Beyond the Glorious

Do you ever wonder what people might be thinking as they sit mesmerized by the rising surf and rhythmic pounding of breakers slamming the rocky coast or by waves gently lapping the shores of an in-land lake or by long, open vistas of plains and mountain and valleys? Do they see beyond the glories of nature as Max Planck (Nobel Prize laureate in Physics) intimated that scientists do? He was quoted as saying, “…we always look for the basic thing behind the dependent thing, for what is absolute behind what is relative, for the reality behind the appearance and for what abides behind what is transitory.”

While observing the powerful workings of nature, the Psalmist heard God’s voice: “Be still, and know that I am God. ( Psalm 46) Unexpectedly being confronted with creation’s glory and “bigness” may induce strong emotions and an awareness of God. But not everyone hears that voice! Atheists have no room for God in their words or their equations and theories about creation. Scientists struggle with interpretive difference about what scientific data means regarding the structure, order and origins of the cosmos. Some Evolutionists and Creationists attempt to find middle ground for the creative process. Philosophers and social scientists probe the development and debate the purposes, ethics, and behaviors of mankind-sometimes from personal bias. But all marvel and desire to know the how and why of the earth and its inhabitants!

Old Testament patriarch and prophets were overwhelmed by the glories of creation and saw them as mighty manifestations of God and his power to save them. (Deuteronomy 10:14, 3326-27) Job discovered the incomparable wisdom of God through consideration of nature.(Job 38-40) Isaiah believed creation to be proof of the existence of God. (Isaiah 40) The Psalmists repeatedly marveled at the strength and orderliness of nature and responded with gratitude and joy because they knew their mighty Creator was steadfast and loving and powerful and could grant them their prayers and forgive their transgressions. (Psalm 65:1-2) And the Apostle Paul said that creation makes plain not only God’s existence but demonstrates His power and divine nature. (Romans 1:19-20)

We are awed and humbled by our vast and magnificent world, but what do we see when we look into the huge expanses of space, or stand before the vast wonders of the earth, or probe the strange world of ocean depths? When Jeremiah looked “for the reality beyond the appearance,” he saw God and exclaimed ,”It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.” (Jeremiah 10:12)

Do we think about the mysteries of a Creator who can form both expansive galaxies and tiny beautiful flowers or engineer the complexities of a human cell and a weird looking fish? Do we look deep beyond the glory and see God’s power, wisdom, and understanding in our surroundings and circumstances?