Do You Hear the Echo?

If you follow this blog, you know I didn't have any great plan when choosing to watch the sunrise and sunset every day during the month of April. I simply knew that creation speaks something to me that I find nowhere else.

Since childhood I have known the importance of the spiritual disciplines of prayer, attending church and reading the Bible, but I can't help but think I have missed another important place to discover God.  I believe I have lessons to learn in creation that I can learn in no other place.

This week while looking at the sunset, I had this thought: In a world where we surround ourselves with man-made walls, man-made problems, and man-made creations, we need to be reminded that there is One who created from nothing.

As image-bearers we carry within ourselves the creative and imaginative expression of God, but we can only rearrange what is already created to express our art forms.

Creation itself is a great work of art, and all works after it are echoes of the original. - John Eldredge

When we look at a sunset, gaze at an ocean, or  marvel at the flowers blooming in the desert, we are listening to the echo and if we allow the echo to resonate, we will find ourselves drawn to the original source.

Which is why I find two passages of scripture so interesting:

Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" Genesis 15:5 NLT

and

About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. Luke 9:28 NLT

The Lord took Abram outside to look at the stars. Jesus took the disciples up a mountain to pray. The Lord did. Jesus did.

Why? Why not just give a five-point sermon or write the words on a scroll?

Perhaps some things can only be revealed through the truths found in the heavens. On a mountain. In a garden. Under a shade tree. In a desert. All of us need to escape the walls we find ourselves living behind and hear the echo.

The mind is educated with facts, but the soul is educated with beauty and mystery.  And the curriculum is creation. - Mark Batterson

Creation echos this truth:

Only God has ever created something out of nothing. Only God.

Lakes. Rocks. Hoodoos. Claret Cup cactus. Giraffes. Monarch butterflies. Sunflowers.

Here is where it breaks down into something more than taking beautiful photographs of nature. I serve a God who creates from nothing. When I find myself facing problems in the week ahead, the best I can do is make a decision or a deduction by gathering the resources and facts that are available to me. But what about situations that are too big for me?

A young family's continual financial struggles. A friend whose cancer has spread. A young man who doesn't know what to do with his life. A friend who is concerned with a grown son. Headlines about wars and rumors of wars. Terrorism. Hatred.

I need the reassurance and the wisdom from the only One who can create from nothing. He did it once and He continues to create from nothing.  He brought Abram and He brings me out to look at the heavens. He brought His disciples and He brings me up to a mountain. This is why I hike. This is why I climb mountains. This is why I look at sunrises and sunsets. This is the deeper meaning spoken in created beauty.

I am small. I am created.

I serve a God who creates. Who is bigger.

Who, when I am out of answers, can still create from nothing.

Who, when you are out of answers, can create an answer out of nothing.

Are you in need of answers?

Listen to the echo.