God is an Artist

Artists love to send messages through their work. They often personalize their work by hiding images and secret messages in their pieces. They also send more explicit messages through the visible parts of each work of art. Thus, art isn’t made just to be aesthetically pleasing, but rather it’s also to be analyzed and interpreted. While we do not usually think of Him in this way, God is an artist. His art work is all of creation. Just as other artists have written messages into their work, so has God. As we look at creation, there are messages all over that speak about God’s nature and speak to the truth that God shares. This revelation about God can be seen in the explicit things like the Bible and the lives and teachings of His true followers. However, God also speaks just as much, if not more, into other aspects of creation, including nature and the lives of all “ordinary” people.

God speaks to us through nature in His creation. In The Alchemist Paulo Coehlo wrote, “God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom” (Coehlo 127). For example, God’s creation of a myriad of massive stars in an infinite galaxy speaks to us about his almighty and overwhelming power. In addition, God’s creation of the intricate, microscopically complex parts of the human body speaks to God’s detailed attention to each one of our lives. Likewise, The Alchemist declares, “all you have to do is contemplate a single grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation” (Coehlo 172).  In other words, the beauty of God’s creation speaks truth into our lives about His being and the journey of life. During the last seven months of living in Colorado, I have spent a fair amount of time admiring the beauty in the nature around me that God has created. As I have admired nature, I have seen God’s undeniable presence and learned from the teachings that God reveals in nature. Many of these lessons from nature have brought scripture to life for me. For example, I don’t feel like I fully comprehended Ecclesiastes 3 before coming to Colorado, the passage beings with saying, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the Heavens…” I could not fully comprehend its meaning while living in Texas because south Texas is a land with only two seasons – hot and hotter. It was not until I arrived in Colorado to witness the changing of the seasons in nature that I could comprehend the message behind this scripture – realizing the need for rest in winter and rebirth in spring and that each season is necessary for life to flourish. Similarly, sitting on a bench near a lake during February and watching ducks walk and slide on the ice helped me to realize the way in which God cares and provides for us. If God abundantly provided for an animal as simple as a duck in the midst of harsh winter conditions, how much more would he provide for me. Thus, Matthew 6:26 was brought to life for me, which says, “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?”

God also speaks to us through the journey of our lives. My grandpa stated this in a deeply truthful way when in a letter to me he said:

“All the stories that I told you… were I believe signs from God as I was growing and going through this thing called life. We can just look at events in our life and just take them as events and part of growing up. I, on the other hand take them as messages (signs) from God. What we do with these messages is up to us. It’s like free will, God gives free will and it becomes our responsibility to do something or do nothing at all. To follow God or not follow God.”

Just as my grandfather interpreted the events in his life as God speaking to him, I have found that the people that see their lives as a spiritual journey tend to see the occurrences in their life as a divine language. All twists and turns, and events in life are part of the journey through which God speaks to us.

As I come to understand the messages in nature and in life stories, scripture allows me to more fully comprehend nature and the journey of life. Moreover, the words that God speaks into both language and experience should teach us and move us closer to Him. Creation should edify our love for God and grow us to worship him more.  Similarly our life story and the lives of others are gifts that allow us to draw closer to God and come to know His ways better. Because of our sinful nature though, we may be tempted to worship creation and other people instead of God. I heard another student at CCU eloquently state this message when he said something along these lines:

God has given us a rose, which represents the blessings and gifts that He has provided for us. The rose serves as a sign of God’s love for us. However, we have come to love the rose instead of its maker. We have begun to grip the rose so tightly that its thorns have pierced our hands and hurt us. Similarly, we often worship creation and are hurt as a result; we should be worshipping God, who made creation and reveals himself through it, instead of the things He creates.

            As we celebrate Easter and the rebirth of life – Christ’s resurrection as well as the spring season - I hope that we will see God’s initials all over creation. I pray that we will not worship creation, the things of our lives, or the cultural practices that accompany Easter on this day. I pray that we will admire God’s creation, and come to love our God even more because of the gifts He has given us in creation. Thank you God for being the artist of our lives and creation!