Wordless Speech: Creation Declares.

Wordless Speech: Creation Declares. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim His handiwork.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”  (Psalm 19:1-4).

According to David, creation has a voice that speaks without words. Creation has its own language, a unique way of communicating truth about its Maker. In Psalm 19 we find David extolling the greatness and splendor of God’s handiwork in the heavens. Can you imagine what David would say now, with what we have discovered in the modern era? Back when he wrote that psalm, the entire universe consisted of what they could see in the skies, the vast galaxy that we have named the Milky Way. They thought back in David’s time that their sight captured the whole universe. What would he say now? Our Milky Way galaxy is just one of billions of galaxies! In our galaxy alone there at least 100 billion stars with their orbiting planets. David saw one galaxy and declared the greatness of God, and now there are billions. We have come to discover the unthinkable vastness of God’s creation in the skies above us, and we still haven’t reached the end of it. The heavens do indeed proclaim God’s glory, the weighty splendor of His presence in the world. In the Scripture, all the stars point to a Star-Maker, the planets to a Planet-Maker, the universe to a Universe-Maker.

And creation hasn’t lost its voice. It continues to speak to us every day and every night of God’s powerful existence, of His unimaginable craftsmanship. They tell us without a sound, without a word. The skies display so many things… His character, His beauty, even His righteousness. “The heavens proclaim the Lord’s righteousness; every nation sees His  glory.” (Ps. 97:6). Creation has its own nonverbal language. Creation-talk speaks volumes of unspoken truth about the unlimited power of God’s creativity. To a believer, nature is a sacred book that speaks of God’s intelligence, His imagination, His miraculous attention to detail, His sheer perfection. As Eugene Peterson suggests, it’s as if God’s glory is on a personal tour.

St. Paul seems to have little patience with those who have unthinkingly rejected God. They have decided, says Paul, to ignore the profound witness of creation. “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:20). Isaiah speaks of how God had a personal hand in the heavens. “He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.” (Isaiah 40:22). When seen this way, how can anyone remain unimpressed by the witness of creation? We need to read nature like a book, say many theologians, and discover the wonders of our God, the clarity of His witness around us.

The scientists continue to exclaim that, as vast as it is, the universe is still expanding. Creation continues. Is God personally stretching out the heavens like a farmer casts his seeds, or did He create a system that is able to expand itself? Either way, God’s creative ability is beyond comprehension. And the skies continue to declare His splendor and greatness. Without words, God’s creation is speaking loud and clear for all the world to see and understand. With our eyes wide open, His glory is on magisterial display.