Yeah, you and me.
To Fill All Things (7)
“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 14.15-17
The witness of creation
What Paul explained to the people of Lystra must have struck them as strange. The God Who made heaven and earth has left a witness of Himself in the stuff of this world and the everyday drudgery of our work? How could that be?
And more important, if it is so, why hadn’t they seen this before?
In his little book, Instruction in Faith, John Calvin crisply summarized the teaching of Scripture about the witness of God in creation. By paying careful attention to the works of creation—the world itself, together with culture and the workings of the human conscience—we can learn a great deal about God. Calvin wrote, “We contemplate, therefore, in this universality of things, the immortality of our God, from which immortality have proceeded the beginning and origin of all things; his power which has created such a great system and now sustains it; his wisdom which has composed and rules with such a distinct order such a great and complex variety of beings and things; his goodness which has been the reason in itself why all these things have been created and now subsist; his justice which manifests itself in a marvelous way in the protection of good people and in the retribution of the bad; his mercy which endures our iniquities with such a great kindness in order to call us to amendment.”
In the things God has made, and which He continually sustains, we can discern His power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and kindness. God is already filling the creation with Himself. But most people aren’t paying attention (Rom. 1.18-21).
Since God is showing us so much of Himself, why didn’t the people of Lystra see Him? And why don’t people today see God in all these many and wonderful works? They didn’t see, and don’t, because they don’t know what they they’re looking for!
But we do.
See that?
Have you ever had the experience of someone saying to you, “Wow! Did you see that?” as they point off somewhere in the distance. “See what?” you ask, because you have no idea what has arrested their attention with such surprise and wonder. “Right over there; can’t you see it?” they reply. “No, I can’t see it because I don’t know what you’re pointing at!” you say with growing exasperation.
This is the way God appears in creation and culture to those who don’t know Him. Since they don’t know Him, they don’t know what to look for amid all the wonders, marvels, and witnesses of creation and culture all around them. We might be able to look at a glorious sunset, a painting by Rembrandt or Wyeth, or even a well-kept lawn or a well-executed forward pass and say, “Wow! Did you see that?” meaning something like, “Man, God is so beautiful, wise, powerful, glorious, and grand to make a scene like that, or to enable people to do things like that!”
But the people to whom we’re trying to point out the witness of God in creation and culture can only respond “See what?” unless we are more specific in explaining what they should be observing.
Docents of glory
Some years ago, I stood before a new painting by Andrew Wyeth in the Brandywine River Museum. It was a beautiful farm landscape with a rail fence leading into the foreground and a little disturbance of leaves beneath it. I was so caught up in the painting that I didn’t notice a young docent standing at my side. He said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?” I agreed. He said, “It’s more beautiful today than it was yesterday.” “Oh?” I replied. “Yeah,” he said, pointing out the little disturbance of leaves. “Until yesterday, there was a deer in this place. Then Mr. Wyeth came with his brushes and painted it out. He said the deer’s presence was more palpable by its absence.” I looked again, and sure enough, I could “see” what wasn’t there, but had been.
The world is a museum of the mighty works of God. It’s like one huge, continuous Rorschach Test. If you know what you’re looking for, and how to observe it, everything displays the glory of God. The heavens, the creation around us, the works of human culture and society, even the make-up and ways of human beings themselves: According to Scripture every created thing bears the stamp of God’s creating and sustaining work and so, in some way, gives evidence of His glory.
In this world-museum, most people wander around gawking without really understanding what they’re seeing. Our job, as we participate with Jesus in filling the world with Himself, is to act as museum docents—like Paul in Lystra—explaining to people all the evidence of God’s eternality, power, wisdom, order, goodness, justice, and mercy as these “shine” and “ooze” out from the creation all around us (Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”). And then, moving on from this general revelation of God, we can explain to them from the special revelation of His Word the story of our all-glorious, filling-everything Savior and King.
But to imitate Paul in this function, who, after all was only imitating Jesus (2 Cor. 11.1—“consider the lilies”), we’ll need to apply ourselves to discerning the glory of God which He has concealed throughout the vast cosmos, in things grand and ordinary (Prov. 25.2; 1 Cor. 10.31). Then as often as the opportunity allows, we can point to anything around us—even our daily work—and say to people, “Wow! Did you see that?”
And when they ask, “See what?” we can show them Jesus, filling the world with Himself, unto the knowledge of God and His glory (Hab. 2.14).
For reflection
1. What are some ways you have discerned the Presence of the Lord in His creation?
2. What could you do to become more adept at this discipline?
3. How are you experiencing the Lord filling your world with Himself because of this study?
Next steps—Conversation: Review all the installments in this series. Get your thoughts together, then share what you have learned with a Christian friend.
T. M. Moore
Want to learn more about discerning the Presence and glory of the Lord in creation and culture? Order a copy of our book, Consider the Lilies, by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from theNew King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
