As I am sitting here on a March morning looking out the picture window of my office, I’m watching the snow slowly fall and settle on the branches of budding trees. Winter is saying farewell reluctantly.
Most everyone knows that snow forms from freezing water vapor in the atmosphere, but who can explain why water freezes at a certain temperature? Or why it first contracts, then expands during the freezing process, which is the reason ice floats on the top of lakes rather than sinks to the bottom (which would eventually end all life on earth via a terminal ice age)?
Who can explain why water freezes into crystalline form, which results in an infinite variety of snow flakes, or why hydrogen and oxygen molecules stick together at all?
Who can explain the invisible air through which the snow flakes fall, which consists mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, the air that we must inhale every few seconds to remain alive, the air that our lungs transfer to our blood stream which then transports it to every cell in our bodies? That same ocean of air under which we are all submerged many miles is what slows snow flakes from dropping like rocks under the force of gravity.
Speaking of gravity, who can explain it? It not only irresistibly pulls even tiny snowflakes to the earth, but keeps all of us from floating away into space.
And how do the trees on which the snow is resting know it is time for dormant buds to slowly swell, but not too quickly, lest they be outwitted by winter’s final struggle against spring? And how do the trees draw certain molecules from the soil up through their roots and trunks—against gravity—to form thousands of leaves, and in some cases, fruit that we can eat and enjoy? How do apple trees know to grow apples rather than peaches?
A thousand other similar questions could be asked that leave thinking persons dumbfounded. Through them all, God is revealing Himself to everyone, every second of every day. And He is not only revealing Himself, He is also calling us to Himself.
And so every person, as Paul wrote, is “without excuse.” Because “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For 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” (Rom. 1:19-20).
God expects every person on the planet to seek to know Him, and He patiently waits all of their lives for them to do just that.
Tragically, most don’t, because they harden their hearts against the obvious, undeniable truth, waking each day willfully blind, ignoring not only the external call of God that is yelling at them through a million mysteries, but also the internal call of their God-given consciences that constantly calls them to repentance. In judgment that is still mixed with mercy, God often further hardens their hearts as a warning to those whose hearts are still in the valley of decision.
Don’t close your eyes and your heart while there is still hope. Call out to the Creator who is drawing you through His creation! He wants to re-create you into one of His own sons and daughters through the Lord Jesus Christ!
