Paul and Nature . . . Anthropomorphism. Romans 8.19

Anthropomorphism - attributing human characteristics to an animal or nature.  Did you know that the apostle Paul used anthropomorphism in his letters? 

“For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.”  Romans 8.19

“Poppycock!” you say, “As though creation understands that it is awaiting anything in the future—God-moved or otherwise!  Was Paul daft, Man?”  Permit me to take you where I’ve been in considering the answer to that question.

I begin with a journey back to those five awe-inspiring days of Creation . . .  Those days before humans inhabited the planet-- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Of course, he went on from there to separate light from darkness, water from dry ground; God created trees and plants, stars and planets, animals and … well, after each day’s work of creating, God “saw that it was good” … And then what?  He created Adam, then Eve … and if we pause before turning the page to Genesis chapter 3, we can just dwell in created perfection—

ah, life as it was meant to be.  (perhaps you would like to read and remember the creation record: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201%20-%202&...)

Oh, if only we could just hit the “pause” button and stay a while in that Edenic environment, when all of nature was in harmony.  Are you a gardener?  How I love my roses!  This weekend I went out to feed all of my bushes, front and back yard, ahead of the forecasted rain.  And yet, early as it is in the season, I found aphids!  And as I dug a little hole to plant some new flowers, I intersected the trails of my nemeses . . . gophers!  Friends, in Eden, there were no gophers, there were no aphids!  (Or if there were, they contented themselves with something other than being destructive.) 

Indeed, imagine with me Stargazer lilies with blossoms the size of plates, and climbing Joseph’s Coat roses, resplendent in yellows, oranges and reds … delicate freesias spilling onto the pathway, ambling toward a rippling brook … don’t you see, the Garden was perfect!    

And God yet creates—do you realize that?  “Using the same old materials of earth, air, fire, and water, every twenty-four hours God creates something new from them.  If you think you’re seeing the same show all over again seven times a week, you’re crazy.  Every morning you wake up to something that in all eternity never was before and never will be again.  And the you that wakes up was never the same before and will never be the same again either.”     Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking:  A Theological ABC

I am wondering this day if you let God’s creation wow you.  Do you ever go out and look up at the night sky, and like the psalmist, find yourself thinking,

The heavens declare the glory of God; 
     the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; 
 night after night they reveal knowledge. 
 They have no speech, they use no words; 
                                                     no sound is heard from them. 
 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, 
                                                 their words to the ends of the world. 
                                                         In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 
                                          It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 
                                            like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 
                                                  It rises at one end of the heaven,  and makes its circuit to the other; 
                                                            nothing is deprived of its warmth.     Psalm 19.1-6

And then I remember from my youth, something that tickles my mind:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?  What am I, God, that you should think of me?

Yet you have made them—you have made me!!--a little lower than God, and crowned them—crowned me!--with glory and honor.  You have given them—you have given me--dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.  Psalm 8.3-8 (the underlined portion, personal application, not part of Scripture)

And I must conclude with the Psalmist,

       O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

Christine

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