Part Three -- The nature channel

What do the heavens declare about the glory of God? What speech are they pouring out? What of His invisible attributes are clearly perceived in what He has made? How is the whole earth filled with His glory?

John Piper says the universe “…is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself. And he says it for us to learn and enjoy -- namely, that he is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful. The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God. And it is an understatement. But the point is not to nullify us but to glorify him.” -- Don’t Waste Your Life, p34

Infinitely great, powerful, wise, beautiful, unfathomable, awesome, disproportionate, glorious. He’s all right, all good, all the time – righteous. There’s nothing else and no one else like him. You look at nature and the universe and you know if He made that, then you are less than a speck of dandruff on a hair on the leg of a flea in comparison. You might not think of the word “holy” when you think of nature and creation, but that’s what it is.

The whole earth is filled with His holiness

But that does not mean everything in the world is holy – the room I’m in is filled with furniture but everything in the room is not furniture.

there cannot be two unlimited substances in the universe…there cannot be two absolutely free beings in the universe, for sooner or later, two completely free wills must collide. These attributes, to mention no more, require that there be but one to whom they belong -- A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, p15-16

A long time ago Job smashed into God's holiness. And it was good. But not at first...

Don't I have a right to understand?

Job is blameless and upright -- the greatest man among all the people of the east. Then some horrible things happen to him, and he doesn’t understand. It doesn’t fit his expectation of why suffering and pain and senseless loss happen.

His friends don’t understand either, but they think they do, so they try to help Job see that really somehow, someway, he has messed up or all this bad would not have happened. Which certainly is a question to ask yourself -- what’ve I done wrong? But Job has already asked it, and this great, godly man has a clear conscience.

So none of this makes sense to Job and he has a million questions.

Because it has to make sense, right? And if it’s not us it’s happening to, we’d be glad to enlighten you about what’s really going on and why God’s doing this. Because everything makes sense and has a reason. And we have a right to know what it is. And, most of us are pretty good at making sense of things -- as long as it’s not me it’s happening to…right?

Job didn’t know at the time about the little scene at the beginning of the book between God and the devil. Even if he had, it still wouldn’t make sense -- it was all God’s idea! God said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? If Job hears that, he’s got even more questions.

Starting in Job chapter 38, after Job and his friends have done all the talking, the Lord has His say. And He really doesn’t answer their questions.

More important than making sense

Instead, God seems to want to show Job that Job cannot possibly come close to understanding and appreciating God’s ways. Job and his friends assume that they can and should figure out what God is doing and why -- and God acts like proving those assumptions wrong is more important than Job’s suffering. And to prove their assumptions wrong, God does not go into long, intellectual pronouncements like Job’s friends do. God just points. Again and again He points.

He points at what He has created.

He takes everyday natural things that Job is familiar with, things that Job has maybe taken for granted, and He opens Job’s eyes to what those things say about God, and about Job’s ability (and expectation) to figure things out. God proves how holy and set apart He is by showing Job what God has done that Job hasn’t, and can’t, do, or understand.

Job has been asking God questions, and now God says, “You don’t have a right to demand or expect answers -- but I do. Now I have some questions for YOU and I DO have a right to YOUR answers.” And in asking Job these questions, God asks us, too. It’s as if God is saying, ”before we move on with addressing your situation and your questions, let’s get it straight about who you are and who I am…” This must be important.

And God opens Job’s eyes by turning to the nature channel.

Part Two -- Expectations rule

They are the happiest people in the world. That’s what Good Morning America and 60 Minutes say surveys over 30 years consistently show. Yet, the average person pays sky-high taxes -- 60% of their income. Jobs are plentiful, but there aren’t many opportunities for promotion and higher pay.

It rains on these happy people more than half the year. And although everyone lives within 30 minutes of the coast, summers aren’t made for swimming -- August highs average 69 degrees. No tropical beaches. No mountains or rolling hills either; the highest point is 560 feet above sea level, one-sixth of the highest point in either Connecticut or Massachusetts, which combined are the same size as this whole happy country.

In the middle of winter you go to work in the dark (the sun doesn’t rise until 9:30 am) and by the time the kids get home from school it’s dark again (3:30 in the afternoon).

So why are the people in Denmark so happy?

GMA and 60 Minutes say it’s their culture of low expectations of everyday life. Pleasure is not expected; it’s considered a gift, a sweet surprise.’ They don’t compare themselves to others. They’re not always wanting more; no bigger house, fancier car, better paying job. They’re happy with what they’ve got.

Don’t expectations influence how you experience things? You hear about a movie that’s supposed to be good. You expect maybe a 7 or 8. If the movie is 5 or 6, you’re disappointed.

But if you expect a nothing movie, like a 3 or 4, and it ends up being a 5 or 6 -- Hey! Not bad! Same movie, different expectation.

When we lived in Detroit, 60 degrees in January was warm, but if it was 60 on a July afternoon it would be cold. Same temperature, different expectation.

Before I considered buying a 4-Runner, I couldn’t pick one out on the road. After doing research and deciding to get one, they were suddenly all over the place. It was the same when my wife was talking about Coach purses and after that I noticed, yeah, everybody’s got one. Once I was sensitized to 4-Runners and Coach purses, I recognized their presence . They had always been there, but now I was paying attention.

Maybe it can be the same with God. When you don’t expect to see Him, often you don’t. But if you do expect to see Him, and are sensitive -- there He is! This is good news if you feel God is distant or hiding or uncaring. It’s also good news if you feel you’re living a disconnected life with your religious activity and church attendance over there, and the rest of your everyday life over here (of course it’s bad news if you’re living that kind of life and like it).

It might also be intimidating news. You can’t hide. He’s all over the place.

Here, there and everywhere?

One place you expect to see God is in the Bible. Another place is in Jesus, as you read the Bible and see Jesus’ personality, character, demeanor and how He thought and talked and what His priorities were.

And you expect to see God in church -- as you’re sensitized to Him in the music and preaching and in people who have come together to dwell on Him.

And maybe you expect to see Him when you look at creation and nature and you notice and are reminded -- wow, someone had to design and create all this.

But you can stop right there -- the Bible, Jesus, church, nature -- and if it’s not Sunday or you’re not reading the Bible and you’re not on vacation in the mountains or at the beach, then you may not really notice Him. And most of your life is probably not lived on Sunday or reading the Bible or in an attention-getting beautiful place.

But you read in the Bible:

The whole earth is filled with His glory -- Isaiah 6.3

And you do live all your life, every second, on that earth. The earth that’s filled with His glory.

And you read that the heavens declare the glory of God and that day and night they pour out speech and knowledge that’s heard all over, everywhere (Psalm 19.1-4).

And you read that what can be known about God -- His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature -- are clearly perceived in things that have been made, so everyone on earth has no excuse for not believing that God exists (Romans 1).

So you wonder -- what does that mean? That the whole earth is filled with His glory? That His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, are clearly perceived in things that have been made?

How and why does that matter to you and me? Is it theology for scholars and preachers and book writers? Is it for composers of worship songs and for us when we sing the songs in church? Anything else?

What if

Does the whole earth and the things that have been made refer only to nature -- the stuff we can see and touch?

If you said that your whole house was filled with the glory of God, would you be referring to the walls and the roof and the rooms and the floors? Could you also mean the space between the walls and floor and ceiling? Could you mean the way your family relates to each other? How your time was spent in your house? The atmosphere you try to create? Could you mean the way you try to have order in your home -- that someone’s in charge and that the kids don’t run the show?

Could those types of things also be what God refers to when He says the whole earth is filled with His glory and His invisible attributes have been put on display in the things He has made?

Could the things He has made go beyond the earth and sky and sea and animals and people?

Could the things He has made include how He has set up His world to work, not only the stuff we see and touch, but also the way the stuff relates to each other – the space between the walls and floor and ceiling?

Could it include rules and parameters and invisible laws for order and peace -- could those things also be part of His ‘whole earth?’

What if you saw God the other six days of the week, when you were not in church, not reading your Bible, when you were not on vacation noticing the scenery around you?

What would you see and how would it affect you if your expectations were adjusted to include not only nature and creation and the things you can see, but also the way the created things relate to each other, in institutions and systems of order?

The invisible creation

Institutions and systems like authority. The whole earth is filled with authority -- work, church, government, schools, families -- all over the world we see it. Every tribe, village, city, street, state and nation has some combination of parents, kids, bosses, employees, principals, teachers, students, presidents, chiefs, governors, mayors, police, citizens, pastors, generals, soldiers, coaches, players… You can’t escape being some part of authority if you are in any kind of group of people. And we see systems of authority in heaven too, even within God Himself, where the Father has authority over the Son and over the Spirit, and the Son is over the Spirit but not over the Father (but more on that later).

And how about family? The whole earth is filled with family. Dad and mom and the kids are seen in the animal and people kingdoms reproducing and nurturing and launching the next generation. And then we see God saying that He is the Father of His children and that His children should refer to Him as ‘papa’ (Abba). And we see Him saying he has a Son.

And marriage? The whole earth is filled with marriage -- just about every culture since the beginning has a husband, wife, mom and dad. Every marriage is challenged by what it means to love and respect, to be faithful and united as one. Everyone knows there is no other relationship like it. You see marriage ‘invented’ by God with Adam and Eve. And then God tells us marriage is a picture of His relationship with us, our relationship with Him, and even His relationship with Himself.

And how about people? Individually, you and me, created, He says, in His likeness to be conformed by Him into an even greater likeness of His Son. And every person is a stage where God’s justice and redeeming love is displayed, and a battleground where the fight between God and his enemy takes place. The whole earth is filled with people.

The God Show

It’s almost like a show -- The God Show. And there’s five channels: The nature channel. The authority channel. The family channel. The marriage channel. And the you channel.

How are God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, clearly perceived on each of those five channels, in areas that don’t change over time or according to culture; areas that are part of how things started at creation and that are still, well, on the air?

What would you see if you were paying attention and had the expectation that you would see Him more right now…and even every moment? And what effect would what you see have on you?

Part One -- Crammed with Heaven

I’m counting them in my head right now – I think there’s seven in this room with me, one or two in the bedroom, one or two downstairs and several more in a giveaway box by the back door. I’m probably forgetting some.

Bibles. Different translations, several study versions, small ones that fit in a pocket or computer bag, some other old ones kept because notes jotted in them are a little journal of our personal growth – a typical serious Christian collection. Oh, I forgot the one on my laptop.

God’s Word. Scripture (the first time I heard someone say that it sounded so reverent). The Sword of the Lord. The Old and New Testaments. But one thing all the versions and sizes and ages have in common – they do not speak unless you pick them up (or click) and read them.

And even then you have to understand what you’re reading and believe it before you hear what it’s saying. Until then, they all sit there, doing nothing.

Well, the books, the pages, do nothing. The truth inside them of course is always doing something; you read the Book and find the truth and learn what it’s doing. But it’s not doing it in the pages. It’s doing it where we live – in the whole world. The truth in the Book says, “the whole world is filled with His glory” but you have to lift your eyes from the Book to see it.

When you do lift your eyes you see a show. And like with the Book you have to open your eyes and understand what you’re seeing and believe it. But it’s there, all around you, all over the world, and you’re always – always – in the middle of it. But like many things you’ve grown up with and still live in the middle of, you don’t really see it. I don’t. But I’m starting to. Aren’t there some things that when you finally see them you’re shocked, thrilled, can’t believe you missed it until now, and your life is never the same?




Missing Majesty

There’s a scene in Travels with Charley where Steinbeck drives into the Redwood National Forest anticipating this staggering reaction from Charley. Charley’s a dog and no one appreciates trees like dogs, right? So Charley’s in for an awesome adventure. Steinbeck even hides Charley back in the camper so he won’t see anything until he finds the perfect three hundred foot “grandfather of Titans” to unveil. This is gonna be so good.

Steinbeck knows “The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferrable. From them comes silence and awe…The vainest and most slap-happy and irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of reverence and respect…One feels the need to bow to unquestioned sovereigns.”

Steinbeck is even afraid Charley, tree connoisseur, “might be translated mystically to another plane of existence” by the experience “for this could be dog’s dream of heaven in the highest.”

But once out of the camper Charley is clueless. No comprendo. He walks in the weeds and drinks from the brook and looks for something to do. Steinbeck grabs his muzzle and points it up so Charley can see the majesty, then even rubs his nose against the the wall of the mammoth trunk. Charley doesn’t know it’s a tree. It’s too far outside any kind of dog expectation or experience.

Steinbeck finally cuts a branch off a willow sapling, sharpens the end and sticks it in the ground leaning against “the godlike thing.” This, Charley can appreciate and he does what dogs do – a little promenade, aim and fire.

You and I of course, would never miss something so obvious.

Have you taken the Awareness Test?




Crammed with heaven

For the last few years we’ve enjoyed a few days each summer in Hilton Head, SC. I get up early, walk to Harbour Town, get a cup of coffee at the General Store, sit and watch the boats bob and feel the breeze. And think. And read. The only book I read is Pursuit of God and for these last few years this has been the only time I’ve read it.

This year I get to chapter six, The Speaking Voice, and see: “The Bible will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in his universe.”

As Tozer says this he talks about how it’s easy to have a ”divided psychology” and “jump from a dead impersonal world to a dogmatic Bible.” He asks, “Is God mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book?”

He doesn’t mean that God is speaking new or different truth in his universe, but that the truth spoken in the Bible is also being spoken in the rest of his creation.

I could see thinking this might mean the Creator has “left clues” about himself in what he’s created, or hidden himself for a few fortunate ones to find. Or is it not mysterious at all but as purposeful as what he wrote, with the intention that the speaking in the universe be understood same as the speaking in the Book?

But like giant redwoods and moonwalking bears can be missed when you’re looking for something else, so maybe can this Voice speaking in the universe.

Earth’s crammed with heaven:
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Willing to see

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ – Exodus 3

Moses sees the common bush and notices something uncommon. All he knows at that moment is that it is a “great sight.” He does not know what it is or understand it. He does not know that it is God. But he stops plucking blackberries and re-aims his attention.

This is the starting point. Something is there. You’re not only willing to find out what, but you stop what you’re doing and turn aside to see. Only now can you discover what it is. Then from this discovery comes revelation and understanding and the challenge of what to do with it.


Vague stirrings toward immortality

In the old days I loved music and bought hundreds of albums -- some mainstream rock and roll, with lots of eclectic things mixed in. After Jesus, I lost interest and went many years without listening to any of my albums or tuning around on the radio. I only listened to music containing a direct spiritual message. Not because of a “should” – it’s just what I was interested in.

Much later, I occasionally scanned around on the radio and as I heard the songs I used to listen to, I realized I was hearing them differently. Soaking up the Bible for years had morphed how I listened and opened up things I'd never noticed before.

I heard the passion of being human, of being a slave to desires, of longing for perfect love and being heartbroken over missing it. Indirectly, I found some songs very spiritual – examples of hungering for something undefined yet real, as if there’s something floating invisible and unnamed in the air and an artist can snatch it and capture it even though they can’t say what it is or where it comes from.

I mentioned earlier Tozer’s book Pursuing God and The Speaking Voice chapter – I think he nails there what’s going on:

“Every good and beautiful thing which man has produced in the world has been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response to the creative Voice sounding over the earth.”

And “Could it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice, laboring and striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely understands?” He says people “may miss God in these labors...he may even have spoken or written against God” but these are still “vague stirrings toward immortality.”

I don’t hear these stirrings in all songs. But in many, I almost worship, as singers unknowingly reveal the futility of striving for satisfaction apart from God.

Oh yeah, like what? Well we could start with one that's not vague at all: the search for truth, the gap to get there that you can’t cross, the yearning for something sacred that seems like it was taken out of your soul -- something not lost but stolen. It’s the theology of redemption from the personal view of the unredeemed, unenlightened person, all packaged in a catchy, entertaining pop performance that disguises the hungering search within.




More vague stirrings

The search for escape, rescue, redemption, heaven, the promised land and a savior. How it feels to know there’s something better and to believe it’s meant for people to have it.



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“Maybe a great magnet pulls all souls toward truth,” but Wisdom calling is not alone – on the other corner Folly is calling also. Every human being without Christ is trying to find fulfillment their own way. There’s a constant craving that can make you a slave to various passions and pleasures, and at the same time there’s a constant craving for lasting fulfillment and acceptance. It can seem so futile. Is there an escape from the futility that this constant craving has always been?



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And what becomes of the brokenhearted who can’t stand this pain much longer and have got to find some kind of peace of mind? If you’ll be searching everywhere can you find someone who cares?




Romance and homeruns

If you’re a woman don’t you just love some stories and movies and books? Isn’t there a common journey they take you on? You get to know the characters, a story comes together, then there’s problems and a crisis and tension that leads to the threat of harm or breakup or death, and then there’s resolution. Maybe you never thought about why you like certain movies and stories, but if you did, isn’t this a theme?




And if you’re a guy do you love sports and battles that have a winner and loser with no middle ground? Don’t you love that macho high that comes when certain loss shockingly turns into victory? I can still remember high school and a basketball game and being part of the deafening crowd reaction filling the gym when all that had gone wrong suddenly went right. Forty years later I still know the final score -- 92-79. Why?




Romance and drama and happy endings and sports. Can you see the format, the imprint, the outline of the Gospel story of a perfect place and an enemy and a man and woman kidnapped and led astray into a life of crime by an evil mastermind, and the dramatic and selfless efforts of a hero who loves them and rescues them against insurmountable odds, sacrificing himself to pay for their crimes and set them free? And the end is happily ever after and there’s a final score that can’t be changed. It’s like we’re wired to react to that kind of thing.

See, it really is like a show. A show is something on display, intended to be seen, but like so many things God does, this show is subtle and quiet, not Hollywood-ish. It’s a general Voice speaking in the universe that all hear but that is easily missed. It’s also perhaps a show specifically broadcasting on several set channels – which is where we’re going next.