Worship | This land was made for you and me... really.

Every day at 8:30am, Maxwell staff spend a few minutes together worshiping the Lord. Every week, a different faculty member is assigned to the week's worships. This week, it's "Mr. Webb's" turn. I'll be publishing my worship thoughts to the site every morning (hopefully). Today's worship: God reveals his self to us through His nature.

STAFF MEETING ROOM - God is not Wal-Mart brand.

He does not skim off the top. He’s not a big fan of cutting corners. He not accustomed to “holding back” He spares no expense on his children.

Realizing this, I’ve formed the hypothesis that God’s not going to stick us in one cookie-cutter Heaven, but instead, He will grant us all our own personal corner of paradise.

Take a moment to consider that. What will yours look like? Will it be a white sand beach, water splashing up on the shore? Will it be a huge castle on top of a mountain that makes the Himalayas look like speed bumps? Even if you’re content with your mansion currently under construction, have you imagined the landscaping job being performed on your property?

I believe one of God’s favorite gifts he has provided us is the land, the actual terrain, that he gave. There are 14 different mountains listed in the Bible, 10 specifically mentioned seas, 65 hills, 132 Norths, 143 Souths, 157 Easts, and 69 Wests.

At the risk of being sacrilegious, if God ever had interest in a second career, I’d suggest that it might be as a travel agent.

Two points we can get from the Bible and it’s discussion and mentioning of Nature

Point #1 - God exists and has great glory (Psalm 19:1-6)

¹God's glory is on tour in the skies, God--craft on exhibit across the horizon.

²Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.

³Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded,

⁴But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere. God makes a huge dome for the sun--a superdome!

⁵The morning sun's a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.

⁶That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. (C. S. Lewis in The Four Loves, emphasis added.)

Point #2 - God is all powerful and will exercise judgment (Romans 1:18-21)

¹⁸But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth.

¹⁹But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is!

²⁰By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.

²¹What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.

He’s truly proven He is God with the blessings he placed all around us.

All that was needed for existence would have been yours without the flowers and birds, but God was not content to provide what would suffice for mere existence. He has filled earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you of His loving thought for you. The beauty of all created things is but a gleam from the shining of His glory. (Mount of Blessings (by Ellen White) p. 96, emphasis added.)

As we go about this day, may we find 5 minutes, if only 5, to sit outside, clear our minds of all the daily hullabaloo, and live in the magnificent environment he’s blessed us with.

-cw