His Awesome Creation

Today I start the second week of the Spiritual Exercises and the theme of the week is God's creation - which is awesome. I look forward to thinking about and meditating on His awesome continuous creation.

The first day's scripture is Psalm 8:1-9 NIV:

[1] "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
[2] Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
[3] When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
[4] what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
[5] You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
[6] You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:
[7] all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
[8] the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
[9] Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

I have always enjoyed this Psalm a sit reminds me of the astronomy class I took in college, where we studied the immense size of the universe, the galaxies, even our own solar system. The utter immensity, the billions of light years (a term we throw around lightly) is really beyond our grasp. Our own little corner of this reality, is microscopic at best, in relation to all the rest. Yet, God is intimately aware of us, involved in our lives and has even became man, for our sakes.

In the face of all other creation, the question in verse 4 is so real, yet the Lord has given us the highest value, by giving His life for ours. He has invited us into the Kingdom, into His family as adopted sons and daughters. He his given us authority over all things on the earth. I am continually amazed at His plan.

As for the wonders of creation, that is a ever enlightening study. I love the absolute interdependency and uniqueness of all things. The fact that there are tiny living creatures with fully functioning body systems, almost too small to see, and on the other end of the spectrum, animals many times larger than us. The living flora, trees and plants, flowers are almost beyond cataloging, and each has unique characteristics. I find it all amazing and beautiful, and representative of the awesomeness of God.

Delving further downward, the complexity of all things at the cellular and even molecular level is astounding. There is an absolute order to all things even at this level, that if we calculated the odds of the chance development of even a single cell, we would find an almost incalculably large number. Multiply that by the number of different types of things, animal, plant, and organic matter, and we begin to see how vast and how ordered is creation. I personally believe that intelligent design and creation are the only way to explain this span of ordered relationships from the molecular to the galactic scale. I would echo the psalmist and say - Oh Lord how majestic is Your name and creation over all the world, and beyond.

In addition to all the awesome creation, we find ourselves surrounded by people, able to relate, and interact and establish apparently eternal relationships. If relationships are the basis of the Kingdom of God (Jesus came to reveal the Father and make a way to the Father that we might have relationship with the Father), than we must believe that they are significant in eternity. If they are significant in eternity, than they cannot be by chance, in God's ordered creation. If they are not chance encounters, than there is purpose, eternal purpose in our relationships. How often do I just take the people I am surrounded by for granted? Do I understand the eternal links, the impact and effects in my relationships with others? I am sure I don't grasp pretty much of anything in this regard. Lord, help me to see people as You see them! Help me to understand the significance each of us have eternally.

I am reminded of the book, "Heaven is for Real" where a very young boy has an experience of heaven, where he is introduced to family members he has never met. In this experience, his family relationship to these people was significant in heaven, much beyond what I would have thought. This leads me to look at my family here, my extended family and even distant ancestors in a completely different light, for I am, in a very real sense, a product of them all. I am truly amazed and full of wonder at it all. God, Your ways are so far above my ways, so far beyond my comprehension. You truly are Glorious! You are truly awesome! How can I not be filled with awe, when I think upon this all?