2018 Weekly Devotional - Week 35

Week 35

    Darla and I served as church planters in the mountains east of Albuquerque from 1990 to 1997. It was a wonderful time for us as the Lord was so very faithful to grow us spiritually. We loved our time there because we made lifelong friends, our family grew from three to five, we enjoyed the climate and the mountains of course as well. We had the opportunity to spend our last years there on an alfalfa farm north of a little town on I-40. Being a farm it was out in the middle of nowhere which suited me just fine. There was room to roam, cows to tend, and plenty of adventure for our young kids. One of the things I remember most about living there was the sky. Whether it was early morning sunrise or sunsets in the evening the sky was absolutely stunning. With an unabated view to the east we were able to see the sun break over the horizon and were treated to all the rich yellows, golds, and shades of pale blue. As the sun retreated over the Sandia mountains we observed deepening blue, reds, and oranges. After sunset with no ambient light to disturb our viewing, we were treated to the stars and constellations running their courses. The intensity of these daily experiences is sadly lost on the urban dweller and that is a shame since God is speaking to us through them.
    The Psalmist writes that the heavens declare God’s glory and the sky proclaims his handiwork. We could easily explain that our enjoyment of the sunrise and sunset are the result of light reflecting off of dust particles and air molecules scattering light wavelengths so that we only see certain spectrums. The science behind our explanation would be sound, but it cannot explain the emotional connection we have to the phenomena. We see a mother nursing her child and we intuitively know that what we are observing is more than a mere exchange of bodily fluids. There is something happening on an emotional level that is beyond physiological. In a letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things”. If we make God first in our lives we will get the beauty of the sunrise as well. If we make nature first in our lives not only do we lose God we also reduce the sunrise to a scientific explanation and miss the beauty. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, ‘Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling desires to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire, which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.’ Sunrises, sunsets, and constellations all cry out day after day that they are created and that their creator is supremely beautiful. They are earthly pleasures trapped in time and space that point to an eternal pleasure found only in God. According to Stuart McAlister, ‘John Calvin reminded the world that God has given his creatures two books: the book of nature and the Word of God.’ McAlister continued, ‘For the Christian, they are not equal in authority or revelatory power, and yet it is a serious neglect to focus on one at the exclusion of the other.’ So go for a walk and enjoy the beauty that anticipates and points to our God and King. Listen closely, the skies are talking.

In Christ,

John