The Witness of Nature

I live in an area that once was a woods, and the name of our neighborhood still has "woods" as part of it, and rightly so. We are surrounded by trees, many of them very tall, and if you walk down any of the roads nearby you will often find yourself looking up to the gap in the tree canopy that the road creates. It makes you realize just how tall many of those trees are, and I am in awe as to how beautiful they look. However, with the beauty does come the challenge of living in a woods. No matter what the time of year, there is always something falling from those trees. One day it may be pollen, one day tiny green worms that hang from somewhere up above. In the early fall we will wake up to the bang! bang! of acorns hitting our roof or deck, sort of an early warning system to the mass of dead leaves sure to come in the late fall. Anytime year round when there is a windy day we will find lots of branches on the ground, and one year after a particularly strong all day wind that averaged 50 miles an hour, with gusts that night up to 80 mph, our house was hit by a very large tree that brought five others with it.

It was about one o'clock in the morning, the electrical power was out, and a terrific boom! shook the house. My wife and I then heard our youngest daughtger scream from her bedroom, and we immediately grabbed the flashlight and bolted down the dark upstairs hallway toward her room. We found her lying unhurt on the floor next to her bed, huddled in a ball, and noticed that there was a broken two by four from the tressel of the now open roof, it's jagged edge piercing the center of our daughter's mattress. We had been praying hard all day for protection from the effects of the wind, and I don't know why the trees still hit us, but my wife and I both believe that an angel moved our daughter off her mattress just before those trees hit. And as things worked out, insurance did pay for a brand new roof that was moss resistant, a problem we had with the old roof.

Just a short time ago I listened to an interview on the radio about the discovery only 24 years ago of a whole unexplored eco system in the canopy of some old growth redwood trees on the North coast of California. One of my daughters, after hearing me ramble on about it, went on line to Amazon Books and had them send me the book, Wild Trees, which discusses the same thing. Although I loved the book it was interesting to me that neither the author nor any of the other main people involved in this exploration seemed to give God any credit for the amazing beauty and biological diversity described. They could think of these trees as ancient, and living. They named all the tallest ones, and some felt New-Age mystical while spending the night in the canopy suspended over 300 feet high on a hammock type device. They had been able to experience a beauty of creation that few others ever have, yet without being aware of the Creator.

Two weeks ago Jackie and I went to a church service where a third daughter and her family attend. Their church sponsors a variety of missionaries and they send someone from their church every year to visit each one they support. On this Sunday a man from the church had just returned from his visit to a woman who was ministering in Nigeria, and we were able to hear stories and see photos of a bible center and the surrounding area. The woman visited was one of several teachers in a small bible school that was mananging to train a large number of Nigerians to be pastors. One of the photos showed a very big tree that was worshipped by most of the people in what we would call a county wide area. The man from the church told us that this was by far the largest tree for miles around, and while they were allowed to take a picture of it, they were told that they could not approach it or touch it. He reported that he could feel the oppressive spiritual feeling in the area. As I have mentioned in other posts, evil spirits will inhabit objects used for worship, whether it is a tree or an idol or even a talisman given to someone by a local witch doctor.

The first chapter of Romans talks about the witness concerning God that comes from what He has created. It says that "that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them". Or in other words, the same God who designed nature also designed the heart and soul of man. God placed in man's being the ability to recognize God through nature. "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made". Romans then goes on to say that men who do not acknowledge God are without excuse because even though they have been designed to know God, "they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks. They became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened". The heart receives light, or truth, or life, from the Holy Spirit. When man rejects the witness designed into nature, and revealed to the heart of man by the Holy Spirit, the heart remains in darkness. "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image . . . they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever".

People that do not recognize the truth of God as Designer and Creator, Savior and Lord, are believing in a lie. They follow after philosophies created by man or by evil spirits, and they live in spiritual darkness. The professors who climb the tall trees without awareness of the One who planted them are in no less darkness than the people who worship trees and live in fear of evil spirits. Indeed, all of the world's non Judeo-Christian religions and beliefs deceive men, hiding or distorting the true nature of God, and of His plan for man and for creation. But it is God's desire that all men would seek Him, and honor Him, and receive Jesus into their lives by faith, so that the Holy Spirit can transform lives, and can work to conform lives, into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the will of the Father, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Son called forth creation. Sin put the status of man and of nature into darkness and confusion, but the One who created is also the One who saves and restores. Death and corruption came into the world through sin, affecting every living thing. But praise God, Jesus is called "The First Born From The Dead". A promise to us and to the world we live in.