The Natural World - God's Creation
- Author Donald Yates
From childhood I have marveled at my Lord’s creation. The order of it all . . . its’ many secrets . . . its’ evolving nature . . . the beauty of the seasons . . . its’ ability to renew and provide . . . how fascinating it is. As I grew older I became more intuned to the reality of the natural world, through spiritual revelation. My senses became more acute and I could see things others seemed to overlook. Yes the blindness of man aggravates me but not to the point of exclusion.
Now, I duly understand the relationship Native Americans had with God’s creation. At one with all, all with one, the creation blends into a single harmony. Each particle, each segment, each event of the creation interlinks with other particles, segments and events like a chain of unbreakable links. All is relevant within God’s creation. Each action perpetuates another action because all things interact each with the other.
The older I get the more my perceptions change, everything is becoming more intensely radiant, colors are sharper and brighter, sounds are crisper with higher resonance, the sky has become a soothing blue canapĂ© overhead, and the black night sky now sparkles with diamonds. I have became aware of an underlying presence that is the essence of nature. At first, the creation itself seemed to beckon me like the Siren’s song of mythology. In my clouded state, I thought it was the spirit of the natural world calling me, whispering promises, and embracing me alone as it soothed my soul and enveloped my being . . . Like a lover calls out to his hearts desire. Then an evidence of an underlying spiritual presence crept into my mind, I became overwhelmed with excitement at the possibilities. The very core of my being was challenged and then stirred as I envisioned the world as a spiritual manifestation . . . as I became an integral part of it. Now I crave release from the material world so I may yield in reverence and surrender to this calling of fulfillment in His love. My soul pants on, in passionate delight as the running deer thirst for water. A thirst, nourished yet never fulfilled, intense yet soothing, content yet always seeking, pleasing yet forever striving, and most of all yielding yet ferocious. I seek that which penetrates the heart and justifies the soul in a unique union of spirit. My God, My God, where art thou who wrings my heart of love and admiration. Who brings my soul into fulfillment as His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
I truly experienced the essence of God as I looked solely into his divine face. I felt the assurance of His presence as I sat, silently in the desolation of the Desert – I was enthralled at the sound of Him in a bubbly stream after a springtime rain as it cascaded down the mountain slopes. I heard His gentle call in the whispering rustle of leaves as He touched my face, invisible, yet present, when He passed by as a soft breeze . . . He gracefully danced past in a colorful autumn forest. It was the mighty murmuring of a turbulent river flowing toward the sea that brought my senses to mind, moreover, He was there, as I gazed over the deep blue green lakes and the warmth of a seashore’s crystal white sands. Yes, I see Him even now as I observe God in the depths of a night sky as the stars sparkle in His magnificence, it is then that my soul melts in His presence. I can’t help but feel His being there in the warmth of the day’s sun. Yes, He gently caresses my cheek and touches me and whispers to my soul calling me to submit to His embracing of my senses. And one day, most of all, he was there in the face of our newborn son and in the sparkle of his mother’s eyes. I am justly blessed as I stand immersed in God’ presence because He is both the creator as well as the creation. I feel like a fish in the sea, God is as the water, everywhere, and His loving wonderful embrace of hope captivates me . . . at every moment.
Romans 1: 19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:19-20
One warm summer night many years ago, I ran into God as I walked along a lonely dark beach, in Baja California. My mother had passed away a couple of weeks earlier and I had left a job as a produce grower. I had fallen into a deep depression and hope had seemingly left me as I began to contemplate the end. In the deep silence of the night as the sea lapped gently at the beach, and the stars sparkled brightly in a black sky it was then that I began to understand the true meaning of life. The encounter was not a thundering episode of Hollywood proportions, there was no lightning from the sky and the earth did not shake. A bush did not burn or the sea did not part. It was like a gentle yet forceful presence and subtle caress. I felt a warm gentle breeze pass and then, there it was, a presence, unseen, silent, but like the breeze it embraced my total being. Like air or electricity; you know they are there even though you don’t see them. Spirit; like wind, gravity and electricity, can only be known by its effects. When a breeze blows, you can see the leaves move on the tree, or the dust moving, but you don’t see the wind. Electricity is the same, you see the effects, a light bulb burning, a motor running, a fan spinning, but you can’t see the electricity. Both of these things and many others, are the unknowns to man. When spirit moves it’s like being coddled in your mother’s arms, you have a feeling of warmth and security inside. It is the unseen things of God that control our environment and the Universe. Isn’t it after all, the unseen God that is the mystery we all seek?
A feeling of affection, encouragement and peacefulness come over me that I awaken to each morning and will continue throughout my years. He grows in intensity within me, and I feel more privileged and blessed with each passing day.
The sun rises and the sun sets each day because there is an assurance that he will be the same today as He was yesterday and he will be tomorrow. The Lord is faithful and true and because of that, I know He will always be there, by my side, in thick and thin, even when I make a fool out of myself and do less than I should. He comforts my soul and in hard times, reminds me of what’s to come. I have total confidence that there will be order in the universe and I, am part of it.
He surrounds me with His arms and His bliss is with me at every moment, as He always will be. When I fuss and fret at nothing, He tells me to be quiet and as patient as Christ was and is even now.
I believe I am a reasonable person, and like most men, I think by reason and logic. Accepted reason and logic suggests that the world reality is experienced through the senses while all events must be rational and explainable. Yet, rational is sometimes obscure and only a perception in the minds eye. The fact is, humans are give to illusion and protected from knowing the entire truths contained within the creation. We, as humans could not comprehend all that is, so we are only given very, very small bits and pieces for our own sanities sake. We accept half-truths and fallacies and design our lives around them because we can’t handle the truth.
Man must be removed from the material into spiritual before being subjected to celestial reasoning and understanding. There is simply no reference for spiritual in a rational material mind, that’s why faith becomes the strength key to belief.
I began to understand that the correlation between material and spiritual worlds does not have a place in logic because material is observed experience and explainable to the material senses (science) while spirit is a conception within a material-reasoning mind, without logical explanation. Spiritual simply does not fit in the tangible physics realism of the world. The problem with this hypothesis is, man has an inborn double standard. Man physically experiences the realism of the material world while sensing the loftiness of a spiritual realm. A part of the mind conveys an awareness of that which is not seen but can be understood only though a prepared mind in faith as its’ certainty. If faith and certainty did not exist, man would not have the capability of awareness and expression with conviction. For those who are not of the faith, do not understand it, it’s like science fiction. Being of the faith is "Believing God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, man’s indwelling spirit, and Jesus as your one and only personal savior from the transgressions of the world."
John 3:14 ‘And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up, 15 that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during, 16 for God did so love the world, that His Son—the only begotten—He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. 17 For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him; 18 he who is believing in him is not judged, but he who is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
For years I was prompted to stop and write of the many underlain, untold things of God. I put it off, procrastinated, and made excuses; now that my time is running short, guess what, the nudging is getting stronger. I can’t put it off any longer. God has His way, and if you don’t comply, He will badger you until you do. You can’t run, Jonah tried and got swallowed up by a whale then spit out on shore to continue his mission. There is nowhere to hide so I offer this to my Lord, as He would have it be. He makes the words flow like rain to a barren and thirsty land and floods the mind to run-on as water to the sea. He grips my heart and stirs His spirit within me. I am consumed with fear of His mighty power yet, drawn to Him by His complete love for me. I pray it is His will that someone will benefit from our effort.
Donald Yates is an accomplished public speaker, Theologian and writer who lives in East Tennessee with his wife of forty-six years, one granddaughter and their three doxies. To learn more, visit
