Rev. Harlan C. Vanden Einde is pastor of the Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I am grateful for the interest shown in this section of THE OUTLOOK, evidenced by the fact that I have about a dozen questions on hand. Some of you have sent multiple questions; and, though I appreciate that, in order to give more readers an opportunity to participate, I will select those which I believe will have the most general reader interest. I will also try to answer questions in the order in which I receive them, so if it takes some months before your question appears, please be patient.

Question – From a Michigan reader comes this letter: “I can find and see God so much easier in nature than in reading my Bible. A sunset on a clear, perfect night, or a baby’s little hands, can make shivers run all over me, and tears come to my eyes. All I can say then is ‘O my God, how great Thou art!’ It does trouble me sometimes.”

Answer – God has revealed Himself to us in two ways: general revelation, by which we mean the created world; and special revelation, by which we mean the Bible. Since God created the world and everything in it, we may say that nature is like a book in which God has written something of Himself in letters large and small, and from which we may learn of His wisdom, goodness, and power. But that “book,” of course, has been affected by sin. Corruption entered that beautiful handiwork of God and obscured it In nature we are still pointed to the Divine Creator, but not as perfectly and clearly as before the Fall. And, because man is also blinded by sin, he cannot read that divine script. In fact, that general revelation will never point us to the Christ who is the only way of salvation. We may learn of the wisdom, goodness, and power of God from nature, but we will not learn of saving grace, pardon and redemption from it. General revelation is insufficient to bring us to Christ and that is why we need the special revelation of God as He has preserved it for us in the Bible.

Without belaboring further the distinction between general and special revelation, which I trust is well–known by the reader, let me comment on your letter.

You indicate that you can find and see God easier in nature than in reading the. Bible. I think I know what you mean, but I am going to suggest just a little different wording of that statement. Isn‘t it true that you can Snd and see God easier in nature because you have found Him in the Bible, or rather, have been found by Him? There are many people who would and do not see in the sunset or a baby’s little hands the things you see, because they do not know God in Christ Jesus. But because you know Him as Creator and Redeemer, you are able to see and appreciate His beauty also in the world of nature, and that is cause for gratitude.

John Calvin wrote in his Institutes (I.VI.l ), “Just as old or bleary–eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God.” So the Scriptures are the “spectacles” through which we must view the created world in order to understand and appreciate it.

So rather than being “troubled” by the fact that you can find a deep appreciation for God in nature, be grateful for it, and give thanks to God for enabling you to “see” Him everywhere. But don’t neglect His Word on that account! It would be a tragic mistake for a person to think that because he has initially come to know God’s redeeming grace from His Word. now he can set that Word aside, and live only by “feeding” on general revelation. The Holy Spirit works His sanctifying grace in our hearts through the Word of God, and our understanding of God’s wisdom, power. and goodness as we see it in nature will only be enhanced as we come to know Him better from His Word and experience a greater measure of that sanctification.