CLEARLY SEENROMANS 1:18-22

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 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 men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glo-rified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.

I know I do not do it as often as I should! I certainly do not do it as often as I could! I’m guessing that you do not do it as often as you should or could, either! It is this: you and I live in a wonderful world. We are part of a universe that becomes more and more amazing as we learn more and more about it. All around us, we see things that should astound us.

We see hundreds, if not thousands, of wonders in nature every day – and yet, rarely do we stop to notice them. Every day we participate in natural events that should astonish us – and yet, we take them for granted. Rarely do we consider the miracles we are a part of or allow ourselves to marvel at them. Once in a while we may be amazed at some feat of nature, but not nearly as often as we could.

For example, suppose I want to know what time it is. Do I first begin to calculate how far I must turn my head sideways and then up or down, at the same time figuring in the number of degrees I must rotate my left wrist, while also determining the distance between my eyes and the face of my watch so I can focus properly, thus enabling me to check the time?

No, of course not! In a split second my brain makes all those calculations and without giving it much thought or effort, I check on the time and move on to other fantastic feats like turning a page or singing the next hymn! When I stop to think about it, I am amazed. But I don’t do that as often as I should or could!

On my way to Culver’s, I drive past many cornfields and quite a few dairy farms. I rarely, if ever, con-sider how sun and water and minerals in the earth cause the corn to grow, so that cows can eat it and pro-duce milk, which in turn is made into the ice cream I like! I could do that, perhaps I should do that, but I can’t remember ever doing that. I don’t think that way at all – I just enjoy the treat.

Some may think that is a silly admission. Of course, I could do that. But why would I? It is an entirely natural part of our existence. Nature is one of the most normal aspects of our lives. So, why would I do that? Why would I make the effort to transform a process so ordinary into something so miraculous? What difference does it make if I do or don’t do it? What good does it do to think about something you can’t control and certainly cannot change?

I should, we should, because, as Paul tells us: 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 men are without excuse. And as the psalmist also informs us the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

The fact that our world is so wonderful is no accident. The fact that nature is so awesome in every respect, is no fortunate happenstance! It is all a message left by the God who created it! Nature and all its splen-dor, is a brilliant indicator reminding us that God is out there. It is a neon sign telling us some of the things we should know about our Creator, things our Creator wants us to know about him.

We should take note of nature for it is one way in which the Lord communicates with the people he cre-ated! And, what are the things we can learn about God from nature? Certainly we learn that he exists. But that is so obvious that it seems trivial to even mention it. You might consider it wasted effort to even bring it up. Only the fool can look at nature and say there is no God!

It is some of his other qualities that we should take note of! Paul mentions his eternal power … and we most certainly agree with that! After millennia of human thought and inquiry, no one, not every one put together, can fully understand nature’s design and how it all works. There are far more mysteries in nature than there are answers!

We look at it all and rightly conclude that the One who designed it must be wise beyond description. God must know everything there is to know! Moreover, God must have power we cannot imagine. Since God is not made – he always has been, is, and will be forever – he alone must be the power that caused every-thing else to come into being.

Which of us can imagine a God who has no flesh or bones simply being able to will something, and have it come into being! We think we’re pretty powerful because we can produce energy from the atom. But we have no ability to produce that atom in the first place. Only a powerful Being, an Almighty God, could do that! That is the Lord of heaven and earth we see in creation.

This is what we learn from the natural world! From it, we can also learn something of our Lord’s divine nature. As we look at our world, we have to see that our powerful and wise God is also very loving! De-spite the destruction caused by man’s sin, we can easily see the blessings of a caring God in our world! Nature seems to be a never ending description of God’s love for us, his creation!

The beauty of nature screams love! The way nature so completely meets all our needs shouts love! The enjoyment we derive from the wonders of nature leaves no doubt about the love of the Creator for his cre-ation! This is no profound theological insight gained from years of study. As Paul says, this is clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Why does God do that? Why does he need to do that? We know that once upon a time mankind knew God perfectly. Why did he feel compelled to post this magnificent declaration? Paul tells us why: al-though they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they be-came fools.

With man’s fall into sin, mankind threw away, they deliberately forgot as much as they could about God. It was too uncomfortable coping with God. Knowing God hindered them from doing what their sinful na-tures wanted. It made them feel bad to deal with the Lord who disapproved of their sinful desires. And so, they set God aside. They wanted to be ignorant.

In their own minds they imagined that they were the wise and the powerful ones in this world, but it was just a silly delusion on their part. But it is an illusion that has eternal consequences. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Man’s denial of God, man’s preoccupation with everything God hates, is more than the ignorant foolish-ness of children who don’t know any better. It is a deliberate slap in the face to the God who created them and deserves their unending love and never-ending service. It isn’t an inconsequential choice vain human beings make, it is the most vile sin, sin which merits the eternal wrath of God.

We dare not have any misconceptions about this. We can’t rely on a hope that the love of God will over-look outright rebellion. We cannot assume that his desire to have mankind with him will excuse cold-hearted rejection of his love. We dare not conclude that our behavior will be chalked up as a minor in-fracrtion and forgotten. For, what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

Much of what we should know and acknowledge about God is easily known, it is clearly seen! No ex-cuses will be accepted. Mankind must make nature its starting point on a journey to discover everything that must be known and believed about God. To assist us in that quest, the Lord has gone above and be-yond any reasonable expectations by giving us his Word.

There he fills out his characteristic of love. Despite our sin, our rebellion, our rejection, he still loves us! And it isn’t a passive love that sits idly by and feels bad for us, but never does anything to help us. His is a love that drives him to sacrifice for the sake of those who wronged him. The pale vision of love we see in nature, we see fully in the gift of his Son.

In his Son, we also see the wisdom of God at its fullest. We struggle to come up with a way to reconcile us to God – ands fail! He doesn’t! He knows! He knows that his Son must live and die in our place. Only that will atone for our sin. Only that will make it possible for mankind to experience the fullness of his love now and forever simply by faith in his Son!

And in that we see the magnitude of his eternal power. For as generous as God is by doing everything necessary for our salvation, we still resist his offer of newlife. Our pride won’t let go and allow us to ac-cept the fact that he has done everything needed for our salvation. It must be God the Holy Spirit who lit-erally drags us to saving faith so that we hold on to this precious gift of God.

Yes, God made nature for a reason. In it, his power, his wisdom, and his love are displayed – but not com-pletely. We are to use nature as the foundation upon which we stand to observe his power, his wisdom, and his love at its fullest in the salvation that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus. By faith that comforting truth is completely and clearly seen!

Amen.