“Behold, It Was Very Good.” But Now?

Noël Piper @ http://www.desiringgod.org recounts how she had a one-week crash course last month when she and her daughter Talitha were guests of Craig and Tracy Sorley, BBC missionaries with Care of Creation Kenya.

She notes: "Care of Creation is working with local people to develop nurseries of indigenous trees suited to various uses. People are trained to plant and nurture these trees on their land. Bethlehem has sent two teams that built a water collection system at a tree nursery and a fence to protect seedlings from animals".

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

God created all things to display himself and his glory.

What can be known about God is plain to [all people], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:19-20)

Creation itself praises God.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!” Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chronicles 16:31-34)

God delights in his creation.

God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

Sin introduced pain into creation.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:22)

When we care for creation, we point people to the coming new heavens and earth, where the redeemed will live forever with God.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:1-3)

Praying with you that “the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31),