God's Wonder ...

Monday, May 18, 2020. I had to think about God's wonder over the past days. The bible is full of reports about God's actions, his wonders on many different layers of this creation.

Let us look into God's power and his wonders as reflected and described by the biblical texts. Let us look around as well, and let us try to grasp the beauty and wonder which is given to us through this creation as well as by our own existence.

God the Creator …

God is the creator. He has made the universe! It is huge. It is of unbelievable size. It does not seem to be infinite - modern physics explores the limits of this universe by observing the light and radiation of the stars. Space seems to have emerged from a big bang, galaxies and stars have formed, they move away from each other, but the universe as a whole seems to be a higher-dimensional structure which has no boundary, but is still limited (such as the earths surface as a two-dimensional manifold in a three-dimensional space).

The universe is fantastic. You can go from the very large structures - such as our sun or our planet -, to the smalles structures on the nano-scale, to atoms, to protons and neutrons, to photons and even smaller particles, whicih seem to be characterized by symmetry and transformation groups - abstract mathematical concepts which are deep within matter and which determine its structure.

Somewhere between the very large and the very tiny things there are plants, animals and humans. Our life is somewhere there, somewhere in what we could call the middle. And here we are with our reason, with our emotions, with plans and goals and hopes and dreams. It is just fantastic, creation is of unbelievable beauty and complexity.

and Saviour …

We live in a world governed by physical laws, by chemical laws, by biological laws. It is also governed by the decisions of its inhabitants. Humans have built their cultures, their towns, their life, in the middle of this creation.

And the creator is there, he is outside of his creation, and he is in his creation as well. He has made all the laws, yet he is the Lord of all, able to do what he wants, any time. The bible reports God's interactions which his people since the beginning of mankind. He wants to live with humans, with his creation. He wants community. He wants trust, truth and love.

God is not an abstract entity. He is the personal God. He is the one who is with those who search him and want him, who believe in him. In Christ Jesus he became human - a step which is puzzling people until today. How can it be? Yet, it is true, and can be seen clearly.

God has done wonder - on uncountable levels of this creation. He has done wonder in the life of many throughtout history. He can be there with his beauty and mercy also today, in your life and my life. When we realize just the smallest bit of him, we fall into love and into awe. And our reaction? It is what the Old Testament song writer wrote about 2800 years ago:

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9, 1)

What else can I say? I can only joint the choir. I can only look at him and be amazed again and again. I can be glad with my heart about his truthfulness, gentleness and mercy. (Roland Potthast)