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Life reflects God's beauty (Gen 2:9).
Prayer
Lord God in heaven, praise and thanks be to you for this wondrous world that you've made and for the lives that you've given us and for sustaining and keeping us in our lives. Lord, as we open your word now, we pray that you would renew our vision of this world. Help us to see and seek your beauty and glory, and to praise you in response to the beauty that you have made in this world. Lord, please pardon our sins and lead us in your ways. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:9.
“And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food...”
Meditation
God has given us a place to dwell, and what a place it is! There is so much beauty in the world isn’t there? There’s just something pleasing about the world isn’t there? As we walk by quiet trickling streams, as we enjoy a picnic in the shade of a tree, swimming in the surf, feeling the warmth of the sun on a sunny day, standing on top of a mountain – we could go on! There’s a little pathway next to my house, and along that pathway there are ferns and plants of the rainforest. Sometimes I like to just go and stand there, and just enjoy the green. It’s a small snippet of beauty.
There is beauty everywhere if we would just take a moment to look. The beauty of stars in the night sky, of clouds moving through the heavens. The beauty of birds – the colours of lorikeets and the songs of magpies. The taste of fresh strawberries, the sun glinting off the dew in a field at sunrise, it’s there to be seen in trees and flowers and plants. Life reflects God’s beauty. As Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” At the very beginning, Eden was designed to be a place of beauty. “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen 2:9a).
Be ye doers of the word…
Now here’s the question: What should we do with all this beauty? What should our response be? Are Christians supposed to be sour, stoic people with no time for beauty or pleasure? Did God put all this beauty into the world just so that we could deny ourselves? Or, on the other hand, do we follow the world’s pattern and make the pursuit of pleasure the reason that we live? Do we idolise beauty?
I want to put to you that those are both the wrong response. Very simply, here is how we should respond, we should: pursue God’s beauty. Beauty is personal, and more specifically it flows out of God’s personality. All that beauty we see in the world is intended to be part of our experience of dwelling with him. The response to beauty should be worship, and the pursuit of more of God’s beauty. The world pursues beauty, but they do that apart from Christ. That’s nothing but idolatry, and it’s destined to be an empty pursuit (see Ecc 2). Our response should be that when we see God’s beauty in creation, we enjoy it with thanksgiving and take it as an opportunity to lead us further on into seeing more of God’s beauty.
Perhaps we can put it this way: beauty in creation is always a sign post. It’s a sign post that points us to that which is most beautiful of all, that which is infinitely beautiful: God himself. So, let me ask you: Is that part of your experience? Have you seen, even in a limited way, something of the beauty of the Lord? Do you desire his beauty? In Psalm 27:4 we read: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
This world was designed to be a kind of garden temple, a place where we would pursue and delight in God’s beauty. So make that your aim: to pursue God’s beauty. 1 Timothy 4:4 says: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Pursue God’s beauty – but do so with thanksgiving, with prayer, and with a mind continually sanctified by the Word of God. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Our Lord and our God, we thank you for this beautiful world that you have made. Lord, we confess to you, we're sorry that we have walked through this world and so often we walk through this world with little thought for you and little thanksgiving to you. Lord,we pray that you would forgive us for the sin of idolatry in this way and that you would help us and turn our hearts unto you, turn our eyes upon you. Lord, may all the beauty of this world serve to be a signpost of praise and worship in our pursuit of your beauty. Please help us in these things to see your beauty everywhere we look. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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By Reformed devotions from all of scripture.Prayer
Lord God in heaven, praise and thanks be to you for this wondrous world that you've made and for the lives that you've given us and for sustaining and keeping us in our lives. Lord, as we open your word now, we pray that you would renew our vision of this world. Help us to see and seek your beauty and glory, and to praise you in response to the beauty that you have made in this world. Lord, please pardon our sins and lead us in your ways. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:9.
“And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food...”
Meditation
God has given us a place to dwell, and what a place it is! There is so much beauty in the world isn’t there? There’s just something pleasing about the world isn’t there? As we walk by quiet trickling streams, as we enjoy a picnic in the shade of a tree, swimming in the surf, feeling the warmth of the sun on a sunny day, standing on top of a mountain – we could go on! There’s a little pathway next to my house, and along that pathway there are ferns and plants of the rainforest. Sometimes I like to just go and stand there, and just enjoy the green. It’s a small snippet of beauty.
There is beauty everywhere if we would just take a moment to look. The beauty of stars in the night sky, of clouds moving through the heavens. The beauty of birds – the colours of lorikeets and the songs of magpies. The taste of fresh strawberries, the sun glinting off the dew in a field at sunrise, it’s there to be seen in trees and flowers and plants. Life reflects God’s beauty. As Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” At the very beginning, Eden was designed to be a place of beauty. “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen 2:9a).
Be ye doers of the word…
Now here’s the question: What should we do with all this beauty? What should our response be? Are Christians supposed to be sour, stoic people with no time for beauty or pleasure? Did God put all this beauty into the world just so that we could deny ourselves? Or, on the other hand, do we follow the world’s pattern and make the pursuit of pleasure the reason that we live? Do we idolise beauty?
I want to put to you that those are both the wrong response. Very simply, here is how we should respond, we should: pursue God’s beauty. Beauty is personal, and more specifically it flows out of God’s personality. All that beauty we see in the world is intended to be part of our experience of dwelling with him. The response to beauty should be worship, and the pursuit of more of God’s beauty. The world pursues beauty, but they do that apart from Christ. That’s nothing but idolatry, and it’s destined to be an empty pursuit (see Ecc 2). Our response should be that when we see God’s beauty in creation, we enjoy it with thanksgiving and take it as an opportunity to lead us further on into seeing more of God’s beauty.
Perhaps we can put it this way: beauty in creation is always a sign post. It’s a sign post that points us to that which is most beautiful of all, that which is infinitely beautiful: God himself. So, let me ask you: Is that part of your experience? Have you seen, even in a limited way, something of the beauty of the Lord? Do you desire his beauty? In Psalm 27:4 we read: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
This world was designed to be a kind of garden temple, a place where we would pursue and delight in God’s beauty. So make that your aim: to pursue God’s beauty. 1 Timothy 4:4 says: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Pursue God’s beauty – but do so with thanksgiving, with prayer, and with a mind continually sanctified by the Word of God. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Our Lord and our God, we thank you for this beautiful world that you have made. Lord, we confess to you, we're sorry that we have walked through this world and so often we walk through this world with little thought for you and little thanksgiving to you. Lord,we pray that you would forgive us for the sin of idolatry in this way and that you would help us and turn our hearts unto you, turn our eyes upon you. Lord, may all the beauty of this world serve to be a signpost of praise and worship in our pursuit of your beauty. Please help us in these things to see your beauty everywhere we look. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe