The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Psalm 19:1-4 

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;  no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

My first experience with the reformed church and reformed theology was in college at Geneva College. Geneva is a reformed school in the Pittsburgh area and their roots are in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. While one of the main catechisms we hold to in the CRC is the Heidelberg Catechism, they hold to the Westminster Catechism. (For the record, we both like each others too, if you’re ever curious about looking into the Westminster more) 

The first question and answer in that one is as follows:

      Q1) What is the chief end of man?

a. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.

While I think that’s a logical first question and I don’t pretend to be wise enough to suggest changes to the authors, I think Psalm 19 reminds us that this response goes far beyond man and his chief end. We absolutely see man’s inclination to worship. We so blatantly see our human desire to worship something when we see those outside of church, denying God, yet creating their own gods. People worship their sports teams. People worship their jobs. People worship their families. People even worship creation.

We turn to and falsely raise up all these things because they were all created by God to point back up to Him. All things, all creation was made to point upward and to be good and as humans we so quickly distort God’s creation and decide instead to worship that which was meant to point us to Him. We see God in them and stop short of following their lead back upwards. If you continue reading on in this psalm, the next section is about how even the law and the order is good and refreshes the soul. Even the natural orders of creation point us and lead us to their creator!

One of my favorite ways to connect with God is to simply sit in nature, in silence, and just observe His handy work. Traditionally for me, being from the east coast, that would mean walking into deep forests until I couldn't hear the sounds of humanity, laying on the ground, and staring up at how these towering trees grow so naturally and and always straight up to their source of life. You won’t find a tree that decided to turn from the sun and instead grow down….that wouldn’t work. I mean root systems, sure, ok. But don’t ruin my point here. They know that what’s best for them and what they need most (and also were made to do) is to reach up to the heavens. 

Since moving here in 2017, I’ve grown fond, too, of sitting on the bluffs and listening to the rhythms and power of the crashing tides. Hearing the immense power of the ocean hammering away at the coast. To think about how vast and powerful the water is, how this creation is, how much greater then must its creator be. It’s so blatantly evident to me in seeing God’s creation who He is and how powerful it is. 

That is what drives our retreats and camps in our youth ministry. We don’t go to conferences in convention centers. While they have their place and can be very good, instead we go to nature and spend time outside. It’s what directs us as we create Camp Jubilee. The most important factor for me when we seek locations is where we can host chapel. Whisper Canyon is the first facility we will use twice and the biggest draw for me has always been where we host chapel, in their outdoor amphitheater. Lots of camps make a big spectacle of their stage set up and light shows in their chapels but we decided that we don’t want a backdrop. There is no back wall on our stage because I didn’t want to impede our view of the sunset over the rolling hills. Even if a camper is distracted and doesn’t hear much of chapel, they will still see creation calling out and reaching up to our creator.

So, if I were to ever write a question and answer for a catechism, I might write it something like this.

      Q1) What is the sole purpose of all of creation?

a. To worship its creator and director all glory and honor to Him.