As We Exist, May We Notice the LORD
Recently, I found myself reading about inventor and naturalist John Muir. Quite fascinating is his early invention of a tilting bed that helps a person arise at a designated time and dumps him into a pale of cold water. Would that not be a horrible way to arise from our slumber each morning.
Nonetheless, Muir was a technological and mechanical genius, and his early life found him working within the industrial field and within the interior confines of an building. Many believed his inventions were his skill-set and strength; his parents believed his faith and walk with God should lead him to the career of pastor; and Muir’s inner being, his soul, led him to become the naturalist we know so well today. However, it was only after a sudden blindness caused by a tool piercing his eye that Muir found his true calling—to worship and honor the LORD and all HIS majesty.
Notice what the psalmist declares about the way the LORD dresses Himself through nature.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul!
(The Psalms 104: 1-2 NAS)
O LORD my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak,
Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.”
After the accident & blindness, Muir committed himself to spending the rest of his life studying nature. If you have ever traveled to Yosemite National Park, then you understand the majestic beauty Muir saw during the fall of 1867.
Notice how the psalmist considers how the LORD fashions nature for Himself.
“He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters;
(The Psalms 104: 3-4 NAS)
He makes the clouds His chariot;
He walks upon the wings of the wind;
He makes the winds His messengers,
Flaming fire His ministers.”
As an educator, I find myself encased in words, computer screens, emails, messages, books, essays, and classrooms. However, the remembrance of the LORD has led me through His Holy Spirit to never forget the brevity of my earthly life, one that can clearly be noted through the eternity of my Father’s hands when He fashioned and created the universe.
Notice the words of the psalmist about the LORD’S work.
“He established the earth upon its foundations,
(The Psalms 104: 5-9 NAS)
So that it will not totter forever and ever.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled,
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down
To the place which You established for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.”
The entirety of Psalm 104 speaks of the LORD’S handiwork—nature—of its blessing to our being and how it reveals the CREATOR. Set aside time today to step into nature, not just the small walk from your vehicle to the building you need to enter but search for a length of time when you can sit and breathe in the beauty of nature. Muir said: “Every landscape . . . and every one of its living creatures . . . and every crystal of its rocks . . . Is throbbing and pulsing with the heartbeats of God.” Time each day in nature is associated with better health, and who does not desire to be healthier? Today, a walk in the woods may be just what your doctor orders. Gift yourself with sunlight, fresh air, green space. Remove your shoes and socks to feel the earth below your feet. Take the earbuds from your ears to listen to the birds and the wind. Leave behind your cell phone to fully absorb yourself within God’s Luscious Earth.
Truly, if the inventor Muir were still with us, he would be fascinated by our advance technological inventions.
However, if the naturalist Muir were still with us, he would be saddened by our dwindling time spent each day in nature.
- Step out into the beauty of the LORD.
- Give yourself a dose of the wild.
- Live for today, only for today, dwelling within the LORD’S handiwork.
& never forget, how the birth of springtime and the coming of Easter should remind us how we need JESUS deep within our heart, soul, mind, and being.
The Bible is clear in explaining why nature was created, and it is also clear in helping us recall why we were created.
As We Exist, May We Notice the LORD: His majesty, the eternal truth about us (His creation), about His hand on nature, and about God’s ultimate reason for ALL CREATION.
“For by Him all things were created,
(The Letter of Paul to the Colossians 1: 16-17 NAS)
both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things,
and in Him all things hold together.”