The Sun that Rises on Creation: A Return to God
February 14, 2013 | III.
Grace: To know all that God has given me in His creation, that it might bring me closer to Him.
Text for Prayer: Psalm 104
Reflection: Living in Denver, I am intimately familiar with the grandeur of God’s creation. I almost daily stand in silent amazement as I watch the hand of God painting a sunrise or sunset that is as breath-taking as it is short-lived. Only a God of infinite beauty could fill the sky with his wonder, only to have it disappear into pure blue a few moments later.
Being filled with awe and wonder at the beauty of creation is perhaps a great balm for the modern soul, which is so often distracted and enslaved to duty or obliged to carry out the monotonous, making only things that are ugly or necessary. However, in contemplating natural things, the soul is free to see that which is not constructed by the limitations of man, and this contemplation can then lead us to reflect upon ourselves as creatures, too. When we do, we might come to consider how it is that God has given to us all of his beauteous creation, and why. Perhaps part of the answer lies in Scripture:
Yet just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Is. 55:10)
Like all things, we come from God and return to God, watering and nurturing and transforming the world in the process. God does not use only light and air and moisture to create the wonders of this world, He also uses every other creature and man himself to show who He is to those who can love Him for what He has done. He then asks us to cooperate in this work, making use of His creation in whatever ways might bring the world back to the One who continues to form it each day. In so doing, the whole of creation, ourselves included, will ultimately return to the One from whom all good things come.
Questions: When have creation and the things of this world aided me in praising, reverencing and serving God? When have they been an obstacle to this three-fold pursuit? How am I growing in the awareness that God is presently giving me His full, complete and undivided attention, and is inviting me to respond to His generosity?