When Paying Attention Points to Our Creator
On Sunday afternoon, I was listening again to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, a book I recommend for teens and young adults to read before becoming involved with a possible future husband or wife. The book presents a powerful message about being very careful before making a lifelong commitment.
Fanny Price is the novel’s heroine. Her situation in life does not make her a very worthy match in the eyes of the world. When a man who seems to be an ideal match pursues her, those around her think she should accept him with gratitude. His outward characteristics seem perfect. Her relatives put tremendous pressure on her to accept him, even treating her as ungrateful and obstinate not to do so. Only Fanny can see his great deficiencies. She stands firm, and in the end, is proven right.
The novel portrays only two people in a good light. They are Fanny and her beloved cousin Edmund. However, for a time, even Edmund allows a pretty girl to blind him to that girl’s character flaws.
Well, there is my encouragement for you to read the book and, if you agree with my assessment, to share it with young people you think could benefit from it. Now, I’ll turn to my thoughts for today . . .
A portion I heard in Mansfield Park on Sunday afternoon, reminded me that God wants us all to pay attention. In the following scene, Fanny and her cousin Edmund are sitting by a window in the evening. Here’s an excerpt from chapter 11:
Fanny . . . had the pleasure of seeing him continue at the window with her . . . and of having his eyes soon turned, like hers, towards the scene without, where all that was solemn, and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of the woods.
Fanny spoke her feelings. “Here’s harmony!” said she; “here’s repose! Here’s what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe! Here’s what may tranquilize every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene.”
I looked for a photo to illustrate a nighttime sky. Here is one of the Milky Way in Crater Lake National Park, courtesy of the National Park Service (photograph by Jeremy M. White). Now, there’s a scene showing the sublimity of Nature, one that evokes awe in the One Who made it.
Yes, the language is formal and old-fashioned, but Jane Austen’s words here speak a degree of truth. They remind me of passages in God’s Word where He teaches spiritual truths through the physical wonders He has made, especially the spiritual truth that He is our all powerful Creator. I think Fanny Price is right: The wonders of Creation lift us up from sorrow and call us to righteousness. The book of Romans tells us:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made . . .
Romans 1:20
However, people didn’t heed what they saw in Creation. Instead:
. . . [T]hey did not honor Him as God or give thanks,
but they became futile in their speculations,
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools . . .
Romans 1:21-22
David, on the other hand, was paying attention:
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
When I consider Your heavens, the word of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
Psalm 8:1, 3-5
After Job experienced terrible hardships, after his friends did a terrible job of trying to teach him, and after Job complained and wanted to make his case before God, God Himself spoke. Again and again, God reminded Job about what He had made. God asked Job pointed questions such as these:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Job 38:4-5
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place . . .
Job 38:12
Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Job 38:28
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?
Job 38:34
And see Who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might
and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
Isaiah 40:26