READ Psalm 19:1-6. 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
THE SOUNDLESS WORD. Why do mountains and oceans, the sun and stars move us as deeply as great art? The answer is because they are great art. Nature speaks to all (verse 2) without audible words (verse 3). It is nonverbal communication that there is a God, that the world is not an accidental collocation of molecules but the meaningful work of an artist’s hands. We should be reverent before our environment. It also means that all people know, at some level, about God, truth, meaning, wisdom, and beauty, even if they suppress that knowledge (Romans 1:18–21). Nevertheless, good, nonverbal communication is easily misinterpreted. We need something more.
Prayer: Maker of heaven and earth, your creation speaks and sings to us of your greatness. May I neither despise nature, failing to care reverently for its integrity, nor worship nature, failing to let it point me beyond itself to your glory, which even it only “fitfully reflects.”13 Amen.