How does God relate to nature? - Nature - TouchPoints

Psalm 24:1-2The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.

This verse is quoted in 1 Corinthians 10:26. Clearly, everything belongs to God, the omnipotent, eternal, Creator and Sustainer.

Colossians 1:15-17Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Not only does God own “the world and all its people,” he also maintains and holds it together.

Acts 17:24-28“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. . . . For in him we live and move and exist.”

God doesn’t need us or the world, but we need him. This passage highlights God’s immanence and transcendence. Immanence means that God is everywhere in his creation and always near to us—he is “with us” (Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 7:14). God’s immanence means that he is present in all of creation. No place exists where he is not present. As David exclaims, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me” (Psalm 139:7–12).

Isaiah 55:8-9“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Jeremiah 23:23-24“Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord. “No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord.

God is in creation and “close at hand,” but he is also outside of creation. That is, he is “transcendent.” If we believe that God is transcendent but not immanent, then we see God as powerful but distant. Deists, for example, believe that God created the universe and set into motion but that he is outside creation and unapproachable. If we believe that God is immanent but not transcendent, however, we may think that everything is in some way divine, making God equal with creation and unable to act upon it. That is pantheism. But the Bible clearly teaches that God is “close at hand” and “far away at the same time.” He is different from what he has created and is actively involved in it and holding it together.