Nature’s Manifold Witness

One of the most beloved hymns is “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” The second verse has especially caught my attention recently: Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. The hymn writer notes that the consistency of the seasons (representative of the created order on earth) and the set paths of the celestial bodies (representative of the created order in the heavenlies) join together with all the rest of God’s creation in giving a powerful testimony. Just what is it they declare? God’s great faithfulness, mercy and love!  In other words, the constancy of these phenomena in the natural realm reflect God’s faithfulness in the spiritual one. The prophet Jeremiah made this same point more than 2500 years earlier. He references the order that God has built into his creation, and assures Judah that his promises to them are just as reliable: Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar– the LORD of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” (Jeremiah 31:35-36 ESV, see also 33:20-21 and 33:25-26) With the order he has built into his creation, God has surrounded us with a myriad of reminders–and guarantees–of his goodness. May he give us eyes to see them as we walk through each day. Pastor Greg