The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
Psalm 29:3  NIV

Last week we talked about the glory of God’s Son, Jesus, through His creating and sustaining of the universe. But hopefully the mere mention of the vastness of the universe led you to think about the glory of God.

Psalm 29:3 invites us to think about God’s glory as it relates to both thunder and water. John Calvin once observed from this verse that “there is nothing in the ordinary course of nature, throughout the whole frame of heaven and earth, which does not invite us to the contemplation of God.”

In Romans 1:19–20, God shows His “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” through His creation. Let’s take a page out of Calvin’s playbook and contemplate that reality for a second. That means that, through observing creation, we can actually learn about the nature and character of God.

When was the last time you slowed down enough to notice the created world around you? When have you taken a deep breath of air and appreciated the life-giving elemental ingredients that brought you life for another fifteen seconds before doing it again?  When was the last time you smelled and tasted delicious food and praised God for the ability to do so?

Friend, God gave us our five senses, in part, to experience more of His glory in creation and lead us to worship Him more.  A pastor by the name of Matt Chandler has used the “Grand Canyon example” to make an important point about seeing and celebrating God’s glory.

It goes like this: Imagine seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time. Your immediate thought might be, “This is incredible!” That’s a natural response. An unnatural response would be stepping to the edge of the Grand Canyon and saying, “I am incredible.”

Recognizing God’s created world around you should create a sense of awe that points outside of yourself. The glory of God’s creation points right back to Him.

Will you notice Him by noticing the created world around you today? Will you slow down, maybe even put the phone or computer aside for a moment, and find ways to be grateful for the things in God’s creation that are so easy to take for granted?

Consider this prayer today:

“God, Your glory is evident all around me, and I so often walk right by it without appreciating it. And that means I am not appreciating You. Forgive me for taking the beauty of Your creation for granted. I want to see You through what You have created like You describe in Romans 1:19–20. Your creation is a reflection of Your glory, and I desire to pause in the busyness of my day today and simply notice You through it. But I can’t do it without Your help. Open my eyes today to see what I normally see past. For Your glory and my good. Amen.”