Listening to God Through the Creation

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
4        [God] is wise in heart, and mighty in strength

—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—

5        he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,

    when he overturns them in his anger;

6        who shakes the earth out of its place,

    and its pillars tremble;

7        who commands the sun, and it does not rise;

who seals up the stars;

8        who alone stretched out the heavens

    and trampled the waves of the Sea;

9        who made the Bear and Orion,

    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

10      who does great things beyond understanding,

    and marvelous things without number. (Job 9:4-10, NRSV)

 

REFLECTIONS:
Along with today's Scripture reading, I'd like for us to reflect upon "The Canticle of Brother Sun" written by St. Francis of Assisi. Francis was known for his ability to see and hear God in the creation around him. 

The Canticle of Brother Sun 

Most high, all-powerful, good Lord,

Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor, and all blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,

          and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures,

          especially Sir Brother Sun,

Who is the day and through whom You give us light.

And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor;

          and bears a likeness of You, Most High One.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,

          in heaven You formed them clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,

          and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather

          through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,

          which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

          through whom You light the night

          and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth,

          who sustains and governs us,

          and who produces varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love

          and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace

          for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,

          from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.

Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will,

          for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks

          and serve Him with great humility. 

……… 

The book of Job is the story of a wealthy man who loses almost everything—children, possessions, and health—in a test allowed by God to prove that he would remain faithful to God. During his suffering, three people whom Job considers friends sit with him for seven days, at the end of which Job curses the day he was born (3:1-26). His friends respond by lecturing him. Eliphaz contends that Job has sinned. Job replies that his complaint against God is just and explains his reasons. Bildad tells Job that he should repent and God will "fill [Job's] mouth with laughter, and his lips with shouts of joy" (8:21). Job responds, "Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand" (9:2-3). The Scripture reading for today gives the rest of Job's answer as he looks to the creation for what it teaches about God's nature and character.

 

When we read Job's words, we must remember that he was in pain. Job had seen just about everything he held dear taken away from him, seemingly without reason. Everything he saw was filtered through his veil of pain and suffering. Yet even his anguished words show us fundamental realities about the creation and what it teaches us about God, realities supported by Scripture and devotional writings like "The Canticle of Brother Sun."

 

We see that the Lord is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and of all living things and natural phenomena. We are first taught this in Genesis: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array" (Genesis 1:31-2:1). These verses set in motion the story of the earth and the history of mankind, which continue today. Job knew that God created the heavens and the earth; the evidence was all around him. The mountains, the earth, the sun, and the heavens all attested to the fact that they had been made by the same Creator. Yet whereas St. Francis exalted in the beauty of the creation, its very magnificence made Job feel small. He wanted to argue with God, to plead his case as he would before an earthly judge, but he felt too small and insignificant to do so before One who was so powerful, One who "does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number."

 

We also learn that God's action in creation continues. For Job, God overturned mountains in his anger. The earth shook. Lost in undeserved suffering, Job was frightened by God's continuing action in creation, which shows God's power and our powerlessness. But in "The Canticle of Brother Sun," St. Francis shows us that God's action in creation is also sustaining and nurturing. God gives us weather to sustain us and fire to light our way in the night. We can only conclude that if God continues to act within his creation, we should pay attention to what he is doing.

 

Finally, even though inexplicably tragic disasters—hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, forest fires and the like—may shake our lives and make us wonder if God has abandoned the earth, if we step back and look at the big picture, we see that the earth is an orderly place. Although we, like Job, know that things happen that we do not understand, there are other things that we can depend on. The sun continues to give us light for each day, and the moon follows its 28-day cycle. After a huge earthquake, the earth may ring like a bell for a few hours, but it stays on its axis and continues to rotate so that we have day and night, and continues to go around the sun every year, which gives us seasons. This orderliness assures us that God is still in control, an assurance echoed in "The Canticle of Brother Sun" as it depicts God sustaining humankind with weather, water to quench our thirst, and food to satisfy our appetites.

 

………

 

We know that God created this world and is in charge of it. Furthermore, he is still present in the creation. It's important to look for God's presence in all living things. Not only does it help us to learn more about the nature of God but also, as St. Francis's sermon demonstrates, we learn to accept and celebrate our dependence upon God, which in turn teaches us humility. As St. Francis shows us, we can delight in the beauty and order of what God has created. This, too, is a form of communicating with God. Whenever we are gardening, hiking, enjoying a sunset, or smelling or admiring a flower, we can offer a thankful prayer to God. We can open ourselves to the lessons God has to teach us with each piece of the creation and appreciate how beautifully each interlocking piece serves his end.

 

We must remember, however, that although God is present in the creation to sustain it and to keep chaos at bay, the creation is not God. Paul writes that "all things hold together" in or by Christ (Colossians 1:17), but neither God the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit is the creation. We worship the Creator, not the creation. This is a tension we must keep in mind as we listen to God through such things as the beauty of a sunset, the fragrance of a flower, the flavor of salt, the song of a bird, the wetness of water.

 

 

POINT OF ACTION:

Take a few minutes to sit outside in a beautiful place and do what St. Francis of Assisi did: delight in the beauty and variety of God's creation. Think about how God cares for the plants and the animals you see and how well planned and complexes creation is. Bring your Bible if you like and read Psalm 19:1-6.

 

 

PRAYER:

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all day long.

“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, do I seek.

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    give heed to my sighing.
Listen to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you I pray.

 

WHO AM I?

I am Tres Sansom, and I love being outdoors experiencing the beauty and wonders of God's creation. Even in the hottest stretches of the summer, I love being outside. I love experiencing the magnificent beauty of mountains, the vastness and quiet a wide-open wheat field, the smells and sounds of waves rolling up on a beach, the rolling beauty of the hill country, and even the colors and complexity of the desert. I love gnarly old trees, crystal-clear rivers, cloudless nights, the refreshing breezes of late spring, and West Texas sunsets. I love it all. When I'm stuck inside, a couple of my favorite TV shows are the Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" and PBS's "Nature."