looking at nature

Ok now I realize that I've now written two posts in a row about trees and nature and stuff, but fear not. I've not gone off the deep end and have no desires to lay my life down for a tree, bug, or other such creature.

All of that aside though, I've been struggling with an area of my life and the Lord has used nature to show me a new perspective. I was out praying this afternoon, a great way to spend a Sunday, and bringing these different issues up before the Lord. I read through the Psalms and throughout the ones that I read this recurring theme kept coming up: Nature praises the Lord. Now they don't sing Shout To the Lord, hold prayer meetings, or listen to their local Christian radio station, but they praise Him. They bring Him joy by following the laws of nature and doing exactly what they were made to do. Earlier this week I was reading about the beasts in Revelation that praise His name day and night. Why? Because they're created to do that.

Now here's a question. What happens when something goes wrong? Let's say there's this beautiful field of wheat- a creation like no man can invent. Along comes a combine and "destroys" the field. Does the wheat raise a fist in protest, or throw a fit? No.

Or what about the wild flowers. They're covered with pollen and insects crawl around them and in a sense reproduce the plant. (Botanitsts would cringe at my ignorance, but that's it in brief right?) Now does the flower get such a kick out of reproduction that it just quits it all and dies right then? Well of course not.

One more. What about when a child stirs up an anthill. This is a great tragedy! But do the ants throw in the towel and sit there in distress? No!

So why is it so hard when we, a creature made by the Hand of an Almighty and Compassionate Father, get distracted? These can be horrible terrible things like a death in the family, a sickness or financial burden, or even wonderful beautiful things like marriage, a job promotion, or a call to ministry! But in the heat of battle do we lose focus?

The warrior must not anticipate the next battlefield only to be cut down on this battlefield. His eyes must always be to his commander. The mission may be a dream come true, the fight intense, but if he gets so excited what is coming up that he abandons his commander, he's a failure.

For quite some times nature has followed our Commander. Perhaps we can learn something here.