Early June mornings on the farm were absolutely intoxicating. They were saturated with good things – and a few glories. We would usually walk to the barn around 6, the cows still out in the pasture, quietly resting in the early dawn. The air was perfumed with fresh hay, dried manure, newly plowed soil, and hints of lilac. Someone should bottle that combination. On top of all that was the joy of knowing that school was done and the whole summer stretched out before you like a fresh canvas of scented mornings and sunny days.

Why is the world so beautiful?

Have you ever wondered about that? We are often bewildered by the great sorrows of life – but have you ever been astounded by the goodness? Why should the world be filled with so many beauties, so much kindness, and such rich joys? 

It didn’t need to be this way. The God who created this world could have easily and justly allowed it to be another way. He could have allowed the world to become an awful, wicked, hellish place that would reflect the full reality of our hellish sin and rebellion. He could have turned his love and grace away and left us with the horror of his wrath. No one could have cried “foul”. The justice of it would have been the most crushing part.

But He didn’t. O praise God, He didn’t! instead, the world is redolent with His abundant goodness! 

“The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made.” (Psalm 145:9 )

“He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  (Matthew 5:45)       

Every good thing in this beautiful, intoxicating world is a direct and immediate manifestation of the goodness of our God. The great blessings of being a child of God is that we get to “see” the infinite kindness and grace of our Heavenly Father shining through every beauty and flavoring every joy. In fact, the deepest joy of this life, the thing that makes everyday beauty such astonishing glory, is that it is specifically a gift from our Heavenly Father to us. 

“Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father…” (James 1:17)

Every fragrance that makes you close your eyes with delight, every sound that fills your soul with peace, every sight that floods your vision with splendor, every gentle touch that thrills and every delectable taste that melts in your mouth with pure elation – every single good and perfect gift comes from your Father. Every gift is a revelation of His love and care for you - His precious child. And every single gift is a reminder that there is much more, so indescribably much more yet to come.             

“O magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together!” (Psalm 34:3)

In His Service,

Pastor Dale Van Dyke