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Nature Offers Messages of Hope and Comfort, August 13
He sends the springs into the valleys, which flow among the hills. They give
drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Psalm 104:10, 11
, NKJV.
Nature and revelation alike testify of God’s love. Our Father in heaven is the
source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of
nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of
human beings, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden
and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator’s
love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures.
In the beautiful words of the psalmist: “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou
givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the
desire of every living thing” (
Psalm 145:15, 16
).
God made Adam and Eve perfectly holy and happy; and the fair earth, as it
came from the Creator’s hand, bore no blight of decay or shadow of the curse. It is
transgression of God’s law—the law of love—that has brought woe and death.
Yet even amid the suffering that results from sin, God’s love is revealed. It
is written that God cursed the ground for man’s sake (
Genesis 3:17
). The thorn
and the thistle—the difficulties and trials that make life one of toil and care—were
appointed for our good as a part of the training needful in God’s plan for our
uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought.
The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are
messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns
are covered with roses.
“God is love” is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing
grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately
tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with
their rich foliage of living green—all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God
and to His desire to make His children happy.—
Steps to Christ, 9, 10
.
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