God's longest speech to humanity (part 1)

 One could say that the entire Bible, as it is God’s Word, is His longest speech to us. Certainly it is inspired by God to humans, it was written by humans, in response to a multitude of events regarding the history of the Israelites, and those of the early church via the apostles. The reality is, that His longest actual recorded speech to humanity is in the book of Job, especially chapters 38-42. And it is clear that the primary emphasis is on His creation!

In all of the messages given in church services, etc., there is precious little that discusses God’s creation. There is, of course, lots of great information on how to live, how to honour God, what the greatest commandment is, etc., but so very little on His actual creation.

Why is that?

It’s almost as if God’s longest speech doesn’t account for much. Yet His word in these chapters in Job, as well as many verses in the Psalms and elsewhere, focus very much on God’s creation. In paying attention to verses and chapters such as these, they are giving us a very definite focus on His majesty and glory, which is as it should be.

An excellent book I have read through a couple of times is called The Gospel According to the Earth, by Dr. Mathew Sleeth. One of the more interesting chapters, at least to me, is entitled God the Creator. Dr. Sleeth and I are definitely on the same page on this topic! I have drawn on some of his information to come up with this post.

If we paid attention to what God is saying in Job, we should pay more attention to birds, forests, stars, etc.

Prothonotary Warbler

Rich Beech/Maple Forest

Dark Sky Preserve, Grasslands National Park

After Job’s friends were chastising him for something that he, at least in their minds, must have done wrong to have so many things he lost or had to contend with regarding his health, and blaming God for it, God’s response to Job and his friends are questions like “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? The morning stars sang together; He made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness; He prescribed bounds for the oceans and said Thus far you shall come and no farther, and here your proud waves be stopped.” Job 38: 7-11

 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Job 38: 37 

Do you know when the doe bears her fawn; their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds Job 39:1, 4

 Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wing toward the south? Job 39:26

  Does the eagle soar at your command. Job 39:27 

Everything under heaven belongs to me. Job 41:11

God is a nature lover, and to get closer to Him, we need to be a nature lover and worship Him especially while being out in His creation! And as we spend more time being in awe of His beautiful, complex, magnificent creation, we would become more humble regarding who He is, and far more grateful when we praise Him. When we know about how much He loves sparrows and the lilies of the field....

 

 ...it should indicate to us how much He values and loves us. And He wants us to learn from His creation. If we want to know more about Him, we should take Job 12: 7-10 to heart.

 But instead, we are ‘too busy’ with so many other things that we have allowed to dominate much of our lives. Therefore we should pay more attention to the following:

Our hearts definitely grow more grateful when we praise God’s creation, as stated in Ps 148: 3-6:

"Praise Him sun and moon, praise Him all you shining stars, praise Him you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He set them in place forever and ever."

Praise the Lord!!! 

 

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More featuring of God's creation, with relevant verses

 You may remember a few posts ago where I featured a few of my favourite photos showing God's creation, with an appropriate Bible verse inserted. I had been wondering what to do with some of the canvas prints I had made, and an option came up. There is a mission trip to Ecuador later this season, being undertaken by a church we have been associated with for years whose denomination was through missions. The organizers were hosting a meal along with a silent auction. As missions to other parts of the world were always something I supported, I took this as an answer from God to donate a few of my canvas prints!

There were three prints that were well received and helped raise funds for the trip. These are the three (click on the image to see a larger version, and it may be easier to read the verse):

This next one is very much a favourite of mine. It is a sunrise over the Thames River, downstream from Chatham, and the clouds look like God's hand stretching out.

 

The overall silent auction raised several thousand dollars, so I was glad to be able to be a part of it. 

I donated another canvas print, to be on display somewhere in the church. It is this next one, and is on the wall in a room where folks often gather for coffee and fellowship.

Here are a few others that I have either had made into canvas prints, or may do so in the future. Some may look familiar to the earlier post, but several are new.

This next one is a sunrise overlooking Lake Erie.

Forest at Rondeau

Next is a colony of Great Blue Herons nesting in a fallen willow, in Rondeau Bay.

Clear Creek Forest Prov Park

Next is a scene at Brooks Falls, one of my favourite water falls that we came across on one of our various trips to North Bay. We had a 2' X 3' canvas print on display in our living room.

On a trip to the mid-western USA several years ago, we stopped at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, in Kansas. Here a herd of bison was enjoying the fresh green grass growing on the hillside after a prescribed burn occurred weeks earlier.

Next is a sunrise in the Rocky Mountains that Marie and I got up early for. It is near Saskatchewan Crossing, enroute between Banff and Jasper National Parks.

The Bow River, featured next, is right along the main road in Banff.

Bald Eagles are always fun, and a challenge, to get photos of. It looked like this one was coming right at me, so I had to give it a try!

This next one was taken one spring at Fish Point Prov Nature Reserve on Pelee Island. Considering the much more intensive winter we just experienced, I thought the verse was quite apt.

Monarch butterflies resting on their way to points much farther south

Savannah Sparrow

So many wonderful photos of God's creation that I have been fortunate to see, and even more fortunate to capture on my camera. I am spending as much time as I can being out communing with my Creator and looking for opportunities to capture a bit of His creation to share. Certainly that is one of the most rewarding things to do these days!

 

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Overwhelmed at times in two different directions, and thoughts even about water!

First of all, not surprisingly, there have been times where I have been so sad and emotionally dragged down, even being reduced to tears realizing the things that my best friend and spouse had to struggle with in one way or another, for her entire life, much of it internally, which eventually was influential in her passing to her eternal life. I've described some of that in previous posts, but they just scratch the surface. As sad as it is, I am so, so thankful that God rescued her from the path the devil was taking her down. Yet all the while, she was a beautiful, wonderful spouse that brought so much joy in my life for the entire 47.5 years of our marriage, and still continues two years later. What a blessing!

July, 2018, at Serpent River

Then at many other times, I have been so overwhelmingly thankful that God has been with me throughout my life, even in my sorrows and challenges, as some of my earlier posts described. But since Marie’s passing, I have had such a steep learning curve in understanding what she was dealing with, and even more so having a stronger growth in my faith and knowledge of God. While being married, Marie and I spent a lot of time growing together in so many ways, which was the way God intended it to be. Sure, we weren’t always on the same page in everything, but we were for many things, and spending time growing together, doing things together, sharing thoughts, experiences, etc., was so amazing and fulfilling.  She was such a beautiful person to grow with! Of course now life is so lonely, without having a loving spouse to share it with. Do I wish/pray for another mate with which to spend this next stage of my earthly life journey for who knows how many years? Sure, the thought has crossed my mind as I am sure it does to most folks who have lost a mate, but it wouldn’t be without its own set of challenges! No one could ever replace Marie!! And someone would have to get used to me and vice versa!!! Hmmmm....Therefore without having someone else to grow with at this stage, I am spending so much more time in closer communion with my Creator and have grown so much in that area, recognizing blessings, exploring His creation, reading various Christian books, including near death experiences by so many to have a better idea of the love and beauty to expect in the afterlife, listening to inspirational Christian music, some of which definitely triggers various emotions. And perhaps most important, trying to be open to His Spirit speaking to me, and being open to what He wants me to do with my remaining years on earth. I know God has more blessings, and an ongoing purpose, and I am so thankful!

Wood Thrush

In addition, on a quite separate topic, I have recently been reminded of the role of water in our lives, and our dependence on it. A few days ago, I went to turn the water on in the morning. Nothing, not even a spurt. I waited a bit and tried again. Still nothing. Was it a problem with my system or something else? When the lack of water continued, I contacted the municipality and found out that there had been a water main break! Eventually, after about 7 hours, the water from the tap returned!

It was just a reminder that water is one of God's many, many creations, and we take so many of them for granted, instead of praising Him for numerous blessings even with the availability of water! 

Hogg's Falls

Up next, probably, is an update with some of the recently produced photos illustrating God's creation with various relevant Bible verses. It has been going well and is so rewarding! In addition, a future post will be referring to the book of Job, where God speaks to us in such elaborate detail and is by far the most in the Bible where He does speak to us. We all too often ignore it, unfortunately.

 

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