God and Reason (18)
The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered… Psalm 111.2-4
The works of the LORD
It stands to reason that paying attention to the works of God would have a positive impact on our reasoning powers. After all, as we have seen, God Himself is a reasoning being, so we would expect His works to make sense. He has made us in His image so that we, too, are beings who reason. And we are surrounded by other works of God of seemingly infinite variety, an order of creation which, as we set our minds to gain understanding of it, must perforce help us to realize greater reasoning power.
The works of God are typically gathered under four headings: creation, providence, redemption, and restoration. God is the Creator of all things, and, by His moment-by-moment providence, He sustains and keeps them. He works redemption for His chosen people that they might know Him and enter into His work of restoring the world which Jesus, by His life, death, and resurrection, has reconciled to the Father. As the psalmist observed, these are truly great works, works no one else could ever perform. They provoke rational creatures—such as you and I—to inquire about them, study and learn them, and find divine pleasure in so doing. By attending to the works of God we learn things honorable, glorious, and righteous—virtues which accord with God’s plan and His work of restoring the reconciled world. And God has made His works to be remembered, because remembering His works elicits from His people the praise and thanks which are due Him and which are our reasonable service of worship.
We cannot here consider all these works, how they contribute to our enjoying greater powers of reason to know, enjoy, love, and serve the Lord. So we will consider only and briefly God’s work of providence as it relates to the creation around us and how studying the creation can not only bring great pleasure but can enhance our powers of reason. And here, I will mention three disciplines—naming, caring, and responding.
Naming
One of Adam’s first duties was to give names to the creatures around him. Adam was thus the first taxonomist. We can imagine him separating plants from animals, living things from non-living, such as stones, and among the stones, smooth and soft ones from hard ones. He gave names to all the creatures as God presented them before him.
Naming things engages our powers of reason. In our case, as we look at the creation, we don’t have to invent names; the names already exist. But we can discover the names of things—birds, wildflowers, trees, and other aspects of the creation immediately within our purview. Knowing the names of things can help us to differentiate—say, conifers from deciduous trees—and thus exercise our ordering powers. Naming the creatures around us also exercises memory, and this is part of what God intends.
Learn the names of constellations, such as Orion, which Job also observed (Job 9.9) and the Big Dipper, among many others. You’ll be surprised at the pleasure you will know at learning the names of the creatures just around you, and remembering those creatures by their names.
Attending
Adam not only named the creatures, he was also assigned to care for them. God’s dual mandate to him was to “keep and guard” the garden, to develop its potential and guard against whatever might threaten it. Thus we also are charged with caring for the creation within our reach, and doing so can engage our reasoning powers in a variety of ways.
Planning a garden, for example. Which flowers or vegetables will you plant? Why those? How will you arrange them? If the garden is in view of neighbors, you’ll want it to bring beauty and delight to them, which will require even more planning and care.
Mowing and trimming the yard, pruning dead limbs from trees and bushes, guarding your “garden” from destructive pests—these are also ways of attending to creation, all of which require you to think, learn, and work in an orderly and consistent manner which can benefit your ability to reason.
Responding
Besides caring for the creation around us, we can respond to its wonders, beauty, diversity, and wisdom in two additional ways. First by giving thanks and praise to God (we’ll have more to say about worship and reason in our final installment in this series). Creation offers endless calls to worship God and in a wide variety of ways. Give Him praise and thanks as often as something in creation strikes pleasure in your soul or dings up in your memory. Sing a hymn about creation. Here, for example, are two stanzas for singing our text (Ps., 111.2-4, to the tune “Manoah”, When All Your Mercies, O My God):
For Your work is full of splendor, LORD, and of majesty most pure;
Your righteousness, O glorious God, forever will endure!
You have caused Your many wondrous works to remain before our face.
For You are full of mercy, LORD, and abounding all in grace.
We’ll have more to say about the benefits to reasoning that singing can afford.
Second, share what you’re learning about creation with others, and let both conversation and creation strengthen your ability to reason well.
The creation right at hand, just outside your door, invites you to study, enjoy, learn, and remember—all of which are important facets of sound reasoning. And whatever assists us in reasoning well will help us fulfill our calling to the Kingdom and glory of God.
For reflection or discussion
1. What opportunities for naming creation can you identify right around your home? How might you begin learning the names of the creatures around you?
2. How might naming and attending to the creation around you provide a boost to your remembering things? What makes memory an important facet of reasoning?
3. How might paying more attention to God’s providence in creation help to improve your worship of God?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues readings from the book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. In our Crosfigellteaching letter, we are studying examples of the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. And in the daily Scriptorium column we are working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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