Yesterday as I was preaching on Revelation 4-5, I got to verse 11, where all of these crazy living creature and the twenty four elders fall down to worship God on His throne. I was so taken with that picture that it would have been easy to neglect the reason why they're worshiping. When they fall down and lay their crowns at the foot of God's throne, they say this:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

I heard a pastor say last week that he believed Satan's plan was to keep everyone staring at drywall. It was his contention that one of the best things we could do for our spiritual life is to get out more. And he tied it to this passage, where the heavenly host worships God because of His creation. God owns the entire universe because He made it, every piece of it, seen and unseen. And it's really hard to remember that when all we see, all day every day, is pavement, traffic, and television.

It seems like the closest I get to nature these days is through the near pixel-less beauty of the HDTV in my living room. And the things I marvel at are the expensive cars my friend reviews for a magazine, the buildings my architect roommate designs, and the technology that makes my mac tiny but powerful. It's been a while since I've marveled at nature and God's creation. Heck, it's been a while since I've looked up. I tend to keep my eyes on the road, the sidewalk, the computer, my coffee...it's rare to get a good glimpse of the sky. Even MSNBC is starting to notice how no one is getting out anymore.

I remember when I was young, my mom used to drag me to the window on an almost nightly basis, saying, "Brian, come look at the moon!" The sunset also got some regular recognition from her. I remember thinking to myself that the moon was always there, and so was the sunset. Kind of a "you've seen it once, you've seen it a thousand time" sort of thought. But I'm starting to think my Mom was on to something.

What are you going to do this week? Is any of it going to be outside, in God's creation? Because I don't think you can stare at the beauty of the stars, the sky, or a sunset and not have a piece of your heart think of the glory of God. And that piece can be fanned into a whole hearted worship just like the elders in Revelation 4:11. We'll talk more about enjoying God's creation, and recognizing His glory through His creation later this week.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11, 2008 at 10:21 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.