Daily Devotional

Recently my wife and kids traveled back to our hometown to visit my wife’s parents. This meant for four days I had to see if I could survive on my own. Luckily, my wife is a very considerate person and left me with plenty of food (including the essentials like donuts and Reese’s Puff cereal). The entire time she was gone I either ate frozen food or fast food.

Here’s the strange thing, I actually like to cook and I’m not too bad at it either. While nowhere near the level of a professional chef, I do like going beyond just warming something up. I like the challenge of cooking, of trying to make several dishes at the same time and bring it all together so a full meal is ready and warm. I like trying new recipes and techniques I’ve never done before. Though cooking is something I enjoy doing, when my family is away, I don’t cook anything at all.

I realized something about myself this time around, it’s not just that I like cooking, it’s that I like cooking FOR someone. While I enjoy good food, if it’s just me alone I’ll settle for mere sustenance. When it comes to putting together a complex meal, I want to do that for someone, not just for myself.

While reading through the Psalms I had a similar thought about God. There’s no doubt that God is fully and completely capable of creating anything He could imagine, but why did He choose to create what He did? Why did He make the world full of color? Why did He make sunsets, beaches, mountains, trees, butterflies, and roses? Why did He make beauty?

I think there are lots of reasons that God did what He did, some we understand and some we don’t, but I can’t help but wonder if one of the reasons that God wove beauty into the world is for us to see and appreciate. God didn’t need to make beauty; He didn’t need to make us, but He chose to do both. I know I’m thrilled when those closest to me enjoy something that I make. All of creation screams out the glory of God and proclaims that He is a God of creativity and not just function. I don’t think God made things the way He did just for His own delight but because He delights in seeing us delight in what He made.

Next time you look at a brilliantly blue sky, a snow-covered mountain, or tree full of autumn color, think about the God who made those things and delights in you noticing.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.