Can God Be Known?

(4) Star Power. In a departure from the poetry of his day, David sees the sun as a show of God’s power and strength. Most poetry of the Ancient East deified the sun and encouraged its worship. But to David, the sun is the greatest member of the heavenly choir. David pictures the sun as a newly married groom coming out of the wedding pavilion with great joy and radiance or a runner rounded the bases of a celestial baseball diamond. The sun, the great circuit riding preacher of the sky, proclaims God’s power, presence, and provision.

Natural revelation revels to us God’s creative power and greatness. Whether in the beauty of a sunset, or a beach, or mountain ranges, or a flower, or the laugh of a child, or a snow flake, the creation is shouting that there is something more. The sights and sound of nature awaken in us the notions of glory, beauty, and transcendence. These “Acts of God” as they are called by are insurance companies, can provoke awe and even fear.

Last Sunday, we took off to Bloomington to swim. We were between Pontiac and Chenoa we when noticed it. To the east, toward Flanagan, a very thin tornado snaked its way out of a cloud and headed for the ground. We stopped the car for a moment and watched in silence. We quickly decided this was not a day for swimming and headed back home to the basement!

* Nature gives us a proper perspective of ourselves. I can still remember reaching the very top of a ridge in North Carolina and collapsing on to a mossy outcrop of rock. When I caught my breath and my eyes focused, I was stunned. Growing up under the glare of city lights, I was not prepared for what I saw on that mountain that night. It seemed as if every square inch of the sky was full of stars. The Milky Way arched its way across the sky and a provided me a glimpse into the universe’s heart. I said nothing because there was nothing to say. I was speechless. I felt so small in comparison to the great expanse above me. The silence was deafening as the celestial choir echoed in my soul. David had felt the same way:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

* Natural revelation leaves us without excuse. Because God has revealed Himself through nature, humans are responsible for responding to this revelation with praise and thankfulness. When looking at a waterfall, or sitting on a beach watching the endless rise and fall of the crashing waves, or listening to a baby cry for its mother, God is whispering to us all. The Apostle Paul says that we are without excuse if we deny God’s greatness:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)