Be still and know

There are some people who seem to think that you cannot find God anywhere but in the Bible. I was reading this op-ed the other day by some fellow named Olasky. He was criticizing John Kerry's spirituality (which I will neither attack nor defend here - it is only peripheral to my point.) One of the digs he tried to get in is attacking Kerry seeing God in the natural world as "pantheism," deriding any attempt to see God in his works.

Christians are panentheists - we do not believe God is the universe (which is finite in space and time.) But you better believe that creation is holy, and that, yes, he is indeed present to all of it! And it is not "worshipping" nature to take awe in its power, for Solomon himself says,

"If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them, And if people were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is the one who formed them." (Wisdom of Solomon 13:3)

So if we are not supposed to see God in his creation, what then is the point of Psalm 46? We are told, "Be still and know that I am God!"

So what does this stillness bring us? If God's own word is to be believed, when we remove all the background noise, God's ever-presence will become known to us. Is the artist not to be found in his painting? Is the watchmaker not found in the timepiece? How much more so God in his creation, when he sent himself to live and die in it 2,000 years ago!

I am not a "nature worshipper" when I see God in a sunset. I am appreciating the magnificent work he has wrought. And I'll say it bluntly - if a person is so hard hearted that they cannot do the same, then he or she does not himself know God.

God asks Job, "Has the rain a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?" He is here.

Be still and know it.