Preserving God’s Presence
July 2, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
Helen Goody is a Contributing Editor to Creation Care magazine.
I’ve always been a little bit envious of the people in the Bible who have a direct conversation with God. Moses, for instance…no one understood God’s calling better than Moses. Not only did he have direct conversations with him; he got the “signs” that we all ask for when we seek God’s guidance. A burning bush and stone tablets!
Even Job, after suffering horribly and praying consistently, finally got a direct from response from God. His loyalty was rewarded and his role as God’s servant was confirmed. Boy, it would be nice just to sit down and a good cup of coffee and have God tell me like it is.
Most of the time, the closest I come to hearing God directly is after something happens to me. I was recently on a short-term mission trip, and I watched an older man become moved to tears after the work we did for him. “Ah-ha,” I had said to myself, “the long days of work, the aches and pains on a body that’s seen younger days, the mental pushing to finish….this is why I’m here, doing this. God sent me here.” But I usually don’t realize the direction, the message, until I see the effect. Prior to that, it just an instinct—just something I know I should do.
My lack of clarity often comes from simply not spending enough time with God and God alone. Family, work, sports, and leisure time all tend to nip away at the time I need to stop and listen to God. I’m sometimes so exhausted at night that I fall asleep in the midst of prayer, and then get frustrated the next morning because I couldn’t even get in a quick word.
It’s why creation care has become such an important aspect to nurture my spiritual growth. There is no time that I feel God’s presence more than when I am surrounded by elements of his great design. There’s no question to me that God created the cricket or the ocean. And when I turn off the noises of humanity and turn up the volume of the things that God has created since the very beginning of time, I realize that I have opened the communication line with God himself.
Better still, if I dedicate just a little more of my efforts to preserving those things that God created, I’ve not only made myself acutely aware of his presence, I’ve acknowledged that nothing is more important in my life than preserving his presence in my life.
Ultimately I realize that I don’t need a conversation over coffee or a burning bush. I have a blade of grass and the song of a mountain bluebird to tell me about the series of miracles that made them and brought them into my life to send me the message of God’s love, to tell me to keep my life simple and focused on him. Nothing could be more clear.
Need some time to focus on God and the wonder of his incredible design? Use this personal, seven-day devotion to dig into the meaning of Genesis and to experience how God’s handiwork has a direct connection to your life.
Day 1: Let There Be Light - Set your alarm so that you can awake before just before sunrise (you can do it!). Find a nice spot outside where you can have a good view of the sun as it rises. When light begins to break over the horizon, take note of the signs of life as you see or hear it. Then use a flashlight or candle to read Genesis 1:1-5. How has God brought life into your life? How does his creation reflect God’s presence in your life? Pray for more light in your life.
Day 2: The Water and the Sky - Look for a good scientific definition for why the sky is blue (you might try www.wikipedia.org, www.ask.com, or www.whyistheskyblue.org). Then find a sunny day to sit at the side of a pond or pool, dip your feet in, and look for a few minutes up at the sky. Think about the relationship between the sky and water. Read Genesis 1:6-8. Think about why God created that relationship. Think about why God separated the water and the sky, and how the act created a place for you to exist. Think about what God might want you to do in order to remember that relationship.
Day 3: The Land - Spend some time on a trail or a bike path, but stop for about 5 minutes somewhere along the way, and record all of the different species you encounter in that 5 minutes, including both flora and fauna. If you have time, continue your hike and stop and record for another five minutes. Read Genesis 1:9-13, and think about all the creatures that owe their existence to God for creating land on the third day. How is your role as caretaker a continuation of God’s work? How do you feel about the land, knowing that when God saw that it was good? How does God use you to “plant seeds”?
Day 4: Night and Day - Take an old sheet of paper from a day planner, or write down the hours of the day on a piece of paper. Write down one element of creation that you can hear or see for each hour. Read Genesis 1:14- 19. Why do you think the Bible refers to night and day as “two great lights”? What’s something in creation that goes on during the night that you usually don’t notice? During the day? How do you think God wants you to pay attention to him?
Day 5: Creatures of the Sea and Sky - Look out your window and see if you can spot two different bird species (yes, pigeon count!). Close your eyes and compare the two different birds. Why would God make so many different types of animals that could fly? Or swim? Read Genesis 1:20-23. Is God’s world simple or complex? How does your life fit in with God’s creation? How experiencing the wonders of creation a form of worshiping God?
Day 6: Living Things - Look for a photo of yourself that records a moment with you and your pet or some encounter you’ve had with an animal. How does your life fit in with God’s creation? Read Genesis 1:24-31 and imagine yourself surrounded by all the things that have the “breath of life” in them. How are you similar to other living things? How has God made you different from them? Why does God want you to understand the message you might receive from his creation? Ask God to help you understand your role as caretaker of his creation.
Day 7: Day of Rest - Think of some representatives of God’s creation that celebrate the act of rest: A bear in hibernation; a dormant volcano; a tulip bulb in the wintertime, a farmer’s fallow field. Read Genesis 2:1-3. Why did God want to rest? Why does God want you—and all living things—to rest? Now read Matthew 11:28. How does Christ’s presence in your life make “rest” possible? Take a fifteen minute nap. When you awake, offer a prayer of thanks for the gift of rest.
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