Perspective

I write about the wonders of the creation where we live. Especially, I focus on the complexness and uniqueness of the community of natural life on the eastern shore of the great freshwater lake, Lake Michigan. This community forms an ecosystem made up of the complex and mutually dependent relationships of all the creatures found there. It is the community formed by the fresh water, the desert-like sand, the sculpting winds, and how the plants and animals live and interact there, whether they are alive or dead, prey or predator. As I ponder the many fascinating aspects of this place where I work as a farmer and landscaper I am struck by one humbling truth. It has to do with the ultimate question of “why?”

We must be honest with ourselves here. These questions must be answered: How did this ecosystem come about?

Why does it exist? We cannot escape these questions nor flippantly answer them.

In reality there are only two answers that can be given to the origin of the ecosystem of the shoreline. The first is man centered; the second is God centered. Either you must hold to the religion of “Evolution” and say that everything in the world around you occurs purely out of chance and is driven by mutation and survival of the fittest. Or, you must take God at His word in the Bible confessing that nothing is by chance and that all things have been created by His sovereign hand for the purpose of His glory.

I believe in the all powerful God of the Bible. To hold to that truth gives the only possibility of direction in this life. On the physical level of the creation of Michigan’s shoreline, it means that He designed it completely. I observe with wonder how every part of creation, from butterflies to boulders, from bogs to bluegills, show His handiwork and reveal His glory. Rather than simply being fascinated by the peculiar adaptation of a creature, as in evolution, I ask myself what the creature reveals about God, the Creator. I ask whether He has revealed anything in Scripture that may help me understand the creature. There is day and night difference between the two approaches to understanding what we observe. One is mere curiosity. The other is meaningful worship and praise.

The lessons or the “parables” that I observe in the creation around me are gleaned from what He teaches me in His Word. It tells me about Who He is. It reveals His care of His children and His care of the sparrow. It shows me that He clothes the flowers of the field. It proclaims Him to be the morning star. His church is shown to be as numerous as the sands of the seashore. The seasons, seedtime and harvest, the rainbow all point to His covenant established after the great flood of Noah. The bee hive and the colony of ants reveal that He is a God of structure and order. Storms and floods reveal His power. Death reveals sin and the curse. I could go on and on. Every aspect of the creation reveals His power and glory.

When I am sufficiently humbled by His greatness revealed around me, His word and Spirit convict me of my sin and bring me to sorrow and repentance. Then that same word and Spirit teach me of His mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. O what a glorious truth! It is then that the creation also speaks truth about my Savior. Then I have a clear understanding of the answer to the question, “why?” It is all of God and reveals His glory!

The alternative is purposeless and cruel chance. It is the hopelessness of “survival of the fittest”. It results only in man centered greed and pride. You cannot have it both ways.

Where do you stand?

Do not stop at the wonder of the natural world. You must face the God of creation. You must come to understand Him in His word, the Bible.

It is my prayer that you may come to repentance and thereby see the glory of our Creator and Savior.

Where do you stand, my friend?

May God give us eyes to see His wonders that surround us.

Deane Wassink, April 2008