Over the last couple of decades there has been a push to replace God with His creation. You will hear people say things like, “The woods are my church.” By that, they mean that you can worship God just as well, if not better, in the woods. Think about it – there are no distractions; it’s just you and God’s creation.
In some senses this is a great idea. In fact, I have made a Prayer Walk Guide to pray in the woods while you walk, hike, or bike. That being said, nothing can replace the communal relationship God has given us in church with fellow believers. In fact, Hebrews 10:25 warns us against not regularly meeting together to worship corporately.
The problem becomes people often start out with good intentions, and many times turn to making the creation their god. This really is nothing new. The apostle Paul in Romans 1:25 talks about people who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” It’s really silly if you think about it. What is better, a tree, or the One Who created trillions of trees across the globe.
Humans, however, are pendulum swingers. We may have all the great theology that I’ve already spoken about, and then taken it too far. We have forgotten about the creation all together. In this day and age of technology, it is easy to be inside and forget the magnificence of creation. Our God created this world not just for function, but beauty.
Knowing that we should not worship the creation, but the Creator, why would we say, “Instead of pray, stare at the stars?” The answer lies within Psalm 8. This passage is talking about our majestic God.
In the middle of this Psalm 8:3-4, King David, the king of Israel at the time, is contemplating something. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?”
Note that in this passage David is not praying. He is not speaking to God, nor is he reading or meditating on Scripture, although he has encouraged us to do both of these in other parts of the Psalms. What is David doing here? He’s looking at creation. He’s staring at the stars.
Why would there be a time instead of talking to God through prayer, or listening to God by reading and meditating on His word, that we would instead stare at the stars? The answer lies in understanding that, while this is not the regular practice, sometimes we need to contemplate creation and the vast physical cosmos.
The way we do this as Christians is much different than the way someone who does not believe in God would do this. The atheist would look at the creation for serenity. For Christians this is alright as well.
God gives us something greater as believers in Jesus to contemplate. We don’t just look at creation for serenity, we look to see how great creation is and know that our God is even greater to create such things.
What does this do for us? As I stare at the sky at night, and see how vast, complex, fine-tuned, and fantastic creation is, I know that if my God can handle creating and taking care of that. He can handle and take care of my problems.
Many times we need to pray when we have trials, worry, and are at a loss for answers. Most of the time we should read Scripture, or meditate on Scripture that we know and have memorized to remember who God is and how He is faithful to His people.
Sometimes, when we worry, when our trials seem too much to bear, we need to stare at the stars. We need to remember that while God called us to be responsible to work on things that are problems in life, we are not to worry about that problem. Remember how great the God we serve is and how easily He can care for us through every problem.
Thanks for taking time to read this Maddening Theology post. If you enjoyed this content you can find Pastor Tim’s sermons at www.cornerstoneforestcity.org. You can also join us at 520 Marion St. Browndale, PA 18421 on Sundays at 10:45 AM. To make following the blog easier you can also register. You can also join us on Facebook at Cornerstone Forest City. Also, don’t forget to download our APP on iTunes or Googleplay.