Saturday, January 9, 2016

what the universe tells us about God

We're spending the year with C.S Lewis in a daily reader called A Year with C.S. Lewis.  It is available from bn.com as an e-book for $2.99 if you'd like to follow along. Today we read January 9th's selection.

Lewis tells us that we learn a great deal more about a man from talking to him than we do from looking at his house. And I'm not going to argue with him. But I think there is a great deal that we can learn from looking at his house.

When we look at God's creation, we see many things about Him. Like Lewis points out, He is a great artist. The universe is a beautiful place. Lewis says that the universe points to a merciless God who is no friend to man, since the universe is "a very dangerous and terrifying place". But does it?

Certainly there is much to cause terror. There are many things on Earth alone that will kill you. And if you step off of our planet, you would probably die pretty quickly unless you provided for your needs in creative ways. But we can learn a great deal about God by studying physics, biology, and chemistry. For example:

We learn that God is not arbitrary. He has made laws that are pretty reliable. Gravity doesn't just stop working one day because He's mad. We can count on these laws to function, even when we're using them against Him, or to hurt His children. He has made constants... and we can count on them. This says something about His character.

God could have made just a couple animals... or even NO animals... and called it a day. But look at the glory of His creation. He is the very definition of creativity. He has made so many different types of plants, animals, insects... that we still haven't discovered them all, even after centuries of looking for them. And such amazing variety!

He could have given us just one sense to navigate by. But He has instead given us an embarrassment of riches when it comes to senses. We have delicious tastes, amazing aromas, breathtaking vistas, and glorious sounds. And so many things to touch and feel. He has blessed us with so many wonders to experience through our senses that it's easy ... in fact, I think it's impossible NOT to... take them for granted.

So much that He has made, and He gave it to us as a gift. Do we abuse it? Sure. But the fact that we KNOW we abuse it... and we make efforts to STOP abusing it... says something even greater about us. God has given us, the tenders of His garden, the ability to stop and look at our own actions, and as a worldwide group, take action to take better care of this place we call home. That's pretty amazing, no matter which side of the climate change controversy you fall on.

As Rich Mullins says... I awoke in the house of God, where the windows are mornings and evenings... stretched from the sun across the sky, north to south. We live in His house, and it tells us a great deal about how wonderful He is.

Thank You, God, for giving us this amazing gift of Your creation.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Awesome world around us just look.