That Strange Planet – The Earth

That Strange Planet – The Earth

1989 6 June 8 That Strange Planet – The Earth (481) When we see a piece of machinery which is quite wonderful in its complexity and absolutely perfect in its functioning, we immediately give the credit for its creation and its excellence to the initiative and skills of the manufacturer. It is ironic that we hasten to give credit where it is due in the case of a material fabrication, but that we look around us at the wonders of the world and barely give a thought to how they came into being and how they continue to perpetuate themselves.

We need to imagine ourselves in the position of Colonel James Irwin, one of the three astronauts who travelled in the American Apollo 15 spacecraft which landed on the moon in August, 1972. When he later described the magic moment of stepping on to the moon he said it was like the ecstasy one felt in the presence of God. He said he felt extremely close to the Almighty, as if his greatness had manifested itself before his very eyes. Colonel Irwin did not consider this voyage one of mere scientific discovery, he looked upon it as an experience which had given him new spiritual life. Like Colonel Irwin stepping on to the moon, we need to look upon our own earth as the strange and wonderful orb which was created by God for the benefit of mankind. It is not that the countenance of our Maker does not shine continually in the perfection of His creation; it is simply that from a very early age we have become so accustomed to the world around us that we tend to take it for granted. We never question the rising and the setting of the sun, never fear a lack of oxygen to breathe, never imagine that the waters of the ocean might recede beyond our view or that the trees and plants might cease one day to grow and perpetuate themselves. It is because of the very regularity and perfection of natural phenomena that, as we begin to grow up, we pay less and less heed to them. We are too familiar with them to realize how extraordinary they are. It is only in unfamiliar circumstances, or if we have had a brush with death, that we suddenly wake up to the wonders of the world. The wind and the water, the trees and the birds all then strike us as being reflections of the beauty of the Lord.

If we were to look on the world with the same sense of wonder and awe as Colonel Irwin experienced as he gazed on the moon, we should begin to live on earth as if we were in God’s presence. We would continually see Him and feel Him all around us, and we should then begin to lead our lives in the full consciousness of being watched over by our Creator and Sustainer.