It’s often said that God wrote two books—the book of nature and the book of Scripture.  In both he reveals key truths about himself.

To be sure, we need the Bible to understand the Gospel—the message about God’s glory and our sin and the gift of saving grace made available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is received by faith (see, e.g., Acts 11:14).

But still, God reveals a great deal through his created order:  “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1).  As Paul puts it, God’s “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).  

So, are you paying attention to God’s speech via nature?   Or are your eyes ever directed downward (toward a screen) or inward (dwelling on yourself)?  Behold, the creative artistry of God:

“Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!” (Psalm 148:7-8).   

“O Lord, how manifold are your works!  In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.  Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great” (Psalm 104:24-25).  

Jesus points to nature to teach us the way of faith:  “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on…   Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:25-29).  God speaks through nature:  listen up!