How Does the Beauty of Nature Inform Your Worship?

Fair are the meadows fairer still the woodlands
Robed in the blooming garb of spring
Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing

Fairest Lord Jesus 1662
By: Anonymous 1662

Listen to this simple version of this hymn as you prepare to ponder the lyrics. Please make certain to enjoy the video below.

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Please enjoy this video and the transcript below.

Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

As we continue our journey through this worshipful hymn ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see Jesus clearly. Marvel at the majesty of our Savior. Let’s tune our hearts.

Plains and Forests

I grew up in the mountains. There beauty is easy for me to see. Sometimes maybe to easy, in that I take it for ranted.

I can hardly recall a trip to North Dakota as a child, but had seen others topographies and could appreciate the different beauty they possessed. I will never forget traveling across the upper plains one summer, particularly when we came over one rise and could see what seemed like endless miles of wheat. The wind looked like the fingers of God gently raking across the fields. It was a beauty I had never seen before that moment.

There are many different scenes which reveal the beauty of our God. Oh, to have eyes to see the fingerprints of God in each. Can you?

Fair are the meadows fairer still the woodlands

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12 ESV

God reveals His glory in creation. He reveals His glory in Jesus. Have you taken a walk through a meadow or a woodland lately? The beauty can be overwhelming, but be certain to let it lead you to praise the One who made it. We do not worship the creation, but the Creator.

Beautiful wide open spaces. Beautiful closed in spaces. Beautiful grasslands and fields of wheat. Beautiful forests and trees. Beauty all around for the eye and the ear, for the nose and the hand. Beauty to be taken in, lived in, moved in. Beauty. So…much…beauty.

RESONATE!
Take a few moments and think about the swath of nature that most evokes your praise. Ask God to help you see His beauty in that and every expression. Make this your simple prayer “Lord, help me know the beauty.” 

Spring

It is not the only season that stirs our praise, but to see the bursting forth of life after a long winter, spring has its own beauty. The buds begin to show on the tress. Flowers begin to bloom. As everything greens up, the reemergence of life seems unmistakable.

The barrenness of winter is slowing covered by a blanket of new life. Sure there are some weeds mixed among all the beauty, but still the beauty is there. What is it about spring that most captivates you?

Robed in the blooming garb of spring

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. Isaiah 35:1-2a ESV

A desert rejoicing and blossoming like a crocus. That sounds like such a beautiful, remarkable thing. The stark and barren land replaced with joy and a garment of flowers.That kind of transformation is something worth noticing. Meadows and woodlands alike revealing God.

All that beauty clothed like a garment. Wrapped in layers of even more beauty. Beauty for a season. Fleeting beauty. Here today, gone tomorrow, over a canvas that never changes. Temporal and lasting, woven together in a fabric of created beauty. Dressed up. Beautiful.

RESONATE
Take a few moments and think spring. The promise life bursting forth everywhere. Pray this simple prayer, “Father, thank You for the beauty of Your creation.“  

Jesus, thank You creating. A we begin o see everything as an expression of Your beauty, we are moved to praise again and again. Show us Your glory. In Jesus’ name. 

Renewed Tuning!

Keep coming back, and we will work to help you remove the things that may hinder your longing for His return by cultivating an awareness of God’s presence. We will help you tune your heart to live out your worship by providing resources like this to help you acknowledge the greatness of God as you become more Resonant, 7 days a week.

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Video 50.2 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

Fair are the meadows fairer still the woodlands
Robed in the blooming garb of spring
Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing

Beautiful wide open spaces. Beautiful closed in spaces. Beautiful grasslands and fields of wheat. Beautiful forests and trees. Beauty all around for the eye and the ear, for the nose and the hand. Beauty to be taken in, lived in, moved in. Beauty. So…much…beauty. 

Lord, help me know the beauty.

All that beauty clothed like a garment. Wrapped in layers of even more beauty. Beauty for a season. Fleeting beauty. Here today, gone tomorrow, over a canvas that never changes. Temporal and lasting, woven together in a fabric of created beauty. Dressed up. Beautiful.

Father, thank You for the beauty of Your creation.

Then there’s Jesus. Nothing and no one even comparing to His beauty. Pointing to it but not becoming it. Revealing it without fully representing it. Everything some lesser version of all that He is, and yet never as untainted as Him. Jesus. No rival. No equal.

Jesus, thank You for being so fair and pure.

His beauty is not just to be observed. It instructs. It reminds us there is wholeness and wholesomeness. It shows us that even when things are broken they can be beautiful again. Seasons change and so do our lives. There is hope in the beauty of Jesus. 

Jesus, Your beauty points to what can be.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Fair are the meadows fairer still the woodlands
Robed in the blooming garb of spring
Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer
Who makes the woeful heart to sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time,
Be Resonant.

The post How Does the Beauty of Nature Inform Your Worship? appeared first on Resonant 7.

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