This morning I went on a walk. I must have looked weird to my neighbors, because most of the time I was looking up. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). As I beheld the wonder of creation, my eyes brimmed with tears of joy. It was one of those moments I didn’t want to end. I took this picture moments later.
I thought, “How sad that people enjoy this gift without having a relationship with God who gave it to us?” It brought to mind something that atheist Richard Dawkins said years ago:
When I lie on my back and look up at the Milky Way on a clear night and see the vast distances of space and reflect that these are also vast differences of time as well . . . it’s a feeling of sort of abstract gratitude that I’m alive to appreciate these wonders . . . .
“Abstract gratitude”? What a silly, meaningless concept! For gratitude pre-suposses a gift-giver! Immanuel Kant rightly observed, “The duty of gratitude consists in honoring a person because of a benefit that he has rendered to us” (italics added). As one ethics professor put it,
Gratitude without a benefactor is as incongruous as a refund without a payer.
Gratitude that is not deliberately aimed at a person . . . whose gifts or favors deserve it is not gratitude at all, but complacency, conceit, pride, pleasure, or wonder and awe at best.
Scripture attests that God’s “eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:20-21).
It’s easy to shake our heads in disgust at such ingratitude on the part of unbelievers. Yet Scripture also says, “The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). Unless God had opened the eyes of our hearts, we too would never have believed in him (2 Cor. 4:6).
Now that our eyes are open, we can worship God for who he is and thank him for all that he has given us. That’s what I did this morning. As I looked up at the beautiful blue sky above me, I joined Chris Tomlin (via Spotify) in singing, “You’re a good, good Father.”
The apostle John testified to his fellow believers, “I write to you, children, because you know the Father” (1 John 2:13). Jesus prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). The richness of the Christian life is found in having a personal relationship with God.
As we praise the Lord, let us pray that all peoples would come to know him for the great and awesome God that he is, so that they can join us in singing, “You’re a good, good Father.”