So Very Good: What We Love When We Love God, part 4
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength… [And] You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Jesus, in Mark 12:30-31
Previously, we observed that what we love when we love God is simply God Himself. But, as we continue to consider this, we saw that we love God for His Words. We meet His character, Himself, in His Words. His Words are true, they are light, and they are life. It is for good reason that Christ is described by the apostle John as “The Word,” and “The True God,” “The Life,” for Christ is the final, the ultimate, revelation of God’s character. (see 1John 1:5)
Now as we continue to reflect on what we love when we love God, let us consider that God’s Word has accomplished. That is, last week we saw what God’s Word is, and now let’s look at what God’s Word does.
All words are spoken in order to bring something about, to make something happen, to start things, change things, or stop them. And so the Bible begins, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1:1) And how did He create all things? “And God said…” (Gen 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26)
And so, as the apostle John put it: “In the beginning what The Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)
The Word of God made the World.
And, just as the Word of God is true, gives light, and makes alive, so the World God made is marked by those qualities. The way Genesis puts it is that, after God made the world, “God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31)
Indeed, though the whole world now is groaning in “its bondage to corruption,” “subjected to futility” (Rom 8:21-23), yet we still can see the goodness of God in the goodness of the world.
The Psalmist praises God for this, most notably in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God…” And the apostle Paul appeals to this as he begins his argument in his letter to the Romans: “God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that He has made.” (Rom 1:20)
So what we love when we say we love God is, in part, that we love this world He has made. We love God’s World, made by God’s Word, laced through with His glory and goodness.
Time would fail us to begin to catalogue the astonishing features of this one universe, this one world. Time would fail us to describe the beauty and majesty of the living creatures it contains. Time would fail us to share with each other our favorite places, the sights and environments so soul-stirring we spend all sorts of money, and travel far, simply to be present to them. Time would fail to reflect on the hidden principles and properties that bond creation together: math, physics, quarks and dark matter—all that the sciences have observed.
Seventy-two college students were given a “cognitive depleting task” to test their “working memory capacity.” Then, a group of them were shown a digitally presented scene of nature, and others a digital scene of an urban environment, and others (control group) were shown nothing. After a wait of about twenty minutes, everyone was given another test of their “working memory capacity.”
The students who looked at pictures of nature tested 16% higher than the other two groups, who tested the same as each other. This study was done to test the idea that exposure to nature has a restorative effect. Even in the vaguest contact with it, it does. Why?
The LORD says, in Jeremiah 31:35-37:
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.”
Ever wonder why math exists, chemistry and physics? To evidence the unwavering resolve of God’s love to accomplish His good purposes. Ever wonder why the universe is so unfathomably huge, and the mysteries of this planet so unending? To depict the size and scope of God’s covenant love. What is the function of all that God made, within God's plan and purposes? To convey to us His glory, so that we might know and trust His love more appropriately.
The world is an amazing place. It is a statistically unlikely place. It is a place designed by a Holy, Loving, delighted and satisfied three-person God. It is a place filled with truth, light, and bursting with life. And sure, it’s not now all it once was or will be when it is restored. But it’s still good. And we still experience the glory of God in it.
And, what’s more, in all this, we encounter the wisdom and power of Jesus: “He upholds the universe by the Word of His Power.” (Heb 1:3) That is, the world wasn’t just made, it’s kept, upheld, daily presented to us. And not by some distant God or First Principle, but by our loving Savior, our Redeemer, He who would be the Shepherd and Friend every one of us needs.
What we love, when we love God, is we love His World, all He has made. For in this all, we meet Christ Jesus our LORD, the True God. Another way to say this is, creation draws our hearts toward God. He is glorious and good, trustworthy and true, loving and sure, and we can see this in creation.
It is good to go outside—get sweaty or be still, dig in the earth and sit by the fire, prune and plant, hike or nap, and swim in the ocean every chance you get—and give thanks and praise to God above, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYER
[Go outside for a few minutes. Stand still and breathe. Receive the mystery of your existence, the wisdom of the design of all that must work together, to constitute your created self, your keeping and blessing, and all creation around you with you. Know that you are seen, known, and loved. Give thanks and praise to God for what His Spirit impresses upon you in this moment.]
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.