The Beauty of our World

By Tim Chester (taken from Enjoying God – TheGoodBookCompany)

This world is a magical place. God’s verdict on his world: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1 v 31). It’s a world of wonders. We live in a world of oak trees, a thousand varieties of rice, Jane Austen’s novels, neon lights, past participles, space probes, snails, curry. Pick up anything-anything-and you will hold in your hand a thing of wonder.

Think about a glass of water. The simplest of things, yet all life depends on it. We drink water. Wash in it. Swim in it. Play with it. You can have water fights. We live in a world of water pistols. Why? Just so we can have fun. And it rains on you. We live in a world in which water just falls out the sky. Is that not the most extraordinary thing? Don’t moan about a rainy day. Which of us would have designed a world in which water falls out of the sky?

You have no reason ever to be bored–not in God’s world. We live in a world with an excess of beauty, a redundancy of beauty.

Think about a leaf. Every leaf is unique. God could have made a world in which every leaf was the same. It would have saved him a lot of bother. He could have made a world in which leaves were like plastic cups, punched out to the same design. But every leaf is handmade. And every lead is a thing of exquisite beauty. The way the veins snake under the surface when you hold it to the light. What’s more, each year half of them transform from a translucent green into a rich, deep reds, brown and yellows. And then think of a forest!

There are millions of leaves, each one unique and each one a thing of beauty. If you went to your local woods and tried to appreciate every leaf, it would take you a lifetime. And yet each spring God starts the process all over again. He says to himself, That was great. Let’s do it again.

Every leaf is different. Every snowflake is different. Every fingerprint is different. God paints swirls on every fingerprint and every one is unique. Why? It makes no sense. The vast majority of this beauty goes unnoticed, un-remarked and unappreciated. Except by God. He’s doing it got his own pleasure and his own glory. God is having a ball. In Proverbs 8 v 30-31, Wisdom speaks as if it’s a person. This is Jesus, out true Wisdom. Jesus says that when God was creating this world, “Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing with his whole world and delighting in the human race.” His days are filled with delight as he enjoys the beauty of each leaf and each life.

In the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka issues five golden tickets so that five lucky winners can enter his amazing chocolate factory. God has issued at least seven billion golden tickets, and you’re one of those lucky recipients. You’ve been chosen to enter God’s amazing world.

• A world where water falls from the sky.
• A world where ants build hills.
• A world where water melts, drips, freezes again and makes icicles–genius!
• A world where magnetic poles so compasses point north.
• A world in which a string sounds a note and then when you halve the spring’s length it sounds the same note a perfect octave higher–what are the chances?
• A world in which you can skim stones across water–it’s magical.
• A world of puns and rhymes and rhythm and alliteration–a world in which words are fun.
• A world in which music can make you cry.

You have no reason to be bored in God’s world.