Utter Dependence?

If God made the world, the world speaks (testifies) about him. The first thing it tells us about is his glory - his amazing power, wisdom, brilliant mind, worthiness of praise. The second thing it speaks about is nurture - God's desire to care for the needs of all he has made.

The witness of nurture demands a recognition of our utter dependence on our Creator. When we look at our environment, we realize how much we need the plants and the air and the water and the animals for our very survival. Creation, in turn, looks to God for its survival. This is how one of the Psalms put it, describing the creatures of this world:

All of these depend on you
to provide them with food,
and you feed each one
with your own hand,
until they are full.
But when you turn away,
they are terrified;
when you end their life,
they die and rot.
You created all of them
by your Spirit,
and you give new life
to the earth. (Psalm 104:27-30)

Nature itself tells us that God made this world to nurture us, if, indeed, you believe he made this world. Without his ongoing sustaining work, life would cease. It would take nothing more than a sustained drought or a massive flood or an intense cold snap when it should be warm, and God could turn our self-sufficiency on its head. We need him because our ongoing existence is in his hand. Because he nurtures us, we continue to live.