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SCRIPTURE  PSALM 104:10-18

The psalmist recounts the greatness of God through nature.

REFLECTION 

The theme for today is enjoying nature. According to the Cambridge dictionary, nature refers to all the animals, plants.  rocks, etc. in the world and all the features, forces, and processes that happen or exist independently of people, such as the weather, the sea, mountains, the production of young animals or plants, and growth. 

God created nature for the enjoyment and satisfaction of humanity. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:27-30). In other words, nature is a gift from God to human beings. Human beings cannot survive without the gift of nature since our existence and livelihood depend on nature. It is interesting and important to note nature can however exist without human beings. After all God created nature first and out of nature human being was created, “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature”. (Genesis 2:7). Human being, therefore, is the combination of a substance of nature(dust) and spirit. No wonder when we die, the final words of committal are “we now commit your body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust in the sure hope of the resurrection of eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ”

 Nature provides water, food, medicine, and house for the enjoyment of human beings. Nature provides vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and all manner of edible substances that nourish our bodies with the required nutrients for our development and growth.  “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.” (Psalms 104:14-15). Out of nature do we also find the raw materials for our indigenous and orthodox medicine. Apart from food, nutrition, and medicine nature again provides the resources for our housing needs.

Another way of enjoying nature is observing and interacting with the beauty and fascinating manner trees, water and animals interact with each other. The psalmist mentions a few examples when he wrote that “You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode, you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.” (Psalms 104:10-13). One of the benefits of tourism is to take time off our busy lives and to interact with nature in a serene atmosphere. Enjoying nature in this manner is very helpful in the management of stress and anxiety. 

We have seen the priceless gifts nature provides for the enjoyment of human beings. The question that comes to mind is that, have we been good stewards of nature? Are we environmentally disciplined, conscious, and sensitive? Are we mindful of preserving nature for our perpetual enjoyment? Since I am a Ghanaian and for that matter an African, I can speak to our situation. African is one of the most blessed but poor continents in the world. God has blessed Africa with all that its inhabitant can think of. It is rather sad to mention that because of poor leadership and a mutually weak sense of environmental stewardship by most citizens of African countries we keep destroying nature through the indiscriminate cutting of trees, illegal mining (which is referred to as ‘galamsey’ in Ghana), poor methods of fishing, and improper or bad sanitation systems.  If we keep destroying nature through our irresponsible, temporarily productive but unsustainable activities there will be a period in time where we shall no longer enjoy nature but will rather endure nature. Preserving nature for our mutual enjoyment is part of our Christian stewardship responsibilities. Our stewardship to nature start from our homes, how do we dispose of waste from our houses, are we in the habit of throwing away rubbish indiscriminately. We must develop a culture of environmental discipline and stewardship if we wish to keep enjoying nature. Cleanliness is an essential element of spirituality and it is clear in Deuteronomy 23:12-14 where it is written that “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.” Shalom.

PRAYER 

ALMIGHTY GOD, MAY YOUR SPIRIT CREATE IN US AN AWARENESS AND SENSITIVITY TOWARDS NATURE, HELP US TO PRESERVE THE USEFULNESS, AWESOMENESS, AND SPLENDOR OF NATURE FOR THE MUTUAL AND PERPETUAL ENJOYMENT OF HUMANITY. AMEN

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)