“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” Martin Luther
A friend of mine has provided me with some land to try my hand at husbandry. It is not a huge plot but seems to be just the right size for a novice like myself. There are some profound lessons that have come while I have been planting, digging, and tilling these past few weeks. These lessons have come in thinking about my solidarity with nature in worshiping, waiting, and responding.
Romans tells us that man is without excuse in the final judgment because the creation speaks clearly of the Creator; Romans 1:18-20 says,
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Creation reflects the beauty of its Creator, it is a form of revelation. I also am commissioned to bring revelation, the revelation of God’s good news to the ends of the earth. Psalm 19:1, “the heavens declare the glory of the Lord.” It is my primary occupation to make known the glory that creation is “pronouncing.” I am in collaboration with nature and the created order, we are of a similar task.
I share with creation in the worship of the creator and the reflecting of his majesty.
I share with creation in the worship of the creator and the reflecting of his majesty.
We worship together.
In addition to this I am linked to creation in waiting to be redeemed. Romans 8:19 & 21, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 21, That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God “Every created thing animate and inanimate, awaits the splendor of this freeing this revealing of God’s adopted son’s, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and the splendor of the children of God. And all of nature will acknowledge in praise and adoration its creator.”
We Wait Together
God is the prime mover he is the ultimate masculine he initiates both in life as creator and in salvation as redeemer. So in relation to him we are all feminine, we are responders, and so is the soil. It is feminine; it waits to respond to seed that is sown. She is called mother earth. She is a responder to the sowing and work of the husbandman. She is a responder, like us, to the creator and as it is our mandate to rule over her, to subdue her, she responds to us. The new age movement calls the earth our mother, as if we are birthed from her and her alone and this is to be rejected for sure. However, there is a truth that from her, from the dust, we have been created. As I crouch in the dirt I look at the very substance from which man was formed. And dirt man was until, God initiated and sowed life into Adam; Gen 2:7, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
In relation to Salvation Jesus said in Jn 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
In addition to this I am linked to creation in waiting to be redeemed. Romans 8:19 & 21, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 21, That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God “Every created thing animate and inanimate, awaits the splendor of this freeing this revealing of God’s adopted son’s, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and the splendor of the children of God. And all of nature will acknowledge in praise and adoration its creator.”
We Wait Together
God is the prime mover he is the ultimate masculine he initiates both in life as creator and in salvation as redeemer. So in relation to him we are all feminine, we are responders, and so is the soil. It is feminine; it waits to respond to seed that is sown. She is called mother earth. She is a responder to the sowing and work of the husbandman. She is a responder, like us, to the creator and as it is our mandate to rule over her, to subdue her, she responds to us. The new age movement calls the earth our mother, as if we are birthed from her and her alone and this is to be rejected for sure. However, there is a truth that from her, from the dust, we have been created. As I crouch in the dirt I look at the very substance from which man was formed. And dirt man was until, God initiated and sowed life into Adam; Gen 2:7, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
In relation to Salvation Jesus said in Jn 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
He initiated, he chose us, that we might, like the soil, bear fruit; he sowed his life and spirit in our hearts.
We Respond Together
Scripture connects us, Isaiah 64:8, But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. As well as 2 Corinthians 4:7 stating that we are earthen vessels that are inhabited by the power of God. To quote a line from Jacob Zachary, "we are nothing but souls in God thirsty bowls of divinity and dust."
I am more connected to her then I think about and probably can imagine. We are connected. I am to Glorify my creator with her and through her as we await our mutual redemption and re-creation.
We Respond Together
Scripture connects us, Isaiah 64:8, But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. As well as 2 Corinthians 4:7 stating that we are earthen vessels that are inhabited by the power of God. To quote a line from Jacob Zachary, "we are nothing but souls in God thirsty bowls of divinity and dust."
I am more connected to her then I think about and probably can imagine. We are connected. I am to Glorify my creator with her and through her as we await our mutual redemption and re-creation.
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