How do people who can’t read, don’t have a Bible or go to church know God? Do you think God decided to exclude them? As a child I worried about that. Recently I read a story of a man, Brother Lawrence, who found his path to God by observing the beauty of a tree. And I thought, “How is that even possible”?

I accept that God’s ways are a mystery to me. As a small child in Sunbeams, (Sunday school for littles), I learned that God gave us five senses. As an adult I have learned that God asks us to seek him. Putting that together, would God expect us only to seek him with one or two of our senses? So, yes, I believe that finding God in nature is possible. If we seek we will find, even without a concordance, commentary and three versions of the Bible.

Our culture is dependent upon words and videography to tell a story. Sadly, we have never been taught to read nature around us and understand God’s creation story behind something like a tree. It seems like the only time we pay attention to nature is when there is some cataclysmic event. So we become fearful rather than joyful over the natural world. We forget that God is so much bigger than we could possibly imagine.

In a short while the folks around my neck of the woods will experience a total eclipse. Instead of awe and wonder for a Creator that placed the stars and moon in the sky and synchronized their movements, some interpret it as impending doom’s day. Most of us, however, see it as a chance to celebrate. But how many of us see it as a moment to worship our amazing creator? To see it as a chance to observe His star given for our planet’s light and source of energy in a unique manner? To be amazed at this synchronized movement of our solar system?

In his Reasons to Believe Creation Model, Astrophysicist Hugh Ross lists 140 features of the cosmos as a whole (including the laws of physics) that must fall within certain narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of physical life’s existence and 402 quantifiable characteristics of a planetary system and its galaxy that must fall within narrow ranges to allow for the possibility of advanced life’s existence. Just those numbers alone are astounding.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Taking care not to worship the creation but the Creator, we have microscopes, telescopes and a plethora of scientific devices to observe God’s creations. Yet we often fall victim to worshipping our own “brilliance” rather than that of the one who made it all. In The One Year Salt and Light Devotional by Chris Tiegreen he says, “What should have sent us in search of the Creator—the beauty and design of nature, the stunning miracle of a newborn, the joy of simple pleasures—became instead an idol or even just a happy accident. We have to learn to see the world in a new way.”

So if we are in a place where nature shows us something new, we should stop and learn about the One who created it. What kind of love and attention to detail did it take to create beautiful fields of wildflowers and what amazing creativity came up with a howler monkey and a firefly? And what about the cute fuzz on a bee or the amazing power in a storm? We should pause and take time to listen to God’s creation around us and learn how to catch glimpses of His amazing glory.