They see, but they don't know.
The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples see His glory. Psalm 97.6
The glory of God is in and through every created thing, all that is. It is perhaps especially to be observed in the heavens, where the immensity of the cosmic vault, the variety of its objects, their sheer number, and the regularity of their motions provoke people to wonder, awe, and sometimes fear.
The heavens are in many ways a great mystery. Concepts such as dark matter and dark energy fill the lacunae of scientific thinking, but nobody knows what these are or whether they really exist. The expanding nature of the universe, and the great speed at which this expansion progresses, add to the wonder and mystery of the cosmos.
People see the heavens, and the glory of God therein on display. They likewise see His glory and excellence in all the earth and its many and varied works (Ps. 8.1). They see the glory of God, and, at some deep level, deeper even than conscious thought, they register and remember that God exists and that He is God (Rom, 1.18ff). But at the level of conscious thought, where understanding and decision-making operate, though people see God and His glory in the heavens and everything else, they do not know it as such. For if they did, they would repent of their sins and fall down before Him in worship.
God reveals His glory so that people might both see and know it. He intends that the knowledge of His glory, not just the observation of it, should cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2.14), and He has appointed us, His people who know Him and are called to live for His glory, to make His glory known as docents of creation for the world.
This duty is part of every believer’s calling, and each must therefore discover his or her own ways of knowing and declaring the glory of God in the things He has made.
The heavens are in many ways a great mystery. Concepts such as dark matter and dark energy fill the lacunae of scientific thinking, but nobody knows what these are or whether they really exist. The expanding nature of the universe, and the great speed at which this expansion progresses, add to the wonder and mystery of the cosmos.
People see the heavens, and the glory of God therein on display. They likewise see His glory and excellence in all the earth and its many and varied works (Ps. 8.1). They see the glory of God, and, at some deep level, deeper even than conscious thought, they register and remember that God exists and that He is God (Rom, 1.18ff). But at the level of conscious thought, where understanding and decision-making operate, though people see God and His glory in the heavens and everything else, they do not know it as such. For if they did, they would repent of their sins and fall down before Him in worship.
God reveals His glory so that people might both see and know it. He intends that the knowledge of His glory, not just the observation of it, should cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2.14), and He has appointed us, His people who know Him and are called to live for His glory, to make His glory known as docents of creation for the world.
This duty is part of every believer’s calling, and each must therefore discover his or her own ways of knowing and declaring the glory of God in the things He has made.