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- Written by: Don Goulding
He answered, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40)
At 4:00 a.m. I batted spiderwebs, and pushed my way into the black Fijian jungle. The source of intense chirping was near. It woke us every night, and I wanted to know, was it a frog, a bird, or what? The voice maintained a steady pulse—a one second whistle, then a one second rest—but the pitch rose to a fevered urgency. There, in a clump of secondary plants intertwined with a massive tree, the animal trumpeted his presence. He was high in the canopy, though, and I’d never know who filled the night air with his zealous call.
A biologist would probably listen to my mystery creature and say something like, “That’s a male Oceanic Warblecryer, calling for a mate.”
The scientist would be right, but I hear more. I hear another declaration as the animals of the earth squawk, croak, or roar. The same statement is made throughout nature, repeated in a myriad of voices. Planets circle their orbits, ocean surf booms, and cardiac pulses beat—all with redundancy that’s humorous, once you start listening. I hear them filling our time governed existence with a single message, “Our Creator is great.”
Jesus said that, if necessary, the stones would cry out to glorify him. So take a calcite rock for example. Because of its atomic bond pattern, it breaks into rhombohedral chunks. No matter how small you break the pieces, they will be rhombohedral. While they don’t do squat to heal humans, crystals, and even stones, declare the genius of their maker by their elegant structure.
Scientists will analyze nature’s repeating themes and see fundamental laws of physics at work. Artists will recognize beauty and passion, while philosophers may point to the logical necessity of repetition as an increase in the potential to thrive. What I hear are the stones, and every other created thing, shouting out the glory of God.
Prayer: Mighty God, I join all of nature to extoll you.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:36)
Fir, alder, and maple forest surround my father’s house in Washington State. Among the woodland critters are cliff swallows that, year after year, attempt to build mud nests above Dad’s door. For a while, he allowed the birds to summer there, but it was a bad location for all the parties. The chicks were subjected to human traffic, and the humans were dive-bombed with objectionable matter.
Every spring, Dad goes on swallow alert. A comical war is waged as he washes down any mud beginnings. Eventually, the birds relocate to the nearby trees and sea cliffs. It would appear Dad is more persistent, but the swallows are driven by deep instinct, and they’ll be back another year.
You and I have a deep instinct to unite with our Creator. That hope drives us. No matter how many times our nest of faith is knocked down, we rebuild. We can’t give up on Christ, for as Peter said, where would we go? No one else has the words of eternal life.
True endurance is more than maintaining the status quo. To stop running toward Christ on the treadmill of faith is to be swept back into unbelief. Even to stay in the one place of trusting Jesus requires an expenditure of calories. The longer we live with our heartaches, the harder it is to trust, because no answer appears to be forthcoming. Every day that I wake up and say, “In spite of all that is wrong, I’ll trust the Lord,” I’m enduring more than the day before.
I want to stubbornly rebuild my faith after every wash down, and be found doing so when Jesus returns.
Prayer: Mighty Savior, grant me joyous endurance, again today.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare
and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,
like the light of seven days,
when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones
and heals their severe wound. (Isaiah 30:26)
Our moon is temperamental. One night she’s a coy thumbnail wrapped in wispy clouds, while on another she’s full and brazen. Her mysterious moods make her appear all the more beautiful.
In reality, our moon is a crater pocked ball of dust. She’s a blight who, in her hidden new moon phases, blocks any stars caught behind her.
How can the moon stop our hearts with splendor one night, and become a sterile obstruction another? The answer is in the sun. It’s his glorious reflection from the moon’s surface that captivates us. Gray barrenness transforms into white radiance. For her part, the moon has only to hold herself in the presence of the sun. Yet, if she refuses, the sun’s brilliant rays slip unnoticed into the blackness of space.
God declares a lesson in our moon. We are like her. Left to ourselves, we’re homely chunks of dirt. Our love is sterile, our lives sin pocked, our hearts cold and rocky. We block the beauty of God’s creation by the darkness of our presence.
Nevertheless, bring any pitiful, barren soul into the brilliance of the Son Jesus, and every contour of their heart becomes irresistibly attractive. Our weaknesses, temptations, and losses, when brought near him, are the very surfaces from which his light shines with white radiance.
Mirrors are made of layers. Only the foil-thin silver coating does the actual reflecting. Just so, it’s my micro faith that reflects the magnificence of God Almighty. There’s not much there to do the job—and yet, when I refuse to hold myself in the presence of Christ, the glory of God slips unnoticed into the blackness of space.
Prayer: Let your glory, oh God, shine from who I am.