The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.— Psalm 19:1
Nature has a voice. It’s a loud voice. It goes through all the earth (Ps. 19:3–4) and can only be muted through strenuous suppression (Rom. 1:19). This voice sings the song of “the glory of [God’s] eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.” God’s masterpiece of creation is “like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God,” like his precision, love of beauty, orderliness, dependability, originality, and much more.
Protestant Reformer John Calvin said that creation is like a majestic theatre. When David entered this theatre he was struck with God’s care of his people who, in comparison with the heavens, seem insignificant (Ps. 8:3–5). We are shocked by the number of stars we can see on a clear night. But even under perfect conditions, we can see only several thousand of the 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone. God brought Job into his theatre to challenge his pride: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). How deep are those foundations? The deepest hole humans have dug—less than seven miles—is only a thousandth part of the way to the earth’s center. Studying creation should sober creatures and magnify the Creator. “How unreasonable is it that we should delight in the world, and not much more in him that made it!”
To be drawn to God through nature, we must learn from Scripture to observe nature. Stargazing helped Abraham begin to understand the magnitude of God’s covenantal plan of salvation (Gen. 15:5). David considered God’s heavens (Ps. 8:3) and listened to its speeches (Ps. 19:1–3). Solomon invites wisdom-seekers to consider the ant (Prov. 6:6). God illustrates his peoples’ backsliding through the migration patterns of storks, turtledoves, swifts, and swallows (Jer. 8:7). Jesus, too, assumed that his hearers were birdwatchers: “Consider the ravens” he exhorted (Luke 12:24). He insisted that they pay attention to the flowers: “Consider the lilies” he said (Luke 12:27). Jesus could teach about the Holy Spirit to people who spent time in the wind, hearing its sound, feeling its effects (John 3:8).
It’s not too narrow an application of the doctrine of creation to say, Get outside! Take a walk in the woods. Gaze on the stars. Study the ants. Be still and listen. Researchers have noted that nature walks expose you to “inherently fascinating stimuli” that “invoke attention modestly, allowing focused attention mechanisms a chance to replenish,” boosting concentration. By faith, your nature study will yield an even greater reward: a richer, deeper, more confident knowledge of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Footnotes
Westminster Confession of Faith, 4.1
Belgic Confession, 2; Rom. 1:19–20.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962) e.g., 1.5.8; 1.6.2; 1.14.20; 2.6.1.
Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (London, Banner of Truth, 1965), 118.
Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016), 147–48.
