Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children (Psalm 148:7-12).

The first two photos in this post are my view as I write this: at Bluebell Springs, my brother and sister-in-law’s place on Orcas Island in the upper Puget Sound.  At my back, Mt. Constitution rises to the highest point in the San Juan Islands. Over my head, hummingbirds are sipping sweets from the clematis vines on the arbor, and barn and emerald-green swallows are making insect intercepts over the lawn and pond that would astound even F-22 Raptor pilots.  And framing it all are the towering firs, cedars, and hemlocks—set off here and there with big-leaf maples and red alders and the whole scene color-splashed with stalks of flowering foxglove.

Vistas like this make me unafraid to declare that I’m a creation lover who sometimes even hugs the rough old bark of a tree! 

But how high does the God of heaven want us to climb in our view of the the natural world—of tree and the forest? It’s clear that we’re not to worship trees, but how much respect does the Bible teach us to show for non-human expressions of God’s creation?  Since the birth of the age of science, Western civilization has more or less thought of the elements of the material creation as little more than resources for human consumption.

This attitude has helped create many crises within the natural environment.  Deforestation and disregard for the forest ecosystem are just a couple of the many problems created by a purely utilitarian view of nature. Certainly God made trees for our enjoyment and our use. The Bible clearly puts the life of man above the life of the creation itself—knowing, of course, that without keeping His creation healthy we could not live. And I think we’ve lost sight of God’s affection for field and forest by exalting our human needs—and wants. Listen to the heart of the psalmist:

[God] sends the springs into the valleys; they flow among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches. He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted, where the birds make their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high hills are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers. . . . O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions (Ps. 104:10-18,24).

The psalmist went on to exclaim, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works” (Ps. 104:31). David told us even more about God’s attitude toward His creation when he wrote: “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. . . . The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made” (Ps. 145:9,13 ). The book of Psalms ends with five songs that form a great musical crescendo of praise. We could assume that only people can give praise, but the Bible speaks of all nature giving praise to the Creator of the universe.

Psalm 148 exults:

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children (vv.7-12).

From this we understand that God cares for, rejoices over, is good to, has compassion on, and loves what He has created. When we enter the woods or merely rest in the shade of a tree, do we sense God’s pleasure? Do we have the same experience our forefathers had when they were surrounded by God’s material creation?

In closing consider this reverie of Martin Luther:

In the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. . . . God writes the gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

[Click on the photos to see them larger.]