Who am I that God is mindful of me?

The other day as I was driving, I noticed some spring flowers beginning to grow. I drive past this place most days but that was the first time that I’d seen the wave of purples and yellows amongst the blades of grass. They were so beautiful. If there hadn’t been a car behind me, I would have stopped and taken a photo or two. God has made so many beautiful things.

I looked up at the sky, and for once there was a blue sky (albeit with two clouds creeping in far away). The world is so colourful and beautiful and sometimes I just like to take in the beauty of what God has made.

The springtime is beginning, and a new season of colour and beauty will soon appear. As I think of the wonder of God and His glory reflected in creation, I am reminded of this psalm:

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1-9 NIV)

The psalmist writes of the majesty of the Lord; how His glory shines through the earth and causes people to praise Him! And then the psalmist goes on to say ‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?’

Think about that for a moment – God created the vastness of the universe! He intricately designed all things from the planets to pea pods. The moon and the stars shine because He gave them cause to shine. By God’s mighty hand, all things were made. So who is man that God is mindful of him? Who am I that God is mindful of me?

Sometimes I feel lonely. Sometimes I feel that I’m just one guy trying to live out my faith as best I can. But I’m one man made by God. I’m one man who is never really alone because Jesus is with me and the Holy Spirit fills me. I’m one man sustained by God, trying to live for His glory.

God is mindful of His creation. He created man in His image! God created us to be in relationship with Him; it’s true that we don’t always make the best choices in life and that we don’t always find it easy to go on, but God is always there for us. Fact.

The psalmist goes on to say ‘You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.’

And then, the final line of the psalm is echoed in my own heart; ‘Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’. AMEN TO THAT!

Think about it. God has done so much! He created everything, including us and He has the power to do all things. Yet, He is mindful of His creation. He’s not just like ‘been there, done that’. He cares for us all! Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31 NIV)

Jesus tells us that God knows the number of hairs on your head. He also tells us that God cares for His creation; every time a sparrow falls to the ground, God knows about it. Sparrows, at the time were two-a-penny and God still cares about them. But he cares for us too! We all turned away from our creator at some point and fell into a life of sin. But God never stopped caring for us for one minute.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NIV)

For turning from God, we deserved death. But Jesus sacrificed Himself to pay our ransom. Whilst we deserved death, Jesus took our burdens upon himself To save us from the penalty we deserve. He gave it all for us. That’s how much He cares.

About 2000 years ago, God sent His one and only son Jesus to save us from sin and death. We do not deserve this salvation, but God offers it to us through His son, who conquered death and rose from the grave and will reign forever! I, for one, am thankful to God for this.

I see the majesty of God reflected in the earth. I see the stars, I see the fields and the animals. I see cats waiting at zebra crossings for a safe time to cross the road. I see wonders of the world like niagara falls. I see the seas and the mountains and the weather and the rolling hills and the skies and the birds and so much more. And through the heartbeat of creation, I see the awesomeness of my creator. And I’m thankful that in the midst of everything, He is still mindful of me.

Universally magnificent

Today I watched Thor again. I’ve now seen it twice, and I’m sure I will watch it many more times! I think that it is an excellent film. One could say that it is a THORSOME film. Its got good graphics, a good storyline, great characters, tie ins with other movies in the Avengers series and one brilliant plot twist after the credits! I would easily put it in my top 5.

Part of the reason that I like Thor, and the Thor graphic novels, is because it is based partly on norse myth and legend. I like to see what other cultures think about and believe, and this does not fail to disappoint. (This is also partly why studying ancient Rome and ancient Greece interested me.) It is, however, a Marvel film and so may not be true to the original legends, but you get the overall gist of things from it.

The belief, as I gather from Thor, is that various realms are connected via this cosmic tree thingading. The people from Asgard are on the top, whereas the people from Hel are on the bottom. Earth is somewhere in between. Asgardians seem to rule the roost, and they even have a thing called the bifrost where they can reach other worlds. It seemed a bit fanciful to me, but it must be based on some sort of legend or some stories somewhere. It is not really the difference in belief that I want to talk about though – it is the vastness of the Thor world system.

There are many realms in Thor, and each one of them carries a certain beauty. Take for example, the Asgardian rainbow bridge and the sea below it. It is described as beautiful, and at the end it has a portal to the other worlds. These worlds are all apparently connected by the tree thing, but rarely meet other than through the bifrost, which is a sort of space cannon that shoots people around in bolts of lightning. The universe described in the Thor film and books is huge, vast and beautiful. It gets even bigger when meeting people like the fantastic 4, but I’ll not go into that right now. The creation of said universe is not depicted in the film, or the books I have read. It just appears big and pretty. As with most things in life, this got me to thinking. Moreover, it got me thinking about our universe.

Scientists say that our universe is millions of light-years wide and is ever expanding. However, tracing biblical timelines, we have not been around for millions of years so how would they know? How could technology built in fairly recent years have any way of measuring the size of the universe? It couldn’t. It breeds speculation. Its hype. They also claim that there are other universes out there. Again, how would they know? They haven’t reached the end of ours!

Many people have different views on how the universe was created. A lot of people seem to subscribe to the view that there was a large bang and then POOF! we appeared. I do not think this happened. I dropped a pan the other day and it made a banging sound and nothing was created! Also, look around you for a moment. How could a bang, an explosion, a loud noise create a whole universe? How could that possibly happen? Take humans for example – we are so intricately designed (made in God’s image) and each one of us is unique – how could a bang do that? I have heard some people say that when God created everything, there may have been a bang, you know, for flamboyance – but this didn’t create anything. And don’t get me started on evolution. (Just a quick outline – we were intricately designed. We were made for a purpose. My ancestor was not an ape. King Kong is not my grandpa! God made man and he made us different to the animals. And God gave different parts of creation different purposes and abilities.) Other people subscribe to the view that the world is on the back of a giant turtle. Another view is that the world was created by a giant noodle. Seriously? A noodle. A man-made delicious edible food substance. NOPE THATS NOT WHAT CREATED THE WORLD!!!!

Many people also speculate on the universe. Is Pluto a real planet? Or is it just a planet wannabe? Should we be telling it to hang out with the moon and all the other satellites, or is it not cool enough for them either? How big is the universe? We were taught in school that it is opening up like a balloon. WHAT? It’s not called a Ballooniverse guys! But is it expanding? Are we alone? Is there life beyond our planet? Will the apes rise like in the movies? What if one day I wake up and yoda wants me to be a jedi and he’s like “Darth vader’s a badman innit? Lets shank him” and I have to be all “KK LOL”? What happens at the end of the universe? Would you fall out?

So far, we’ve discovered the planets, comets, some satellites, many stars, constellations and some galaxies. Perhaps the rest is not for us to know right now. If you think about it though, even just our solar system – it is vast. Not just vast, but immensely vast. Unfathomably fast. And real purty too. The way the planets move through space is amazing! The way the sun helps to aid life is amazing! The beauty of it all is amazing! And have you seen the stars? The other year, I was at soul survivor festival, and there was a brilliantly clear sky. The night sky was like a dark canvas, on which God had painted a beautiful picture. The milky way was visible up above and it was truly beautiful. It was mind blowing. It was awesome! Seeing just a glimpse of the vast creation of God and the extent of His work just put things into perspective for me. In comparison to this vast and magnificent universe, lil’ old me was just an invisible dot (man) on an invisible dot (UK) on an invisible dot (Earth) in the universe. God, who made it all, was and still is prepared to talk to me – the invisible dot. GET THIS – God, who flung the stars into space and knows them by name; God, who knows the number of hairs on your head, and the amount of grains of sand on the earth; God, who in His infinite wisdom and with His unfathomable creativity, created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the stars and the planets and everything else has time for me. Me. That invisible speck thats part of His creation. Not only does He have time for me, but He loves me. He loves us all. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t His love magnificent? I saw the milky way that night and was in awe of its beauty. However, as I stood there with my jaw on the floor, I was more in awe of its creator. I was silently thankful that the One who made something this beautiful made me too, and loves me. Even though in comparison I am small, God knows my name. He knows who I am and He cares for me. And for this, I am eternally grateful, and will be eternally in awe of Him.

One thing I have noticed about creation is this- God likes circular, cylindrical, spherical and swirly patterns. The planets are spherical; hurricanes are swirly; stars are circular; trees are cylindrical; many more things that I could list fall into these categories. It is interesting to note here, that when we were in the womb, we developed in the foetal position, which is like curling up into a ball.  In contrast, man likes square and cuboid and cube objects, like buildings, computers, iPods, furniture, etc.

If I think about creation and how varied it is, it blows my mind. God made so much, yet he put so much detail into everything, to give it individuality. From songbirds to supernovas, from constellations to canyons, from mountain ranges to men, God created them all and gave them variance. He created the universe and everything in it. I’m not sure if we’ll ever grasp how big it is, or just how much work has gone into it – It blows my mind every time I try! The universe is magnificent. Lets look at creation in the scriptures:

Genesis 1

New International Version (NIV)

Genesis 1

The Beginning

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Wow. Just wow. God created everything. Everything was created by His divine design. All the worlds, all the planets, all the vegetation, all the animals, mankind – EVERYTHING. Light and dark, He created them. Water and dry land, He created them. The vastness and beauty of the universe, and everything in it… You guessed it, HE CREATED IT ALL! No bang, no noodle, no turtle – GOD created it all. And its so flipping big! We think the world is big, but its nothing compared to the size of all creation! Each part of creation carries its own individual beauty. It is truly amazing. And then there is heaven. We haven’t had the privilege of seeing that yet, but I bet its awesome. Universally magnificent! And unlike the stories of Thor and the graphic novels, this story and this universe is real. Our God is real, and He is true. And if you don’t know Him already, He’s waiting for you with open arms. It doesn’t matter how small we are, God is always there for us. Jesus came and died for us. He rose again and conquered death, so that we could be reconciled with God. The Holy Spirit is always with us, if we acknowledge and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. You can know God, and trust me, knowing Him; being in relationship with your creator is universally magnificent. Its brilliant. Its awesome. It blows the mind. Yet, it is possible! I heartily recommend it. Following Him is the best decision I ever made!

God made it all. He designed it all. He gave us life and a reason to live. He shows us the beauty of His unfathomably vast creation. He is universally magnificent. I cannot comprehend the vastness of creation, but because of it, I stand in awe of Him. I will worship my God, for He has done great things!

I’m feline this.

This morning, I was awoken by the sound of the clickety-clack of paws slinking across the floor. As I opened my eyes, I noticed there were two green eyes staring back at me. She meowed and walked away. The cat was like my furry alarm clock this morning.

Forget what people say about dogs being man’s best friend – cats are. My cat is loyal to me! She comes to find me and sits with me and stuff like that. I would choose her over a dog any day.

Earlier on today, I was reading my Bible In One Year passages for the day, like you do, and the cat came up to my room to find me. I gave her a quick little stroke before she burrowed under the duvet and completely disappeared. That is to say, she disappeared, but there was this big purring lump in the duvet, so I still knew she was there. She sat there purring whilst I read my bible.

Then, I went to re-string my guitar. I was playing ‘Jesus Saves’ by Tim Hughes on it yesterday and one of the strings snapped. I hadn’t even finished the intro! And forget what James Morrison or whoever it was sang; playing broken strings is not a feasible feat! Thankfully, I had a spare string lying around the house. How fiddly is it changing guitar strings?!?!? I’m always surprised at how fiddly it is every time I have to change one. I don’t know why I’m always so surprised, but it gets me every time! Perhaps theres a secret guitar string changing method I haven’t discovered yet, or that has to be taught in a top secret guitar dojo or something. I changed it myself though, because if you want it done in town, I heard it costs a tenner! R.I.P. O.F.F! The strings don’t even cost that much!

After I tackled the immensely fiddly task of re-stringing a guitar, I got to playing some worship songs out of ‘The Worship Songbook’ (Formerly known as the soul survivor songbook.) The cat had now re-emerged from the depths of the duvet and was looking up at me. I decided to play some of the songs off Matt Redman’s latest album “10,000 Reasons”. It is a lovely album, you simply must have a listen : http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/we-are-the-free/id441687303?i=441687312 . I played ‘endless hallelujah’ and a few others.

The point is not in what I played, but the cat’s reaction to it. Whenever I was playing these worship songs, she started purring and occasionally tried to meow along. Its not really anything I’d ever seen her do before. I mean, I know certain music has an effect on her, (‘Neapolitan Dreams’ by Lisa Mitchell sends her to sleep, whilst ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ by Henry Mancini makes her go wild and crazy!), but I’ve never seen her seemingly engage in worship. As most things do, this got me thinking. Can animals worship?

I know it might sound silly, but can they? God created them too! We were created by God and we have the choice to worship Him, and I wonder if the animals do?  They can be used by God, I know that! And they can acknowledge His existence. One clear example of this is when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem. Another is this:

Numbers 22:23-30

New International Version (NIV)

²¹ Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²²But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

²⁴ Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

²⁶ Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸ Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

²⁹ Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

³¹ Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

³² The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

If you thought donkey in the shrek movies was a bit farfetched, a donkey has actually talked in history! In this passage, Baalam’s donkey knew that God was not happy with Baalam for going against Him, and so the donkey tries to stop Baalam from being killed by an angel of the Lord. The donkey knows God’s power, and it tries to protect its rider. However, Baalam does not see the angel of the Lord standing before them and he is having none of it, so he starts beating the donkey. AND THEN IT TALKS TO HIM! It asks him why he was beating it. The donkey has seen the power of God here, and by the power of God it has been given the chance to talk in a language comprehensible to humans. God uses the donkey (and an angel) to talk to Baalam here.

Although we’ve seen that animals can be used by God, I wonder if they can praise Him, in their own unique ways.

The psalmist writes:

Psalm 150

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD.   Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Praise the Lord seems to be the message here. But hold up, whats that last verse? Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord. Everything, you say?

Does this include animals and insects and fish and birds? They all have breath! Logically, this statement would include them! Perhaps they do already praise the Lord, and we just can’t see it!

If you think about it, perhaps animals could talk our language originally. Looking back to Genesis, God created all the animals and Adam gave them names. How would they know what they were if they could not at least understand our language? Furthermore, the serpent in the garden of eden TALKS to Eve, persuading her to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge, thus spurring the fall of man. The snake could talk, but what about the other animals?

Maybe, and just maybe, the human race and the animals could talk to each other freely before the incident at the tower of babel. Genesis 11:1 says that the whole world had one language and a common speech at this time. This must have included animals, otherwise it wouldn’t have said the whole world, right? After the people tried to build a tower to reach heaven and make themselves famous in the process, God confused their languages. It would make sense that this included animals.

People say that animals such as dogs can understand a few words, and parrots and other birds can learn to speak a few words. Studies have shown that cats reserve most of their ‘meow’ noises for when they are in human company. Interesting huh? I read somewhere that if you consistently say something to a cat over and over again, it will eventually try to mimic you. I’m sure my cat can say ‘hello’! Can the animals understand us? Did we originally have the chance to talk to them, and have conversations? Do they talk to God in their own ways? Do they worship Him?

Lets look at this passage from Philippians:

Philippians 2

New International Version (NIV)

Philippians 2

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

 This passage talks about Jesus and how He sacrificed Himself to save the world. Lets focus here on verses 10 and 11.

¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
   to the glory of God the Father. 

It says every knee will bow. Every knee MUST include animal knees, right? There are some creatures without knees though. But every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. EVERY tongue. Thinking logically, this means that alongside humans, animals will confess that Jesus is Lord. That would be awesome! A sight to behold!

Moving onwards, lets look at revelation briefly. If you read the book of Revelation, it is a vision revealed to John by God. John was able to write this down. It is a prophecy of what will happen in the end times. Which, judging by the state of the world, will be happening fairly soon.

First, I will give the introduction, then, I will skip straight to chapter 4. I strongly advise reading this book. It is wonderful!

Revelation 1

Prologue

¹ The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, ² who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Revelation 4

The Throne in Heaven

¹ After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.   In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

 Here, we see a glimpse of heaven, and four living creatures worshipping God. “The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.” I’m not sure if these creatures are like what they are listed as, or if they are fully what they are listed as, but one thing is for certain – they are all worshipping God. And from this point in revelation onwards, they continue to worship God.

So we know that animals can be used by God. We know some creatures that have worshipped Him. I wonder if the animals are worshipping Him right now. If they can be loyal and loving to a human, how much more loving and loyal must they be to their creator? Perhaps my cat purring along with me whilst I was worshipping God was her way of joining in.

Did they originally talk with us? Do they worship God as well? When we worship God, do they join in? Perhaps this is not for us to know right now.

This I do know:

All will be revealed in heaven, when EVERY knee will bow before Him, and EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In search of the incredible

This morning it rained. In fact, most of the day it has rained on and off. This evening, it rained so hard, the signal went on the TV. Being British, most of our people would be inclined to complain about the rain. I mean, thats sort of our thing – talking about the weather. Other cultures have their own talking points; one example of this is how Italians love to talk about food, and talk in depth about what they have for lunch and dinner, even if it is the same every day. We talk about the weather. If, by chance it ventures above 15 degrees, we have been known to complain about the heat. If it goes below 10, we complain about the cold. If a few snow flakes happen to fall, there is a ruckus! Last time it snowed ‘heavily’, the London public transport stopped or something. In contrast, Canada manages to keep going day after day, despite having drastically heavier snowfall. As I woke up this morning I saw the rain and heard the harsh winds howl through the trees, causing them to sway and dance. Most people would complain about the weather, but not me. I saw something beautiful. Something that reflected the glory of God, the creator of the world. I tried to catch it on my phone :

Now that autumn is upon us, the leaves have begun to chance colour. The reds and greens in the foliage mix so beautifully, and when you just spare a moment to take it all in, its breathtaking. I thought to myself, why stop here? So I had a look around at the rest of the beauty of creation (that was in my immediate vicinity). In my opinion, plants are so beautiful. No 2 plants seem to be exactly the same! And they each carry their own charm. The shapes of the leaves, the colours of the berries and flowers – they are simply magnificent. Even cut flowers are beautiful:

Just seeing the way that each flower and plant is intricately designed is incredible! Each one carries its own individuality, and yet each one goes well with other plants. They can be truly resplendent on their own, or can be stunning when they are accompanied by companions. They truly show the glory of God’s creation. But it isn’t just flowers that are beautiful.

I looked to the skies, and noticed the clouds. Whether sultry and dark, or fluffy and light, the clouds are beautiful, and incredibly, they always manage to compliment the sky. That can’t be a coincidence! Last night the sky was glowing a pinky-purple colour. It was marvellous! But it does not stop there! Because of all the rain lately, there has been an abundance of rainbows, which are truly exquisite! Colour itself is beautiful. The concept of colour is beautiful, and the thought of designing colour is baffling. Another beautiful, yet baffling thing is time. The concept of time is beautiful, but the way it works and the fact that God created and thus exists outside of time is baffling!

BUT WAIT! THERES MORE!

Even the animals are beautiful. From anteaters to zebras, every animal is beautiful. They are all incredible in their own way. The plumage of a peacock; the fur of a cat; the pattern of a giraffe; the whiskers of a walrus – each animal reflects the beauty of creation, and thus glorifies God. It is incredible that God created all this! So many species of animal, such a wide variety of plant life, such a beautiful environment; its all so beautiful, it MUST have been created. No bang could have done this, no matter how big. Did I mention how beautiful the world is? Look at this cat!

How cute is that! Only God could create something so cute. awwww! Its squeezing its eyes shut! aww! Incredible! Beautiful! But God, in His infinite wisdom and with His unfathomable creativity, did not stop there – He brought us, the human race into the world. (Don’t believe me? Read the first couple of chapters of genesis. Its the first book of the bible.) And do I even need to say it?

Go on then, I will; we are all beautiful – each one of us carries our own beauty. We have the choice to glorify God verbally and with our actions, but the fact that we are here alone reflects His beauty! God made us in His image! By my logic, if we even look a little bit like God, this means we must be truly beautiful!

After thinking about creativity, I thought that our own God-given creativity breeds beauty. For example, music! Take the music of Jason Mraz for example! It is simply wonderful! The way he orchestrates different instruments, the timbre of his voice, the songs he writes – its incredible! One of my favourite songs of all time is ‘a beautiful mess’. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNglM1TO5o . That song is beautiful! The way it has been written, and the use of brass and other instruments is wonderful! The lyrics are so sweet as well. It just makes me want to smile. Another wonderful song by Jason Mraz is his latest single, ‘the world as I see it’. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjP7VTHUais . The song is catchy, the lyrics are heart-warmingly romantic. The tune is lovely. In one word, this song is beautiful! The creativity of singers and songwriters (like Jason Mraz) shows the beauty of music, which is a gift given to us by God. King David wrote many songs to God in the bible (read Psalms if you’re interested). Lyrics and poetry and music are truly incredible things. They are beautiful!

I love the individuality and creativity of different musicians. And being a singer myself, I like the way that different voices sound! Some of my favourite singers are: Matt Thiessen (Relient K), Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon, Jason Mraz, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Adam Young (Owl City), Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Adam Levine (Maroon 5), just to name a few. Each one carries a different sound, and their voices are each individually beautiful! And the different songs that they write and perform are beautiful.

I was listening to ‘Jefferson Aero Plane’ by Relient K earlier on, and part of the song stood out suddenly:

“Feels like/ I don’t remember/ ever/ being this tired/ before now/ my eyes were closed to/ all of/ the beauty in this world…”

Upon hearing this, I realised that most of the time in my busy little life, my eyes are closed to the beauty in this world. I’m so focused on whats going on and whats coming next that I rarely stop and take in the beauty around me. From now on, I’m going to try and pause and take in the beauty of creation!

Sometimes, I just look up at creation and the incredible beauty of the things around me and just say to God “Wow God! Your creation is simply beautiful! Its breathtaking!“

I went further than looking at music to other arts. I know i’ve waffled a bit, so i’ll try and cut this down! Film, literature and theatre are beautiful, as they show the beauty of good stories, and how entertaining they can be. Paintings, drawings and other artwork are beautiful too! They have the power to tell stories, evoke reactions and spark emotions, as well as being aesthetically pleasing.  The environment is beautiful! The way the mountains are formed, the rolling seas, sandy beaches, busy cities… Need I say more? In short, the world is beautiful! It is truly incredible! God’s creation is glorious, and through it, we have cause to bring Him praise!

But why stop there? The cosmos is stunning too! From the stars to supernovas and planets, God’s unfathomable beauty is reflected! And from what I have read in Revelation (last book of the bible), Heaven sounds even more incredible! Wow! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfjZGoXhuzE here is a lovely song about heaven by Phil Wickham.

When I step back and reflect on creation and its vast reaches, and all the things God has made and how incredibly beautiful it is, I scarce can take it in! My head nearly explodes at the thought of it! Its indescribably wonderful! Thank You God for Your beautiful creation! It takes my breath away and never ceases to amaze me!

Recently i’ve noticed that people are searching for something incredible. They just need to look around them at the world.

If people reflect on the beauty of the universe, it will blow their mind, as it continually blows mine! My mind cannot fathom it’s beauty, and my words cannot express how incredible God’s creation is! WOW!