Monday: A Complete World
It is easy to feel homesick for Eden. There is something in the brief descriptions of the Garden that God created as the home for Adam and Eve that sparks a note of longing in our hearts. We may not understand how such a world would work, but we feel we would like to experience it.
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
It seems the sense of satisfaction and completeness was also something that God felt: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31, NIV). God made something that was both beautiful and functional. It was exquisite in its design, in both form and practicality. It was vibrant with life and color, but also filled with everything necessary for life to flourish. No wonder God kept pausing to muse that this world that He was making was good.
Read Genesis 1:1-31. What do you think is meant by the repeated statements that “God saw that it was good”? See Gen. 1:4, Gen. 1:10, Gen. 1:12, Gen. 1:18, Gen. 1:25, and Gen. 1:31.
Even though written entirely after the Fall, the Bible is filled with celebrations of the natural world, such as in Job 38 to 41 and Psalm 148. And we must remember that these are not written as a glimpse looking back to how the world was when first created and before sin; they are written in the present tense, celebrating the goodness that is still evident in our world.
Jesus, too, drew examples of God’s goodness and care from the natural world (see, for example, Matt. 6:26, Matt. 6:28-30), commending both our reliance on God and an appreciation of the simple gifts that surround us with wonder. If we open our eyes and look at the marvels of creation, we can see that we are truly the recipients of marvelous gifts from our Creator. Our response, even amid trials, should be one of gratitude, thankfulness, and humble surrender to the Gift-giver.
As Seventh-day Adventists—those who both celebrate Creation and anticipate God’s coming kingdom—we should realize that the beauties, joys, and goodness we see and experience in the world are glimpses of what our world once was and what will, again, be.
| In your experience of the natural world, what do you especially appreciate about the wonders of Creation? In your daily life, how might you be able to know the Lord better through the wonders of the natural world? |
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The lesson asks the question:
When I retired, I became a keen bird photographer and typically, after writing a comment on SSNET, I will spend a couple of hours each day observing and photographing birds in my local area. So far I have photographed over 160 species of birds around the Avondale College area. My time spent observing birds has given me a special appreciation of their design and adaptability.
A few days ago I photographed the large White-bellied Sea-eagles sparring with one another in a magnificent display or aerobatics, while just a few weeks ago, I spent an hour photographing the tiny Varied Sittellas. They are only 80mm long and spend most of their lives in the forest canopy, and are seldom seen by casual observers.
I am not going to pretend that all of nature is beautiful and kind. I see enough of the redness of tooth and claw to understand that sin has left its mark on nature. At the same time, I can also see the underlying design and beauty that speaks of a creative and powerful God that we can only begin to understand. My time spent in nature also gives me contemplation time. It is far removed from the hustle and stress of lecturing and research that has filled the rest of my life.
My interaction with nature also gives me an opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life who share with me a keen interested in bird observation and photography. I run courses in bird photograph for the local adult education activities (U3A), providing me with the opportunity to share my love of nature and respect for God's design with others.
1) It is at just the right distance from the sun so that water is warm enough to melt, but not so hot as to boil and steam away into space.
2) It is in a “habitable zone” in the galaxy. Radiation and the presence of wandering planetoids make life closer to the center of galaxies unlikely.
3) Its orbit is a nearly perfect circle rather than an “eccentric” (i.e., steep or elongated) ellipse such as that of some other planets. Steep, elliptical orbits take a planet relatively close to and then far from the sun, causing great variances in warmth and light. Earth’s almost perfectly circular orbit keeps its distance from the sun’s heat and light relatively constant.
4) Its molten core and volcanism generate magnetic fields or belts that protect it from the most harmful rays of the sun. Volcanism also plays a role in helping generate the atmosphere and in cycling rich minerals widely.
5) Its sun is just the right kind of star, putting out a fairly steady amount of energy. Other types of stars are more variable in their output, making life impossible due to the extremes in warmth and light.
6) Its fairly rapid rotation reduces the daily variation in temperature. It also makes photosynthesis possible since there is enough sunlight all over the planet.
7) Its axis is tilted just enough relative to its orbital plane to allow seasonal variations that help complex life, but not so tilted as to make the seasons too extreme.
8) Its moon causes tides that are just large enough to permit tidal zones (a great breeding ground for diverse forms of life), but not so severe as to destroy life.
9) Two nearby “gas giants” (Jupiter and Saturn) attract and “catch” many wandering asteroids and comets, often keeping them from hitting Earth.
How wonderful it is to know God of creation does not leave anything to random chance?
He is infinite in His wisdom to create and recreate.
If the world of sin can still declare the glory of God how much more when we shall see the heavens of heaven without being tainted by sin.
Philippians 1:23 23 I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. 24But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
May the purpose of God be fulfilled in our lives Amen.
When I worked at the Smithsonian, Washington D.C.,Dept. Of Botany, a curator specialist of orchids thru out the world, showed me a beautiful specimen of an elegant orchid he had to magnify thousands of time because you could not see it otherwise. Not only was it one of the most beautiful flowers I have seen, it showed me what an AWESOME Creator our God is.
I learned that oxygen is leaking out of the atmosphere, are the plants making enough or are we going to run out?
If we do, it will be the end - sky will roll back, the earth will melt, sounds like Jesus' coming will rescue us just in time?
It is probably worth reading scientific articles related to this topic. In a nutshell, points to consider are:
1) the loss of oxygen is very low and is not going to affect us for a very long time. I expect that the Lord will come long before that happens at the current rate of loss, even if he does delay his coming.
2) we are also losing other gases - that is just the way it is. And some of those other gases are important too.
3) Plants do not manufacture oxygen - they recycle it from carbon dioxide in the photosynthesis process, producing sugar as a byproduct. (ultimately that is where we get our energy from.)
There is a lot of scientific evidence that the temperature of the planet is going up. The poles are melting and the levels of the oceans can truly rise too. Perhaps the problem is the greater amount of carbon monoxide and dioxide that we are producing. Thank God for His care. He's got everything planned! His ways are perfect and He has prepared the best end for all of His creation.
I once too thought that Christ coming will be to rescue us. I do not believe that now, I believe He will come when the Gospel Message has been taken to everyone. Matthew 24:14. Now the rocks may have to cry out( Luke 19:40) to accomplish that, and possibly lighting from God electrolyze water to oxygen and hydrogen, to sustain us till everyone has had a chance to choose one way or the other.
♥️ Its only a cold heart that will not be touched by a love letter or deeds of kindness...likewise, Gods handiwork in nature is His love letter to us...an expression of His love and care....let's spend more time in it and reflect on and celebrate His goodness , thoughtfulness, and mercy.
Thank you Maurice for supplying your photo of a rare ‘tiny Varied Sittellas’ bird to brighten up our day and for Sabbath School Net for publishing. We have a lovely little bird here on Norfolk Island too called a ‘White Eye’ possibly the same size as yours, and not often seen. They chirp with a beautiful voice as they feed among and from, the leaves of our Porpay (Cherry Guava) trees. The leaves I now know that by themselves do not manufacture oxygen – as I was taught in school, but by recycling as by the principal of hemins in blood with iron, replaced with magnesium producing ‘one of the chlorophyll compounds’ (Ashton June 29, 2019).
Thank you for that clarification. (I have seen where someone called chlorophyll as the ‘green blood’ of plants, and as humans, is good for us to eat -or drink as green juice). How clever of God to take our lungs’ waste product of carbon dioxide and convert it back to oxygen for us to breathe in again via plants. Very efficient and economical. And what a lovely natural world we do live in and I actually appreciate the power and beauty of that which is not so ‘kind’ in nature, - so long as I am not personally affected by them! Thanks too for the reassurance regarding loss of oxygen and other gasses in our earth’s atmosphere. Very comforting to know all is well. Godbless today, Mrs A Stolz.
Hi Brethens,
Here's some more notes from my Sabbath School lesson tomorrow:
In light of definitions for the word "good" (I will read some of the definition to my class), why did God repeat the phrase “God saw that it was good.”?
In my opinion, I think that God was trying to tell us that in His creation of our world, He did a Very Special thing for us, something that He had not done before. He was admiring His own creation, and He hoped that we would admire and appreciate His creation too. This goes back to my Reason Number One for studying God’s Creation of this world - "to give us some Perspective of “The Least of These”. Our perspective, admiration, and appreciation of God’s creation, whether people or animals, will cause us to treat His creation with respect and care.
I divert from the subject to say this one point – we, as humans, of higher intellect and understanding than all the other animals, are going to regret, and be held responsible, for how we are caring for the Earth in general and in particular. Anyone here have respiratory problems? There is a direct correlation with respiratory problems and the air quality. There are many that don’t believe in Global Warming, who will have to explain that to God when the waters and the land are not able to sustain life. We have to appreciate and care for what God gave us. You may say, “what can I personally do about Global Warming?” We all have a voice, and God expects us to use it. We all have representatives, at the local, state, and federal level. These representatives are supposed to be there to represent us, not their own interests (sorry for turning this into a politically matter. For me, it is more a point of responsibility, than of politics); if they are not there to represent us and our values, then we need to get rid of them, and it some other people that will represent us and our values.
Hello Toni,
These are my thoughts. When I design a project, all of the constituent pieces are “good”, but when they are all assembled together and function as an integrated and functional whole, they are “very good”. God designed this earth for mankind with the objective that they would implement his plan of love for each other as well as for the constituent parts that were given to their care. God’s plan was that his love would be fruitful and multiply. Each part of God's creation was "good", but all together was "very good".
By selling out to the Devil, mankind has instead multiplied death, destruction and misery. But God has not forsaken us. Instead, he has delivered on his promise to put enmity between the seed of his woman (his people) and the Satan's seed (those who follow the Serpent), through the death, resurrection and ascension of his Son, Jesus. As “Onward Christian Soldiers” states, “the arm of flesh will fail you, you dare not trust your own.” It is love of God in Jesus that overcomes the world and it is only through Jesus’ love that we will overcome. He leads, we follow and Satan flees.
Richard
Well said Richard! Thank you for your comment! Be blessed.