Wrestling with Nature

Nature has no conscience.  It does what it does.  It flings its arrows every which way.  Nature can be a beautiful mystery at which we marvel.  The amazing vastness of space, the billions of shiny stars, a beautiful summer night, the sheer power and depth of the oceans, a loud crashing thunderstorm, the massive mountains looming over us, all making us feel small and in awe.  But, nature can also bring disaster, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, ice storms, cancers and diseases of every sort, and many other calamities.  Nature can amaze us and dismay us.  Regardless, we cannot get away from its precarious power.

We survive nature by respecting its power and wrestling to overcome its chaos.  Sometimes we succeed; sometimes we fail.  In the Bible, God is pictured as constantly struggling to contain the chaos of nature, human and non-human.  Sometimes it works; sometimes it does not. 

But, note, the word "nature" does not occur in scripture.  Why not?

For the biblical writers, nature is not mentioned because it is not to be worshipped.  Nature is not God.  Nature is something created by God.  Nature has no morality.  Many times, nature is chaotic, something to be survived, managed and overcome.

It is our lot on this planet to wrestle with nature, for good and for bad.  And wrestle we will, to our very last breath.

Assuming God created nature, why does nature have so much power?  I do not know.  Perhaps it is there to humble us into realizing that we are not God.  Perhaps it is there to force us to wrestle with our lives, to appreciate each day we have on this floating rotating planet.  The older I get the more I realize Seth Godin is right, “We are not grateful when we are happy.  We are happy when we are grateful.”

Have a successful and sane day wrestling with nature.  And be grateful the parts are working well this morning.