The title of this reflection on God’s handiwork comes from an assertion made by the beloved London preacher of the mid-nineteenth century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It is from his commentary on Psalm 111—the Psalm of God’s Works, published in his seven-volume magnum opus, The Treasury of David. In the commentary, he continues the title’s assertion, saying that people who love their Maker “perceive that there is more in them [God’s handiworks] than appears upon the surface, and therefore they bend their minds to study and understand them.”
Spurgeon then focuses on this psalm’s second verse: “The works of the Lord are great, they are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein” (KJV). He prepares us for experiencing this delight with this gracious invitation: “Come, dear reader, he who pens this comment is in his heart magnifying the Lord: will you not pause for a moment and join in the delightful exercise?”
And accepting his invitation, Spurgeon then reminds us, “Many are ignorant of what the Creator has done, and hence they are foolish in heart, and silent as to the praises of God: this evil can only be removed by a remembrance of God’s works, and a diligent study of them; to this, therefore, the psalm is meant to arouse us. It may be called The Psalm of God’s Works intended to excite us to the work of praise.” And in this excitement, he next asserts:
God’s works are worthy of our researches, they yield us instruction and pleasure wonderfully blended, and they grow upon, appearing to be far greater after investigation than before…. The hidden wisdom of God is the most marvelous part of his works, and hence those who do not look below the surface miss the best part of what he would teach us.
These words resonate with beholding the workings of Earth’s biosphere and the expanse of a great wetlands ecosystem, the wisdom of our body, and other wonders. And we can readily agree: “Because the works are great, they cannot be seen all at once, but must be looked into with care, and this seeking out is of essential service to us by educating our faculties and strengthening our spiritual eye gradually to bear the light of the divine glory.” Yes, he says: “It is well for us that all things cannot be seen at a glance, for the search into their mysteries is as useful to us as the knowledge we thereby attain.”
Delighting and Listening
Now, good reader, you may remember my earlier blog, “Guardener’s Song,” about Rembrandt’s painting of “The Risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdlene.” Shortly after it appeared, John van Sloten, a pastor in Calgary, Alberta, read it. He thanked me for this story and offered to send me a copy of his new book, soon to be published. Its title? God Speaks Science: What Neurons, Giant Squid, and Supernovae Reveal About Our Creator. His Moody Publishers commented: “God speaks through His creation. And you don’t have to be naturally gifted at biology, chemistry, or physics to be awakened to His wisdom and majesty.” This preacher’s response to my blog, “Guardener’s Song,” was what I had been prayerfully hopeful would be given by a pastor who knows and celebrates both the Guarden and the Guardener.[1] And so it was.
van Sloten writes in his God Speaks Science: “I’ve never been much of an empirical thinker. While I was growing up, the languages of physics, chemistry, and biology didn’t come naturally to me. Like many non-scientist types, I completed the requisite high school science courses with average marks and bid the topic farewell. … But then things changed. After a dramatic spiritual awakening, I decided to switch careers, study theology, and become a preacher. At first, my lack of scientific proficiency wasn’t a problem—my text, after all, was the Bible, and my tools were ancient languages, systematic theology, and church history.”
And then! (I am resonating!) Rev. van Sloten says: “When I was a teenager, I had to memorize a portion of the sixteenth-century Belgic Confession (addressing “The Means by Which We Know God”) for a catechism class.”
We know God by two means:
First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse.
Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation. [Guido de Bres, Belgic Confession, Article 2].
And then (with my experiencing a resounding déjà vu) he writes, “But, a few years into my new calling, I woke up to a very old truth (the seeds of which had been hiding in my church denomination’s theological tradition for centuries). It was the idea that God speaks through the creation.” He then cites Genesis 1:1 (In the beginning…); Psalm 19:1-4 (The heavens declare…); and Romans 1:20 (God’s invisible qualities revealed in creation), saying that “This is what Christians throughout history have believed about divine revelation—that God speaks through two books—the Bible and creation.” He reminds us that “Each is a means through which God can be known and experienced. Both Scripture and God’s creation are authoritative texts.
Why am I resonating? You may know why, and say, “Cal, you also had a similar experience in your teens.” Yes, this preacher had memorized the same part of the Belgic Confession that I, as a teenager, had discovered in the back pages of our book of worship: The Psalter Hymnal—as I described for you in my earlier CSR blog on “Binocular Vision in Life and Vocation.”
Both the commentary on Psalm 111:2 by the London preacher Spurgeon and van Sloten’s new book resonate with Psalm 111:2 that I repeat (from the NIV) here: “The works of the Lord are great; they are sought out by all who delight in them.”
Other Scientists Who Delighted and Listened
And now, reflecting on Psalm 111:2, we come to an important question: Was this “Psalm of God’s Works” not only influential for this London preacher, his congregation, and readers of his writing—but also for prominent scientists? Well, above the entrance of the celebrated Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, England, there is an inscription of Psalm 111:2. Already at the construction of its first building in 1874, it was there in Latin: “Magna opera Domini exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.” A century later, in 1974, over the entrance of its new building in 1974 it gave the same greeting, in English: “The works of the Lord are great, sought out by all them that have pleasure therein,” from the Coverdale Bible. Clearly, it was appropriate for a lab where thirty-six of its scientists made discoveries that brought them the Nobel Prize, as it is for all scientists. And we can be assured that it is appropriate for everyone.
Yes, Psalm 111:2 is appropriate and vital for all of us. Everyone and anyone can, and should, seek out the works of the Lord, as we delight in the works of our Maker. We all have this wonderful capacity—beginning already in childhood when we delighted in discovering the wonderful world of ants, beetles, butterflies, flowing water, refreshing breezes, and birds. Also in childhood, we delighted in discovering the works of the Lord in Bible stories, leading us to “trust and obey” and savor The Book—whose name we first memorized by singing “the Bee-Eye-Bee-Ell-Eee.” As we grew up, our awareness increased, eventually to discover that we live, move, and have our being in Earth’s biosphere within the embrace of its life-sustaining atmosphere.
Delighting in the beauty of the biosphere—often identifying it as “God’s Creation”—we are inspired to seek out knowledge of its marvelous hospitality and are inspired to reciprocate that hospitality with our own care and keeping. We call it “Creation Care.” We come to imagine God’s love for the world, with The Book and the biosphere resonating together in eyes, mind, and heart as we behold and delight in our Maker’s handiwork.
For Further Reading
R. J. “Sam” Berry, “The Research Scientist’s Psalm,” Science & Christian Belief 20, no. 2 (2008): 147–161.
Calvin B. DeWitt, “Becoming Citizens of the Biosphere: Character, Ecoflourishing, and Control in Our Newfound Common Home,” in Ecoflourishing and Virtue: Christian Perspectives Across the Disciplines, ed. Steven Bouma-Prediger and Nathan Carson (Routledge, 2024), 167–178.
Owen Gingerich, “Do the Heavens Declare the Glory of God?” Perspectives on Science and Christian Belief 66, no. 2 (2014): 113–117.
Sir John T. Houghton, In the Eye of the Storm (Lyon Hudson, 2013).
[1] My use of the word guarden rather than garden is intentional.
