All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
(Psalm 145:10)
EVERY INSTANCE OF BEAUTY IN THE NATURAL WORLD IS A HINT THAT POINTS US TO THE GLORY OF GOD HIMSELF. Whatever God has made bears some resemblance to its Maker. Like the artist whose every brush stroke says something about the artist himself, God has left evidence of Himself in the things that He has made (Acts 14:17). The tokens of God’s glory in this world are beckoning us to another world, one with a far greater glory.
We, however, won’t get the point of these hints of glory if we don’t stop to think about them. If we’re so busy with the details of our self-centered concerns that we never notice the works of God, it should be no surprise that we have difficulty maintaining our faith. With everything He has created, God is inviting us to meditate on Him, the Creator. When we don’t “stop to smell the roses,” it’s not only enjoyment that we miss, it’s also worship!
Perhaps we do notice the hints of God’s glory around us, but we just don’t experience them very deeply. If so, we’d do ourselves a favor by learning to savor these things and relish them. When I was a boy, I could derive extraordinary pleasure from a Hershey chocolate bar. I wouldn’t just eat it; I would contemplate it as I ate! With each small rectangle, I would taste it just as long as I could, actually thinking about how good it tasted. Wouldn’t it be wise to enjoy God’s works with this kind of lingering thoughtfulness? We should not only taste them but go so far as to relish them.
If we long to know God, we’ll be eager to enjoy each evidence of Him in the world, and these hints of glory will send us into the Scriptures to learn of His character. But think about this: all that we can learn of God now is only a small portion of what is waiting to be learned in eternity, when the faithful will surely say to God what the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom . . . and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard” (1 Kings 10:6,7).
“Place all your delight in Him. Say, ‘O my God, You are the universal source of all good things! The perfections of Your creation are but a faint shadow of Your glory’” (Lawrence Scupoli).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
