Francis Bacon once said, “God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.” Of course, we realize that creation could hardly be called a book in a literal sense, yet we can call it a book in the sense that it reveals truth about God. God speaks in His word certainly, but did you ever stop to think about what God is revealing what He has made?
Bacon was not the only one to realize that God’s attributes can be seen in the world he has made. Just as an artist’s style can be noticed in a painting and a musician’s emotion can be felt in a piece of music, so to can God’s nature be perceived in this world. The Psalmist speaks of God’s creation this way,
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalms 19:1–2 ESV)
The Apostle Paul makes this observation,
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20 ESV)
In God’s holy, inspired, and infallible book (the Bible) He tells us that in His other “book” (creation) we can learn amazing things about who God is and what He Is like. We see that God is all-powerful in the world that he has made. We see God’s infinite wisdom in the complexity of everything. We see God’s creativity in the uniqueness of all things. We see God’s order in that plants and animals function in a designed way. We see God’s care and provision in that the world receives what it needs to survive and grow. We also see God’s goodness in the beauty that is all around us.
I’ve been struck recently by how God’s goodness is displayed in creation. Many of us live such busy lives that we seldom “stop to smell the roses,” but I believe that this is one of the greatest things we can do to remind ourselves, and experience, the truth that God is good. God did not have to create a rose to be beautiful, but He did. God did not have to give it a sweet aroma, but He did. God did not have to create a world that is so beautiful and wonderful, but he did.
It is true that our world is imperfect. When sin entered the world the perfect beauty and majesty of creation was marred but not destroyed. Though we do see “thorns and thistles” in our world we also see the roses in the midst of them. Our world is far from perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still see God’s goodness in it.
Think for a moment of all the pleasures God has given us in this world simply because He is good. A warm sunny day, a cool breeze, a glorious sunset, a starlight night, a walk on the beach, a bunch of wildflowers, a perfectly ripe strawberry, a bird singing, and a baby smiling, all show that God is incredibly good to us. God did not have to make a world full of pleasure and beauty, but God chose to simply because He is good.
Sometimes we have the notion that God’s creation is perfect, and man is the problem. In one sense I suppose this is true, if it wasn’t for man the world would not be subjected to sin. On the other hand, however, God created man to have a very distinct place in creation. In Genesis 1, God gives this command,
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ESV)
Before the fall and before sin, God gave man a job, to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over it. God was given the function of cultivating the creation God had made to us. This arrangement (along with everything God had made) was deemed “very good.” God’s goodness is certainly on display in creation, but it is also on display in man’s work of cultivation.
I recently had the pleasure of attending two events that really drove this point home to me. One was a vegetable showcase dinner in Milan Ohio at the Culinary Vegetable Institute. The point of these first class dinners is to spotlight a vegetable in the height of its season by using it in every single course (even dessert!) This dinner featured asparagus. Course after course of this dinner I was amazed by just how versatile and delicious this vegetable could be. It was served raw, pickled, grilled, as a soup, and even as a sorbet.
How good God must be to not only create food but also to give us the ability to create a myriad of different ways to enjoy it. God could have made us simply get nutrients through taking a pill every morning, or simply soaking up the sun as plants do. Yet God is his goodness has given us millions of different ingredients and the ability to prepare and combine them in an infinite number of ways.
The second event was a concert by the Mansfield Symphony Youth Orchestra. A girl at my Church plays the viola so my wife and I went to support and hear her. What a wonderful experience it was, to be able to hear this group of high school students play such beautiful music. This music had the power to excite and to relax, to sadden and to bring joy, to bring tension and to soothe. It was truly a beautiful performance.
God created music because He is good. God’s goodness is clearly on display when a beautiful piece is heard, yet we see again that God gives us the ability to cultivate what He has made. Though we cannot create new notes, we can create different instruments to play those notes all with unique sounds. We can place notes together and create melodies, chords, rhythms, and so on. We can convey emotion and meaning through the cultivation of what God has given us.
Have you stopped to ponder God’s goodness recently in both His creation and man’s cultivation? Have you praised Him for the sights, smells, and sounds that remind you that He cares? Have you remembered who gave man his abilities when you saw some great accomplishment? The good things of this world were given not for us to fall in love with them, but so that we will fall in love with the good God who has blessed us with all these things.
