Testimony 2

Testimony 2:

That creation is general revelation of God should terrify us.

So, yes, I like to believe that since the beginning of all things is impossible, an impossible being is what exists; rules and governs, I’m still trying to figure out. But let’s move from existence to design. This world’s intricacies, insanities, immensities all point to design (at this point, does anyone really care if it evolved or not? Arguing over whether the flower evolved on its own or by God’s command seems ridiculous to me, as ridiculous as arguing whether there’s a front side to the earth). Many acknowledge that creation itself speaks of God’s character; many feel the push and pull of the cosmos and know that none of this could possibly be accident. The soul drinks in creation; refreshed by nature, most of us feel closer to God in breathing the wet air after the rain or in conquering the great earth on a hike. We think God is pretty, God sees pretty, God loves pretty.

But there is very little pretty in creation. And very little nice.

If Discovery channel teaches us anything about God, it’s that God is perhaps so beyond the throws of life’s little struggles, that violence and luck seem reasonable influencers of fate. The orcas’ hunt, the tsunami’s power, the sea turtles’ run to sea—these are not the plans of the Disney god most have come to worship. The love of God we can discuss later, but first comes the awesomeness of God. Terrible awesomeness.

The God of creation is awesome, just as the creation of God is awesome. And while man has come a long way in conquering the elements; half the world has strong shelter, immune to nature’s touch, mostly; indoor plumbing and heating certainly create the illusion that man is beyond nature. But stray from our cradles, and nature remains, immutable and terrible. She reigns. The frozen bird, the crushed snail, the roadkill, are we really so conceited to think the laws of the land don’t apply to us?

The immense beauty of this world can encourage us still. Stillness, smallness, victory, peace—these are rife within creation. Recognizing that there is beauty in the struggle and that there is beauty at all may alter, for the better, the way we interact with the people, decisions, hopes of our lives. Control drips from our tongues, but falls upon our fingers and fades. Hiding in human huffs of productivity and advancement, we will miss creation’s message. We are small; life is violent and random and beautiful and fleeting.

This God that exists is beyond our comprehension and beyond our decorum. I really wonder how polite a God who created this natural world really is. The sacredness of approaching such a being, if indeed God is a being at all and if indeed an approach is at all possible, terrifies me. I think I may rather hide, and keep my petulant carping about God’s errant ways to myself.