I went to Alaska recently with my husband, little son, and parents. It was a trip we all had long anticipated. Living in Texas all my life I have grown accustomed to the intense heat and the quiet rugged beauty around me. But to be honest- the only thing blue in Texas is the sky. Which there is an abundance of… as well as the color brown. (Yes I am trying to scare more people away from moving here).
As my eyes adjusted to the splendor of Alaska, its hills draped in vivid green, the snow capped peaks towering above them, the sparkling bays, and the rivers which sang so loudly, I was struck by the immense beauty around me. A thought kept resonating in my mind, Creation is shouting the question:
Who?
Who made the otters so playful? Who showed them innately to form a “net” with their hands to keep from drifting away as they sleep? Who gave knowledge to the seal to lay on ice to warm up!! (Who knew right?!) Who made the snow to melt into cascading waterfalls feeding the bays and rivers which flow down into the oceans, to go back into the clouds to send rain and snow to the mountains to flow downhill yet again? Who created the mountain peaks- and the one that towers above them all? The magnificent majesty of Denali is unreal, it’s peak tricking you to think a triangle shaped cloud actually exists! Who painted the intricate flowers with wild oranges, soft pinks, and playful blue hues that revel the sky? Who gave the beetle his blue, red, and gold wings? (And how does he survive the winter??) Who put the fish in the streams to feed the animals and the people that inhabit the wildernesses?
Who gave the bald eagle her eyesight? She is able to spot her prey for up to 2 miles away! Who made the seas to teem with so much life despite the frigid temperatures? Who made the trees sing each time the wind blows through them, their hands raised in praise to Someone? Who made the birds to know when to fly south, every single year before the unbearable cold comes? Who gave wisdom to the bear to stock up before the long winter? Who made the dark velvet sky to display the stars? Who made the lights to dance across it, particles from the sun escaped into the atmosphere in the long nights of winter here? Otherworldly amethysts, magentas, golds, and emeralds?
A song popped into my mind as I wrote these thoughts down-
“Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning? And who told the ocean you can only come this far?”
Those words are from the musician, Nicole C. Mullen and were sung at my small high school graduation. They have long stuck with me. The inspiration comes from last part of the book of Job. The other 30 something chapters are filled with Job’s immense suffering. As a righteous and blameless man living in a time where being good equaled a happy life- he lost everything. His children, his possessions, his wealth, his friends, the respect of his community and his wife, and his health all gone.
In the end of all the turmoil, suffering, and lament of his friends- God responds by asking Job where he was when He formed the world.
God answers our deepest life questions with Himself.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20
We are without excuse because His glory is all around us. And we are vessels of His image, that same glory. We think, we create, we reason, we love, we feel, and we want to be known. What has kept us from knowing Him is the lie that we have all come from nothing.
Science and math defy this, a simple study of reproduction flies in the very face of everything evolution upholds. We produce after our kind because we are created to. This is intelligent design. The greatest lie in our culture in the last century is that we weren’t fashioned by Someone.
And it has kept us from knowing our Creator.
And knowing who we are meant to be in Him.
Job, the man who suffered, lived thousands of years before Jesus, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Job 19:25-27
Job knew despite his suffering that God would renew all things. What his eyes saw around him grew his faith. And he knew one day his faith would become sight. God was coming to redeem this broken world.
“God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”
I Timothy 3:16
Creator became creature- Jesus.
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:14-15
God makes Himself known in creation and in Jesus, the co-author of creation. We are made to know Him, and we are known and loved by Him.
Alaska opened my eyes to new beauty and grew my faith to new heights.
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13
Some more pictures of creation.
Movement in a Mercurial World 