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Seeing the Glory of God in Creation

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Over the last couple of months I have republished and written new installments in a series of devotionals entitled, “Glistening Webs: Seeing the Glory of God in Creation.” The first part of the title comes from a line written by Jonathan Edwards in a little report now known as “The Spider Letter.” 

Having catalogued some the particular movements of a spider Edwards had been studying, he notes, “Hence [we see] the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, even insects” (John E. Smith, et al., eds., A Jonathan Edwards reader, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, page 5). Then a few pages later he concludes by requesting permission from a scientific society to submit a more detailed account of this little creature, “from whose glistening webs so much of the wisdom of the Creator shines” (page 8).

His request was denied. His writing was rather juvenile at the time and his scientific insights were not very impressive. But what was impressive was his ability to see and rejoice in the glory of God in a common spider, indeed, in all of creation. 

Edwards’ ability to see and unveil the glory of God in the world was to some extent a unique gift, and yet I think the Scripture would teach us that this gift is in whatever measure available to all who will ask for it and fan it in to flame. Indeed, it was not only for Edwards and his like that the Lord said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2). And, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) And, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). 

Creation is indeed saturated with the glory of God and if we will both pray for eyes to see and develop our ability to press into the details of what we see, we too will come to rejoice in the wisdom and intellect and creativity and power and beauty of God that is revealed there. So this week I want to issue a four-part challenge: 

(1) Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the treasure of the visible revelation of his glory that surrounds us. (2) Choose one thing in creation and study it. Google it. Read about it. Unearth as many details as you can and then summarize what you have learned in a single page. (3) Spend time in prayer asking the Lord to show you how this thing reveals his glory and then praise him for what you see. (4) Share with other what God has shown you, and perhaps even offer your thoughts as fodder for the next installments in this series! 

May the Lord give us eyes to see his glory in all creation!

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