God's laws for nature are obeyed by nature.
Cloud and storm, sunshine and shower, dew and rain, all are under
the supervision of God and yield obedience to His command. In
obedience to the law of God the spire of grain bursts through
the earth, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear." Mark 4:28. The fruit is first seen
in the bud, and the Lord develops it in its proper season because
it does not resist His working. So the birds fulfill God's purpose
as they make their long migrations from land to land, guided
through trackless space by the hand of infinite power.
Can it be that man, made in the image of
God, endowed with reason and speech, shall alone be unappreciative
of His gifts and disobedient to His laws? Will those who might
be elevated and ennobled, fitted to be colaborers with Him, be
content to remain imperfect in character and to cause confusion
in our world? Shall the bodies and souls of God's purchased inheritance
be hampered with world-bound habits and unholy practices? Shall
they not reflect the beauty of Him who has done all things well,
that through His grace imperfect man might hear at last His benediction:
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord"? Matthew 25:21.
God desires us to learn from nature the lesson of obedience.
"Ask now
the beasts, and they shall teach thee;
And the birds
of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:
Or speak to
the earth, and it shall teach thee;
And the fishes
of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Who knoweth
not in all these,
That the hand
of Jehovah hath wrought?"
"With God is
wisdom and might;
He hath counsel
and understanding." Job 12: 7-9, 13, A. R. V.
"Blessed
is the man" whose "delight is in the law of
Jehovah. . . .
He shall be
like a tree planted by the streams of water,
That bringeth
forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf
also doth not wither;
And whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper." Psalm 1:1-3, A. R. V.
The book of nature and the written word
shed light upon each other. Both make us better acquainted with
God by teaching us of His character and of the laws through which
He works.