By Rev. Aidan Moon

The Call and Response of Creation

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

I took this picture years ago, around noon in the heart of winter in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was a frigid, short day, and I spent it bundled against the biting wind.

“God thunders wondrously with His voice;

He does great things we cannot comprehend.

For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’

and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’

He seals up the hand of every man,

so that all men may know His work.

The wild animals enter their lairs;

they settle down in their dens.

The tempest comes from its chamber,

and the cold from the driving north winds.

By the breath of God the ice is formed

and the watery expanses are frozen.”

– Job 37:5-10, English Standard Version

As the days continue to get shorter and the weather gets colder, I am reminded of that icy day. Scripture reminds me that the seasons shift at God’s command.

“He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.”

– Psalm 147:15-18, English Standard Version

The entire reality of God’s relationship with His creation is a call and response. God sends his Word forth, and it does what it says. The waters, the ice, the cold, these forces before which humans are powerless… The Word commands. Thus, Jesus, the Word made flesh, speaks in authority over wind and waves, and they are calm. He calls, and his creation obeys.

As the weather shifts, and you bundle up against the cold, remember this majesty of God.

This God is beyond our understanding.

He is wonderful, powerful, and unsearchable.

But this God has come near, and in the heart of winter, we remember that the majesty of God is embodied in a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes against the cold, willingly living in the midst of the creation he commands. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, Jesus, the Word.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado