THEOLOGY THURSDAY
BY Dave Holzhauer
Of New England’s autumn rituals, traveling to see the fall colors of trees, or leaf peeping, as it has been called, is perhaps the best known nationally. It’s a comforting tradition, watching the beautiful colors emerge as the rolling seasons continue their cycle, a milestone of delight.
The author of Psalm 104 must surely have shared this very human delight in Nature, its cycles, and gives words to the wonder. The author explores the wonder that God, who is so majestic and magnificent, would bother to create. God instills order into this new creation (verses 5 – 8). He creates the water cycle, so essential for life to exist (verse 10). Branching off of the water cycle, the author begins to explore the whole interconnected system that God has created. But through this whole interconnected system of cycles (chemistry), natural laws (physics), and relationships (biology), God is involved.
God being involved in his creation is staggering. The various disciplines of science can tell us how the universe around us functions. Very likely it could run along just fine once God set the universe in motion. But he chooses to get involved and leaves his fingerprints throughout. God gave beauty to be appreciated and endowed humans with an appreciation of beauty. Completely unnecessary, from a biological point of view. But it’s there. The desire for celebration and the ability to celebrate. Wonderful flavors and smells. God makes good things.
God being involved takes on a different dimension when you consider the relative magnitudes of the two actors. From a human point of view, Creation is huge, wonderful, and awe-inspiring. But our everyday experience tells us that while the created reflects the creator, it is only a shadow. Artists have made exquisite music, paintings, sculpture, etc. But the art can’t move, breathe, or interact like its creator can. This extrapolation breaks down a bit when moving from the finite to the infinite, but it gives a base for beginning to appreciate that God, who did not need to create and gains nothing by creating, would take the time and effort to be involved in his creation so intimately. God has assigned a high value to us, valuable enough to allow Jesus to be sacrificed on the cross that we might be redeemed. What other artist or creator has ever invested so much into their creation?
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