Turn It Up!

What prompts you to turn the volume up on a specific song? You are driving along in your car or listening to music from your smartphone when you hear that special song. You immediately bump the volume up a bit louder, sometimes extra loud, and you begin to sing along. You might even play air guitar with the tune.

   No doubt the song is one of your favorites. If it is an older song it might take you back to a fond memory of the past. You may love it because it was well written, well recorded, and well performed, at least in your opinion. Possibly the song is not all that great, but for you it seems to connect deeply with your soul.

   You have no doubt also heard sounds you would like to turn down. Wouldn’t you like to completely mute the sound of construction outside of your office, someone chewing their food too loudly or the snoring of the person in bed with you? If “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” then hearing must also be in the ear of the hearer.

What are some other sounds you would like to turn up?

How about the crash of ocean waves on the beach, the sigh of a baby as it falls asleep in your arms, the coo of the mourning dove or the whisper in your ear of the words, “I love you?”

   We would never forget the vocalist or the band who performed our favorite song. Neither should we forget the Creator who daily performs for us through His creation. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4).

      Creation has been amplifying God’s works from the beginning! Without the use of words, creation declares, proclaims, speaks, reveals. The voice of the natural world God made reaches the ends of the earth!

   We turn down the volume of creation in two ways. One is when creation supersedes the creator. We begin to worship the product over the artist who produced it. We do this when we lust, are greedy or covet things in this world as though they were ours to possess. We seek, acquire, and accumulate as much of the world as we can. 

   The other way we silence creation is by not hearing God speak to us through the world he has made. Part of the purpose of creation was to point us to the evidence of God. This is where our study of the human body, natural laws, and the solar system leads us to the worship of science. We must not forget that an intelligent design was meant to point us to an intelligent designer.

   A writer named Paul warned us of silencing God’s creation.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (Romans 1:20-21).

   God leaves a playlist of what He has performed for us to hear. Will you turn it up or silence it? The whole point of creation was to give the glory back to the Artist, the Creator, and give Him thanks. 

   It is interesting how Psalm 19, quoted above, ends:

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (verse 14).

   We please God most when we reflect on and take pleasure in all He has made. Turn it up!