To Encourage You

Isaiah 6:3 “The whole earth is full of His glory.”

There’s this tree on Paradise Road. If you live in Penns Valley, where I live, you’ll know about it, although you may drive by it so often that you don’t even notice it much. It’s a glorious thing, as wide as it is high as its crown reaches out to shade the road.  It sits right next to the road in a display of its majestic and beautiful shape, strong stature, and especially this time of year, its beautiful leaves.  This tree is so typical of that which surrounds us all.  It’s a testament to the glory of the God who made it, but if our eyes aren’t open to see it, we can pass right on by. 

I think about a person like George Washington Carver, the Christian scientist that produced over 1,000 products from a peanut and 300 products from sweet potatoes.  I heard a story about him once in which he gave a speech to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  This was in the early 1900’s when racial discrimination was much more rampant than it is now, and of course, Carver was black.  He was given just 10 minutes to speak about his scientific work, but as he opened his mouth and began, the senators were so enthralled with his knowledge that they gave him as much time as he wanted. As his talk ended two hours later, one of senator’s asked him, “Where did you learn all this?”  Carver replied, “From a book.”  “What book?” the senator asked.  Carver answered, “From the Bible.” To this, the astonished senator asked “The Bible talks about peanuts?!” Then this reply, “No, but it tells me about the One who made the peanut, and He told me about the peanut.” 

You see, Carver loved the marvelous Creator of all, and his eyes had been opened to the glory of God that had been revealed to him in the peanut.  Imagine the awesomeness that was built into this tiny plant – but then magnify that by all the wonders of the creation that fill this world, like that tree on Paradise Road.   Yes, truly the whole earth is full of His glory – every plant, every animal, every cloud, every atom, and every part of every atom. 

It was King David who exclaimed as he looked at his own body, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:13-15).  You see, King David had the same eyes as George Washington Carver, and as he looked at all that God had wonderfully created he rejoiced in the glory of the One who had made it.  Think of the mind behind all this. Thing of the majesty, the wonder, and the power of this One.  May God open our eyes to the glory of God that fills this world.  The angels see it, for it was their words that are quoted in the passage from Isaiah 6 above.  And it’s all here for us to see as well, if we just open our eyes and look.