What Scripture Says About Nature by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Last weekend my husband and I were kayaking, immersed in nature when suddenly I felt called to write about what the Bible says about nature.
As a nature lover, I marvel at the magnificence of His vast, creative handiwork. Only an Awesome God could make mountains, deserts, oceans, rivers, swamps, forests, the moon, stars, sunrises, and sunsets — all harmoniously blending in an environmental symphony that sustains life on every level.
How could such splendid perfection be created by accident? Every atheist should ask that question. Furthermore, Almighty God is the definition of intelligent design, a popular term for those reluctant to give God direct credit by name.
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But He deserves all the credit. If I awake in time to see the sunrise burst onto the horizon with a palette of warm heavenly colors, my faith grows stronger, and I praise God thinking:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
The power of nature is the power of God speaking to us through his earthly creations. In my travels, I have only seen one church where the power of nature is intentionally transferred into building materials inspiring all who enter. Raise your hand if you have seen the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain? This unique, unfinished grand cathedral means “Holy Family” and has been under construction since 1882. Its exterior resembles a sandcastle, and inside, a giant tree forest.
After a 2016 visit, I wrote in National Review, “when you look up in awe at the great columns of the Sagrada Familia, you see that they are slightly tilted, not straight. By design, they vary in diameter, like trees in a forest. With nature ‘always his teacher,’ Gaudi [the original architect who died in 1926] observed how light changes and is reflected differently throughout the day. He then mimicked nature. And so, depending on the hour and season of your visit, the colors, patterns, and hues shining on the ‘trees’ are always changing.”
