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Tokens of God’s Love Everywhere, May 19
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that
formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it
not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is
none else.
Isaiah 45:18
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Through the goodness of God we have been surrounded with innumer-
able blessings. There are tokens of His love on every hand. Nature seems
to be rejoicing before us. The beautiful things in heaven and earth express
the love and favor of the Lord of hosts toward the inhabitants of the world.
The sunshine and the rain fall on the evil and the good. The hills and seas
and plains are all speaking eloquently to the soul of man of the Creator’s
love. It is God who brings the bud to bloom, the flower to fruit, and it is He
who supplies our daily needs. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without
the Father’s notice. Our minds should go up in gratitude and adoration to
the Giver of every good and perfect gift.
We should teach our children to consider the works of God. They
should be instructed on His love and the provision He has made for their
salvation. Lead them to give their young hearts as a grateful offering,
fragrant with love, to Him who has died for them. Point out the attractive
loveliness of the earth, and tell them of the world that is to come that shall
never know the blight of sin and death, where the face of nature will no
more wear the shadow of the curse. Lead their young minds to contemplate
the glories of the reward that awaits the children of God. Cultivate their
imaginative powers by picturing the splendor of the new earth and the city
of God; and when they are charmed with the prospect, tell them it will be
more glorious than their brightest imagination can portray....
The poet and the naturalist have many things to say about nature, but
it is the Christian who enjoys the beauty of the earth with the highest
appreciation, because he recognizes his Father’s handiwork and perceives
His love in flower and shrub and tree. No one can fully appreciate the
significance of hill and vale, river and sea, who does not look upon them
as an expression of the love of God to man
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The Review and Herald, February 14, 1888
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