The Problem With Science

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2)

When God spoke out of heaven to our Lord, self-centered men who heard it explained it by natural causes, saying, "it thundered" (John 12:29). This habit of explaining the Voice by appeals to natural law is at the very root of modern science. In the living, breathing cosmos there is a mysterious Something, too wonderful, too awful for any mind to understand. The believing man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and whispers, "God." The man of earth kneels also, but not to worship. He kneels to examine, to search, to find the cause and the how of things. Just now we happen to be living in a secular age. Our thought habits are those of the scientist, not those of the worshiper. We are more likely to explain than to adore. "It thundered," we exclaim, and go our earthly way. But still the Voice sounds and searches. The order and life of the world depend upon that Voice, but men are mostly too busy or too stubborn to give attention.

Lord, I don't claim to understand, but I fall to my knees and whisper "God." Give me increasingly the mind of the worshiper, I pray. Amen

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Nature Worship

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1)

Then there is nature worship. That is the worship of the natural man, only on a very poetic and philosophical level. It is an appreciation for the poetry of religion. It's a high enjoyment of the contemplation of the sublime.

Such are the poets; they like to look at trees and write sonnets. Well, there's a good deal of religion and supposed worship that is no higher than that. It's simply the enjoyment of nature. People may mistake the rapt feeling they have in the presence of trees and rivers for worship. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that he had at times - on a moonlit night walking across a meadow after a rain and smelling the freshness of the ground and seeing the broken clouds with the moon struggling through - he said he had often been glad to the point of fear. Yet Emerson was not a regenerated man. He did not claim to be.

I want to warn you against the religion that is no more than love, music and poetry. I happen to be somewhat  of a fan of good music. I think Beethoven's nine symphonies constitute the greatest body of music ever composed by mortal man. Yet I realize I'm listening to music; I'm not worshiping God necessarily. There's a difference between beautiful sound beautifully put together and worship. Worship is another matter.

Lord, help me remember that everything of beauty is from the Creator, who alone is worthy of my worship. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~