Nature: God's Power, Wisdom, and Love Made Visible

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.~Romans 1:20

As long as I could walk and pick a dandelion to give to my mother, I have had a love affair with Nature. And I never wondered at the name or questioned its source. I just simply called it by how I knew it: Nature.

Only recently, from a diligent reading of the Holy Bible, did I come to realize why it is called that. All that we see around us, from the tiniest thing that creeps and outward into the entire cosmos is a clear reflection of who and what God is and why Nature is so valued, precious, and even sacred.

When we talk about “human nature,” we immediately imagine the different things that all people are capable of, what we think, how we act, how we speak, how we react to sensory input and to the varied experiences that make up a life. When we narrow it down to a particular individual’s characteristics, it is what we think of as what makes that person different from every other in the universe. Those characteristics eventually assume a recognizable pattern by which we come to know that person and that we call their nature.

The same applies to God, only on a much more vast and exclusive level. Nature, what we call all that we see around us that was not produced or created by human hands, reflects who God is on every level, from the calmness of a sea in good weather to its wrath during a powerful storm. Beauty that leaves us breathless is just a prefiguring of the beauty that is God, but that we, with our finite human minds and the limited scope of our emotional capabilities, are not capable of taking in.

“But He added, ‘You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.’ ”~Exodus 33:20

At some point in our lives, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all seen something that literally left us speechless. And for those of us who haven’t traveled much, the digital age has provided us with opportunities to see many wonders in photos, videos, movies and television nature documentaries. So we all have some idea of the inestimable extent of the wonders that adorn, not only our planet, but also the night sky.

Those with a more discerning eye also sometimes notice the much smaller wonders that most people miss in their busy lives, the small, yet highly significant processes that go on unnoticed but that keep the cycle of life going...bees and butterflies harvesting nectar, going from flower to flower gathering pollen as with which others will eventually be fertilized...bluebirds flying to and from a secretive spot, carrying materials for a nest, and ants moving in a steady rhythm as they build a mound or carry food to their young. The possibilities of spotting something miraculous are limitless, and none of us could even live long enough to explore them all.

One of the ways in which I’ve always felt the Lord’s presence more intensely happens any time I step from our big busy and bustling world onto a woodland path or an opening in a neglected patch of land or field. As I slowly make my way more deeply into the woods or into the field, leaving human noise and chaos behind as I go, the air itself becomes imbued with a sacredness that I never feel “out there.” In the woods, I find that life’s cares fall away from me, including my self-consciousness and visibility. I start to feel as one with my surroundings, less observed, less significant, less concerned with anything beyond what I can actually see close by. The sense of peace and serenity is so complete that I know I am in a very special place and a sacred moment: in the presence of the One who put this all here for my pleasure and to give me a small taste of what it will be to stand before Him one day.