This Is Our Father’s World

by Chris Simmons

From the news that we watch and listen to, to the material that children are taught in schools, much attention is given today to what is happening, and what should happen, to the environment and nature. Many are worried about modern technology ruining our environment and human greed causing various animals in nature to become extinct. There is a portion of our society today that worships this world that we live in and the various animals, birds and fish that inhabit it, by giving them preeminence above all else. Paul referred to such in Romans 1:25, “for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” What I fail to hear, as the subjects of the environment and nature are discussed, is that they all belong to God. Why has God been divorced from that which He has created? Why is Satan polluting the minds of so many people today saying that God has nothing to do with the world we live in? Perhaps we, as children of God, need to work harder to let others know what the Bible says about God’s creation because, this is my Father’s world.

This world provides the evidence to believe in God as creator of the world. In Romans 1:20, Paul states that “...since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Mankind is therefore responsible for knowing God, His eternal power and His divine nature through our observation of the magnificence of the creation we live in. David said, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalms 19:1). The heavens are indeed telling, are we listening? When you visit such magnificent places as the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, do you hear the grandeur declaring the glory of God? We need to teach our children to observe and consider God’s glory. This is what David encourages us to do in Psalms 8:3, “...consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained.” As Paul showed in Acts 17:24, to understand God as the “creator of the world and all things in it” is the initial step of faith which leads one to obeying God. Indeed, this is our Father’s world!

God has made man to inhabit this world and rule over His creation. God created this world not only to testify of His divine power and majesty, but also to provide a suitable habitation for man to live and prosper in. God said in Isaiah 45:18, “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), ‘I am the LORD, and there is none else.’” It is not by coincidence that our world is perfectly suited for man and beast to dwell upon. Even minute variations in the orbit and angle of our planet would have rendered it uninhabitable. Yet while we inhabit God’s creation, we are also responsible for it. We read in Psalms 8:6 of our responsibility to rule over it, “Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Those who contend today that man has no right to responsibly use the resources in our world and subdue the creatures in the world for the benefit of man are going against the will of God. God directed, from the day He created man, that he should “rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God also commanded, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule…over every living thing” (Genesis 1:26, 28). Mankind has thus been given the responsibility to “rule,” to “fill” and to “subdue” the earth. We are therefore stewards of His creation and must understand that we can not be careless or reckless with this charge which God has given to us because, this is our Father’s world.

God’s creation will remain until He decides that the time for the judgment of all mankind has come. Much is discussed in our society about man destroying our universe. Granted, we can be negligent and/or abusive in our stewardship of God’s creation, but rest assured, we do not have the ability to destroy it. That alone belongs to God. Peter said in II Peter 3:7, “But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” God alone will determine when the day of the Lord will come, which will come “like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (II Peter 3:10). Man might be able to make this world a more unpleasant place to live, but he is not able to destroy it. Only God can do that. This is our Father’s world!

We are to give thanks to God for His marvelous creation. David said, “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well” (Psalms 139:14). Let us worship and give praise to the Creator rather than His creation (Romans 1:25). Most importantly, let us consider the temporal nature of this world and the need to consider “what sort of people ought (we) to be in holy conduct and godliness” (II Peter 3:11).