Looking For God in Creation

What can we learn about Germans or German culture by looking at their Mercedes, BMW, or Volkswagen cars? When we examine their cars, we discover that Germans value quality workmanship and longevity in their products. They design their cars to last for many years. When we lived in Hungary, the major comment about German cars was that they were built to last.

We can often learn things about a designer by looking at the finished product. This is one of the main points Paul is making in Romans 1:20 (N.A.S.), where he says: “For since the creation of the world His (God’s) invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they (people) are without excuse.” Paul is saying that people can know that there really is a God, and come to understand some basic characteristics about God, because the things created and designed give us insights into the Designer.

This passage says that three categories of information about God are revealed in the created world we live in. We can discern something of God’s invisible attributes by looking at the visible things He has designed and produced. Just like we can understand from German automobiles that most Germans value quality, enduring cars, we can understand from what God has made that God is a God of ingenious design. The sophistication of design obvious in plants, animals, people, and DNA, all point to a God who does not do things without thoughtful design. Providing for change through adaptation merely heightens the magnitude of His forethought and design capability.

This morning I sat on my deck and watched three hummingbirds competing for the nectar in our hummingbird feeder. I was awed by the speed and mobility of these little birds. They hover, dodge, or fly up-down-sideways-forwards-backwards. They could dodge a diving attack of another one traveling at speeds of 60 mph. The design required for that little creature to fly like that points to one incredible aeronautic Engineer. Of course there is also the long straw-like beak of the hummingbird that needed to be incorporated into the design in order to provide the fuel needed to maintain such energy output.

Even a casual look at the created things that surround us everyday reveals a God of order, design, efficiency, balance, sophistication, diversity, and coordination, who designed the interdependence and complimentary interaction of the varied life on this planet. These characteristics are some of the attributes of God that we cannot see, but which become obvious as we look at what He created. Just as we can deduce some things about a culture that makes particular cars, machines, or watches, we can also deduce some things about God by examining the things He has designed and made.

Paul said that we also get insights into the power of God when we look at nature. The power required to create the earth is incredible. But then the earth is just one tiny part of a vast universe that this same Creator designed and produced. Not only did it require incredible energy and power to produce the created universe, it also takes enormous power to sustain all the systems involved in the ongoing existence of creation. Such comprehensive power is certainly far beyond human abilities.

We can discover some things about God’s divine nature through what He has made. God is eternal, having been the Creator and prime mover in creation who has been actively involved in sustaining creation ever since its inception, however long ago you believe that was. God is the great Provider, providing what is needed for life and the continuance of life. God is the One who is all wise, as demonstrated by being able to pre-design a universe in which the millions of parts helpfully interact for the sustaining of the whole. God is omniscient, knowing all things. He is omnipresent, able to be in all places at once. God is limitless in creativity, love, knowledge, and power. God is the one who imparts value to our lives and to His creation. He creates value in us, by valuing us. He is large enough to have conceived the big picture in creation, and small enough to have meticulously designed and produced atoms and molecules.

As we look at the created world around us, from the smallest systems and life-forms to the largest, from the simplest to the most complex, from the most docile to the most active, we get visible glimpses of the astounding nature and power of the invisible God. Have you seen evidence of God lately? Have you looked?