tree limb to tree limb, the joy we feel at seeing the first robin of the season, or the beauty of that cardinal that stops to rest on your fence, all of these and more are reliable ways for many people to connect with God’s loving presence.

Jesus directs toward the creation with his continual use of nature in his parables that welcome us to find life with him in the Kingdom of God.

The Word of God inspires us to contemplate God’s revealing presence in creation. Today lets reflect on some of the verses in the Bible that instruct us in God’s Beauty and Presence in Nature.

Understanding God’s Creation Helps us Trust Him

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)

The Creation Reveals Christ, the sustainer All Living Things

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

God Created each one of us in his image, and to Care for All Creation

“God spoke: ‘Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.’ God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: ‘Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.’” (Genesis 1:26-28. The Message)

Look to the Lord’s Open Hand

“Job, the righteous man who trusted God in suffering, wrote: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:7-10)

All Creation Reveals God’s Loving Care for Us

“O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens… When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon and the stars you set in place — what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:1, 3-4, New Living Translation)

Look Up!

“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 reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.” (Psalm 19:1-6)

The Earth is Full of the Lord’s Unfailing Love

“The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

God Our Helper

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)

Wonderfully Made in Body and Soul

“For you [Lord] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

The Lord Gives Water to Refresh All

“This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer… The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.” (Isaiah 43:14, 20)

No Excuses

“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 people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

God Brings Freedom to All Creation Through Us

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19-21)

All Will Praise God and Christ

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” (Revelation 5:13)