“Listen to this … Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.” (Job 37:15)
God also speaks through the universe He has created. This is not limited to the clichéd, quite sentimental experience we tend to have from time to time when confronted with the wondrousness of creation. It extends to God manifesting himself through creation, using it as a means through which to speak to us. Perhaps one of the most beautiful examples of this Godly contact is in the life of Moses. Peacefully tending to his goats God takes him by surprise, appearing in the flames of a burning thorn bush. Miraculously he watches as the bush burns but is not consumed by the flames. “Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Ex 3:3-4).
God often uses the way in which we are amazed by nature as a way of seducing us into closer proximity, making it easier to speak to our hearts (Hos 2:14).
But nature is not merely a static realm that God employs when necessary – it possesses an active voice that is always speaking. Elijah had grown accustomed to God speaking to him through gales and fires and earthquakes, and thus was intent on discerning if God would speak to him in the same manner again (1 Kings 19:11-13). Job (37:2-4) listens closely to the thunder: “Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.” Indeed it is so: “God thunders marvelously with His voice.” (verse 5). The whole of Job 37 can be considered a rediscovery of the fact that God speaks to man through nature. In Job 12:37 he states this in quite unequivocal terms – “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you.”
In Ps 191:4 David explains that the heavens “declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge”, the nights speaking in voices unheard by us mere mortals.
Read the triumphant Ps 148 where we are told how all of creation witnesses of their Maker – the sun, moon, stars, the waters, great sea creatures, “fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word” (verse 8), mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and cattle, both creeping things and flying fouls …
According to Rom 1:19-21 people who have never heard of Christ can still be saved if they can hear His nature and in this way worship him as God – “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made …” Be wise like Solomon in Prov 24:30-32 (MSG).and allow the untended vineyard to speak to you – “I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened.”
- Sela: Find out what pantheism is and have a discussion with someone about why this is not Biblical.
- Read: 1 Sam 29; Prov 1; Gal 1
- Memorise: Gal 1:10
- For a deeper understanding: Listen to Neil Nugget’s cd: God’s secret language of the cosmos.
