Consider My Ways
You may be wondering how this article fits in with our theme of discipleship. If you look at each of the bold-type statements throughout the piece, you will find that God disciples His children through nature. What a kind and gracious God He is! While He uses many other ways to teach us—His Word, His Spirit, other believers, preaching, etc.—even His very creation displays the truths He wants us to live by. Before you were born, He was preparing the world to help you know Him! Thank you, Ann, for recognizing these things in the world.
One of my latest hobbies is learning photography. I love walking through my flower garden or driving around the countryside looking for things to photograph. I work full-time as an assistant athletic director, as well as a coach and teacher, so there isn’t a lot of time to fit this gallivanting in. I have found that meandering through the countryside on a beautiful day taking pictures is very relaxing, though this puts me in some very strange positions as I seek to get the best angle for a shot. I find myself very self-conscience. One time I was lying flat out on my lawn taking pictures for a class assignment, and my elderly neighbor came out of her house to check on me and make sure I was okay. Sometimes I just have to laugh at what I will do to capture that perfect photograph! There are a lot of things to consider as a photographer. Many of these things remind me of Biblical principles.
As I was studying through Ps. 119, verse 159 was one of those. “Consider how I love Thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to Thy lovingkindness.” As I studied what the words meant, I came up with this paraphrase, “Thou, Who is Jehovah, look on my life and see the ways that I obey the things you have charged me to do. Thankfully, you do this with kindness.”
When I put this paraphrase together, my first thought was that I am not sure I want God to look too closely at my life. There are so many “hidden” things. I don’t like to think about the fact that God sees them, and I like to think no one else knows about them—the things that I am not proud of or that I would prefer others didn’t know about me. We can get so complacent or busy that we do not take time to consider our life as God does. There are a lot of verses in the Bible that tell us to “consider our ways.” Haggai chapter one reminds us of this twice in verses five and seven:
“Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”
As a landscape and nature photographer, I love that God uses nature and His creation to remind us of His provision for us. God has promised to supply all our needs. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19 ) Not only that, but as Ephesians 3:20 reminds us, it is exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. God gives us reminders of these truths when we consider nature.
Matthew 6:28 and Luke 12:27 tell us that considering the lilies reminds us that God will supply for our clothing. While I have never purposely taken a picture of a raven, God uses ordinary things like this bird to remind us that God will provide food (Luke 12:24). Timothy reminds us to be content with these two things (I Tim. 6:8). God, however, supplies us with so much more, and considering nature helps us to reflect on so much more about God.
God also uses nature to remind us of His majesty and power. On a daily basis, God shows Himself powerful through storms, as well as how things live and grow. It takes a lot of work and, most of the time, some great editing to truly capture a magnificent sunrise or glorious sunset. All across America and around the world, we see unique features in the earth like the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, and the Great Barrier Reef. All these wonders point to God Himself, as Deuteronomy 4:39 reminds us:
“Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.”
In Job 37:14 we read,
“Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.”
And again in Isaiah 41:20:
“That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this.”
The Bible teaches us to apply this consideration to ourselves directly and specifically. I Samuel 12:24: “Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you.”
Besides using nature to remind us of God’s provision and His majesty, God also uses nature to teach us how to live. Macro photography brings you so close to nature. I often find myself capturing a bug that I didn’t notice when I took the shot. If we consider the way of the ant, we will be wise (Prov. 6:6). Throughout Proverbs 30, we have more examples of little things which teach us life lessons. Outward observations of nature help us improve our habits, but we are also encouraged to consider what is happening around us to shape our actions—like eating healthy and kindness.
“When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:” (Prov. 23:1)
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” (Heb. 10:24)
Considering nature reveals so many things about God himself and helps us grow more Christ-like, but as you continue the study, there is more. We often use Psalm 8:3 to point to the beauty of nature. “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained.” But if you continue to read the verses that follow it, you will find that God uses nature to remind us of the gospel. He sent Jesus to the earth to die so that we can have forgiveness of our sins. The New Testament expands on this consideration, as well. John 11:50 “…consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” Considering Jesus and the painful death He went through to provide us forgiveness should be something that always motivates us to keep a short sin account and a close relationship with Him.
Not only do we have forgiveness of sin, but God loves us so much that He sends correction in our lives. The Bible tells us to consider that God corrects us out of love. “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” (Deut. 8:5 )This consideration of everything that Jesus has done for us should help us obey yet another Biblical warning: consider the end result of our actions.
“O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (Deut. 32:29)
This point really hits home in photography. If I do not consider the finished product while I am working, I can end up with an unusable picture. I must pay attention to what is in the background, my light settings, leading lines, and my composition to name just a few. With all the software available, there is a lot you can do to edit photos, but this post-processing can only do so much. For example, I like to take close-up, detailed photos. One of the things that I have had to learn is to give myself some space to work with. If I shoot too close, I cannot add more to the picture when I am cropping it to fit in a frame. I have a lot to consider with each photograph. There is something to be said for “snapping the picture” to capture the moment, but consideration has to be put into the picture if it is going to tell the story to the best of a photographer’s ability.
The same is true with life. If we are going to live a God honoring life, He has instructed us to consider our ways and apply what we observe and learn. You may not be a photographer, but take some time today to look around and consider God Himself and all that He has done for you.
