Romans 1:18-20 (NLT)
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Psalm 19:1-2 (NLT)
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
Early in my walk with Christ, I attended this one Sunday School class/small group which dove off into such topics as: If a person was born and abandoned on a desert island and never hears the Gospel but looks out over the ecosystem of the island and says there must be a God who created all this. Would that person be guilty of not accepting Jesus and thus, burn in the fires of hell rather than the ecstasies of heaven.
If we read Scripture, the entire scenario becomes a moot point. Our guilt before God won’t come because we didn’t “see” God. Our reading clearly states that God is clearly seen through his eternal power, divine mystery, the world surrounding us. No excuses there. Our shameless guilt comes into effect when we see the glory of God, then suppress that truth by ignoring it, writing it off to coincidence and conjecture, declare it an accident, or flat-out deny its existence.
This happens the most with nature. We see the beautiful world around us. The majesty of a Delta sunset. The wrath of a severe thunderstorm. The crops spouting from the ground. The abundant harvest rolling in. The birds singing their hears out. The branches of trees lifted as arms worshiping, swaying in the breeze. We see these things and have to admit there is Someone bigger out there. It's at that point that we either cry out to Him or bury that truth and declare all this to be a happy accident.
Humble ourselves and the Gospel will find us; suppress that truth and pinch out the flame of joy.
Nature- and everything a part of it-point to joy in God.
