The Faith I Live By

All Nature Upheld by God, January 22

God's Word and the Creation

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:17. FLB 28.1

As regards this earth, Scripture declares the work of creation to have been completed. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:3. But the power of God is still exercised in upholding the objects of His creation.... Every breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the care of Him in whom we live and move and have our being.^{91Education, 130, 131.} FLB 28.2

Not by its own inherent energy does the earth produce its bounties, and year by year continue its motion around the sun. An unseen hand guides the planets in their circuit of the heavens.^{92Education, 99.} FLB 28.3

The God of heaven is constantly at work. It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears and every flower blooms. Every drop of rain or flake of snow, every spire of grass, every leaf and flower and shrub, testifies of God. These little things so common around us teach the lesson that nothing is beneath the notice of the infinite God, nothing is too small for His attention.^{93Testimonies for the Church 8:260.} FLB 28.4

Many teach that matter possesses vital power, ... and that the operations of nature are conducted in harmony with fixed laws, with which God Himself cannot interfere. This is false science, and is not sustained by the Word of God. Nature is the servant of her Creator. God does not annul His laws, or work contrary to them; but He is continually using them as His instruments.^{94Patriarchs and Prophets, 114.} FLB 28.5

God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature.... While nature is an expression of God's thought, it is not nature but the God of nature that is to be exalted.^{95Testimonies for the Church 8:263.} FLB 28.6

There is in nature the continual working of the Father and the Son. Christ says, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John 5:17.^{96Patriarchs and Prophets, 114.} FLB 28.7

The hand that sustains the worlds in space, the hand that holds in their orderly arrangement and tireless activity all things throughout the universe of God, is the hand that was nailed to the cross for us.^{97Education, 132.} FLB 28.8