Seeing God's Nature in What He Made

Over the weekend, I read a magazine article about an effort to document every species of plant and animal life in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Thus far the effort has listed 20,000 species. Researchers expect that number to rise to 40,000 to 60,000. I am in awe of the mighty hand of God and His creativity in the universe He made. When we look down from what the song “How Great Thou Art” calls “lofty mountain grandeur,” . . .

. . . we are seeing a conglomerate of millions of specific wonders created by our Father’s hand. Imagine that we are looking through a giant magnifying glass and can see innumerable individual members which belong to 20,000 or even 40,000 or 60,000 species.

As I turned pages in that magazine about the wonders of the Smoky Mountains and read details of the scientific research going on there, I thought about the relationship between Christians and natural science. At the beginning of the book of Romans, Paul shared this truth about our heavenly Father:

For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes,
that is, His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived,
being understood by what has been made . . .
Romans 1:20

What God made clearly teaches us about His eternal power and divine nature.

I love the efforts Christians are making to honor God in art, music, and drama. I long for us to honor Him in the natural sciences. Like you, I’m tired of the world claiming what rightfully belongs to God. Let’s work together to recognize His hand in what we see.

When God gave wisdom to young King Solomon, that wisdom included understanding about the things God made.

Marvel with me at the wisdom of our God as we look at photos of a tiny fraction of the species found in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Let’s help children to marvel at what God made and at the One Who made them.

Now God gave Solomon wisdom
and very great discernment and breadth of mind,
like the sand that is on the seashore.
Solomon’s wisdom surpassed
the wisdom of all the people of the east
and all the wisdom of Egypt.
For he was wiser than all other people,
more than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol,
and Darda, the sons of Mahol;
and his fame was known
in all the surrounding nations.
He also told three thousand proverbs,
and his songs numbered 1,005.
He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon
even to the hyssop that grows on the wall;
he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish.
1 Kings 4:29-33