February in Florida
Florida in February.
We. Love. It.
Warm and sunny. In February.
Shirley and I, along with another couple, spent Sunday afternoon after church hiking in a park in Port Charlotte. In February. In Florida.
Our time outside in nature was so…calming, so therapeutic.
Our world today is so different from much of human history. In the past, people spent the vast majority of time outdoors. Today, people tend to spend exorbitant amounts of time indoors. Away from nature. Cloistered away from creation.
Nature Yourself Calm?
Our sedentary, indoors lifestyle is probably one reason why a phrase like “nature yourself calm” seems odd. Perhaps even seems “new age.”
It is actually “old age.”
It is actually counsel from Jesus.
In His Sermon on the Mount—preached in nature—Jesus addressed the opposite of calm—worry, anxiety, stress, fear.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25).
Jesus’s first century followers, just like us, worry. We are concerned with life, health, the future, what people think of us, how the medical test result will turn out, whether we’ll be able to pay our daily bills, or pay our kids’ way through college.
We. Worry.
And Jesus’s prescription?
“Look at the birds of the air…” (Matthew 6:26).
Nature Teaches
Notice the biblical counsel Jesus, our Soul Physician, gives us for addressing our worries, and anxieties. Jesus’s lesson plan has three object lessons from nature: one about birds, one about flowers, and one about grass.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:26-27).
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29).
“If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Your heavenly Father knows you need them” (Matthew 6:30-31).
Creation Calms
Jesus’s lesson plan has one point:
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- Consider how creation points to our Creator’s loving, powerful care for us—our Father’s affectionate sovereignty.
What prescription does our Soul Physician write for our anxieties and cares?
- Consider creation and the Creator.
- See the supernatural in nature.
- Look at the physical with spiritual eyes.
- Consider natural revelation through the lens of special revelation.
- Look at creation and do some spiritual mathematics, some spiritual calculations.
When we look at nature with supernatural eyes we learn how valuable we are to God: “are you not much more valuable than they?”
When we look at nature with supernatural eyes we learn how our Father cares for us: “will he not much more clothe you?”
When we look at nature with supernatural eyes we learn that the Father looks at us with caring eyes: “your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
“Nature’s Pharmacy”: How Great Thou Art
Swedish preacher, Carl Boberg, took Jesus’s prescription. We know his counsel as one of Christianity’s most beloved hymns: How Great Thou Art.
Boberg’s inspiration for How Great Thou Art came from a visit to a beautiful country estate on the southeast coast of Sweden. He got caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterwards he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees.
The experience prompted Boberg to fall to his knees in humble adoration of his mighty God. A nine-stanza poem beginning with the Swedish words “O Store Gud, nar jag den varld beskader” captured his exaltation of how great God is.
Imbibe his words again—with this new understanding of their origin, and of how creation teaches us about our Creator’s caring control—His affectionate sovereignty.
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Paul Sings the Same Song
Creation displays the fingerprints of the Creator—if we only have eyes to see.
“Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 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” (Romans 1:19-20).
Tragically, those who are blind to God suppress the Creator and His care. They fail to perceive their caring and in-control heavenly Father when they look at the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, the grass of the field, the countless stars in the sky or the countless grains of sand on the beach. They fail to perceive their Creator’s affectionately sovereignty when they hear the roaring thunder or the singing birds.
However, for those who by grace have been given new eyes, creation displays the fingerprints of God. Nature is alive with the supernatural. Those with new eyes are able to see and understand the lesson plan of nature.
Creation Calms Shirley and Bob
When Shirley and I enjoy a walk on Siesta Key Beach, we are reminded, even as Shirley has to walk with a cane because of her stroke, that God numbers the hairs on our head just as He numbers the grains of sand on Siesta Key Beach. The Creator knows us—He knows and cares about and takes care of Bob and Shirley.
When Shirley and I enjoy our pool under our lanai cage at night (in February in Florida!) and we see the innumerable stars, we know the Creator who names each star and who knows our name and cares about our concerns.
The innumerably grains of sand on the beach and stars in the sky remind Shirley and me of another of Jesus’s lesson plans from nature:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).
The Entire Bible Sings the Same Song
Job understood that nature teaches.
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:7-10).
Though his understanding was clouded, Elihu encouraged Job to consider creation and the Creator.
“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?” (Job 37:14-16).
The Creator adds to Job and Elihu’s rudimentary understanding of creation with five chapters on the creation and the Creator—Job 38-42. These five lesson plans on nature opened Job’s squinting eyes and suffering heart to the great wisdom and good heart of God. In Job 38-42, the Creator explains that:
Creation declares God all-powerful, all-wise providential care.
The psalmist sings the same stanza:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth” (Psalm 19:1-6).
Nature speaks. Do we have ears to hear?
Nature declares our glorious God. Do we have spiritual eyes to see?
It is no accident, but instead inspired truth, that the psalmist shares back-to-back about God healing broken hearts and numbering/naming stars:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:3-4).
Nature teaches that the God who numbers and names the stars is the God who heals the brokenhearted.
What About You?
When anxieties sweep over you, as part of a comprehensive, embodied-soul response, what would it look like for you to “nature yourself calm”? What would it look like for you to look at creation and perceive the Creator’s control and care? What would it look like for you to perceive the supernatural in nature and rest in your Father’s affectionate sovereignty?
To calm your anxieties, what are some specific aspects of nature that you can observe with spiritual eyes?
- Maybe the next time you see a peaceful stream, you rest in the Prince of Peace who offers you peace like a river (Isaiah 48:18).
- Maybe the next time you see the crashing waves on Siesta Key Beach (or whatever beach), you rest in your all-powerful Creator God who controls the winds and waves (Mark 4:41).
- Maybe the next time you feel the breeze or see the effect of mighty winds, you rest in the Almighty (John 3:5-8).
- Maybe the next time your outside at night with a clear sky, away from city lights (in nature), and you see more stars than your eyes can count, you rest in the Creator who made each of those stars, calls them by name, and calls you by name (Psalm 147:3-4).
- Maybe the next time you look at the birds of the air, you remind yourself, “I am much more valuable than they” (Luke 12:6-7).
- Maybe the next time you see the flowers of the field, you remind yourself, “Not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28-29).
- Maybe the next time you see the grass of the field, you remind yourself, “Will He not much more clothe me?” “My heavenly Father knows my needs and supplies every true need I have” (Matthew 6:30-31).
- Maybe the next time you see the sky, you remind yourself that “for great is Your love, higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies” (Psalm 108:4).
- Maybe the next time you see buffy white clouds, you remind yourself that “Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5).
- Maybe the next time you see the moon, you remind yourself how amazing it is that God is mindful of you (Psalm 8:1-4).
- Maybe the next time you see the pinnacle of God’s creation—another human being who is a bearer of God’s image, you remind yourself how amazing it is that God is mindful of you (Psalm 8:4-8).
- Maybe the next time you see an ant, you remind yourself of how God empowers you to fulfill whatever work he calls you to do (Proverbs 6:6-11).
- What aspect of nature/creation pointing to the Creator’s caring control would you add…?
- Maybe the next time you see… nature/creation… you remind yourself of your Creator’s caring control and affectionate sovereignty in your life…
When life feels out of control…consider creation and your Creator’s caring control.
