But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9.

If our hearts were softened and subdued with the love of God they would be open to discern His mercy and loving-kindness, as expressed to us in every shrub and in the profusion of blooming flowers which meet our eye in God’s world. The delicate leaf, the spires of grass, every lofty tree, is an expression of the love of God to His children. They tell us that God is a lover of the beautiful. He speaks to us from nature’s book, that He delights in the perfection of beauty of character. He would have us look up through nature to nature’s God, and would have our hearts drawn out in love and affection to Him as we view His created works….

God designs that the scenes of nature should influence the children of God to delight in the pure, simple, quiet beauty with which our Father adorns our earthly home. Jesus tells us that the mightiest king that ever swayed a scepter could not compare in gorgeous array to the simple flowers that God has clothed with loveliness….

We must be preparing for the white robe of character, in order that we may pass within the pearly gates of the city of God to a heaven of bliss. Revelation presents the scene—fountains of living waters, rivers that are as clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, trees of living green growing on either side of this river of life….

We have in the glorious things of nature a mere shadow of the original which we shall see in their full loveliness in the Paradise of God. Let us learn the precious lesson which God designed we should. He who careth for the simple flowers in their season, will He not much more care for you whom He has created in His own image? Look upon these things of beauty. God prepares and clothes them with a robe of loveliness, and yet they perish in a day. All these earthly, temporal beauties are to be appreciated as the voice of God speaking to us of the treasures and glories of the unseen and the eternal.^{27Manuscript 20, 1886.}

From That I May Know Him

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8.

^{*Diary Entry.} Friday, February 21, 1896. This day is preparation day. We would come up to the Sabbath with our work closed up in proper shape and not dragging into the Sabbath. We must commence in the morning to look after every piece of clothing if we have neglected to do this through the week, that our garments may be neat and orderly and comely to appear in the place where God’s people assemble to worship Him…. Entering upon new business should be avoided, if possible, but endeavor to close up the things already started that are half accomplished. Prepare everything connected with the household matters so that there shall be freedom from worries, and the mind be prepared to rest and to meditate upon heavenly things.

There needs to be much more close investigation of the week past. Review it and see if, as a branch of the living Vine, you have drawn nourishment from the parent Vine to bear much fruit to the glory of God. If there has been feverish excitement, if hasty words have been spoken, if passion has been revealed, these have surely been the working on Satan’s side of the question. Clear the heart by confession. Sincerely make everything right before the Sabbath. Examine your own selves, whether ye be in the faith. We need to guard our own souls constantly, lest we make a great profession but, like the flourishing fig tree spreading its branches in pretentious foliage, reveal no precious fruit. Christ is hungering to see and receive fruit. Leaves of profession without fruit are to Christ just as worthless as those of the fig tree which He cursed….

The humble dependence upon God, the faith that takes Him at His word and trusts Him at all times and under all circumstances, is the wearing of the yoke of Christ. The Christian brings all his passions under control to God. Then if the thoughts are brought into captivity to Jesus Christ, there is a healthful growth in beauty and grace of character.^{26Manuscript 62, 1896.}

From That I May Know Him

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92:4, 5.

The scenery through which we passed^{*Ellen White is here describing a carriage journey in Switzerland.} was altogether too majestic, too awfully grand, to give anything like a description that can compare to the scenery as it really is. The battlements of rocks—the timeworn rocky walls that have stood since the Flood, washed with the mountain torrents—stand out smooth as if polished, while rocks diverse from these in shape are seen in regular layers, as if art had fashioned them. Here … we viewed the most interesting, grand scenery that our eyes ever looked upon. The rocks ascend higher and still higher from the earth, and growing from these rocks are beautiful, dark-colored pines intermingled with the lighter and most beautiful living green of the maple and beech…. Such wild grandeur, such solemn scenery, carries one back to the period when the waters rose to the highest points of land, and the unbelieving antediluvians perished for their great wickedness in the waters of the Flood.

As we look upon … the rocks of every conceivable shape, we say, “How wonderful, O Lord, are thy works in all the earth.” The softening, subduing touches penciled by the great Master Artist in the beautiful arrangement of dress of dark and living green, this beautiful combination of colors to cover the rugged, time-seamed rocks! Then the deep gorges, the noisy, fast-rushing streams, and the grand mountains covered with forest trees in their beautiful summer robes!

The view is grand in the extreme, and presents to the senses such high and holy and strong and sacred ideas of God our Maker. And then the thought that we may call Him Father! … If anyone can look upon this scenery without being impressed with the greatness and majesty of God, his heart must indeed be unimpressible. I do so long for a closer connection with God. This God of majesty and might may be our Father, our Friend, our hope and crown of rejoicing.^{25Manuscript 56, 1886.}

From That I May Know Him

For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. Isaiah 45:18.

Through the goodness of God we have been surrounded with innumerable blessings. There are tokens of His love on every hand. Nature seems to be rejoicing before us. The beautiful things in heaven and earth express the love and favor of the Lord of hosts toward the inhabitants of the world. The sunshine and the rain fall on the evil and the good. The hills and seas and plains are all speaking eloquently to the soul of man of the Creator’s love. It is God who brings the bud to bloom, the flower to fruit, and it is He who supplies our daily needs. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s notice. Our minds should go up in gratitude and adoration to the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

We should teach our children to consider the works of God. They should be instructed on His love and the provision He has made for their salvation. Lead them to give their young hearts as a grateful offering, fragrant with love, to Him who has died for them. Point out the attractive loveliness of the earth, and tell them of the world that is to come that shall never know the blight of sin and death, where the face of nature will no more wear the shadow of the curse. Lead their young minds to contemplate the glories of the reward that awaits the children of God. Cultivate their imaginative powers by picturing the splendor of the new earth and the city of God; and when they are charmed with the prospect, tell them it will be more glorious than their brightest imagination can portray….

The poet and the naturalist have many things to say about nature, but it is the Christian who enjoys the beauty of the earth with the highest appreciation, because he recognizes his Father’s handiwork and perceives His love in flower and shrub and tree. No one can fully appreciate the significance of hill and vale, river and sea, who does not look upon them as an expression of the love of God to man.^{24The Review and Herald, February 14, 1888.}

From That I May Know Him

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31.

God does not design that we shall take no pleasure in the things of His creation…. He watches with a Father’s joy the delight of His children in the beautiful things around them. While on earth the Redeemer of the world sought to make His lessons of instruction plain and simple, that all might comprehend them; and can we be surprised that He should choose the open air as His sanctuary, that He should desire to be surrounded by the works of His creation? … The things which His own hand had made He took as His lesson book. He saw in them more than finite minds could comprehend.

The birds, caroling forth their songs without a care, the flowers of the valley glowing in their beauty, the lily that reposed in its purity on the bosom of the lake, the lofty trees, the cultivated land, the waving grain, the barren soil, the tree that bore no fruit, the everlasting hills, the bubbling stream, the setting sun tinting and gilding the heavens—all these He employed to impress His hearers with divine truth. He connected the work of God’s finger in the heavens and upon the earth with the Word of life. From these He drew His lessons of spiritual instruction. He would pluck the lilies, the flowers of the valley, and place them in the hands of the little children, as instructors to proclaim the truth of His Word….

The beauties of nature have a tongue that speaks to us without ceasing. The open heart can be impressed with the love and glory of God as seen in the works of His hand. The listening ear can hear and understand the communications of God through the things of nature. There is a lesson in the sunbeam and in the various objects of nature that God has presented to our view. The green fields, the lofty trees, the buds and flowers, the passing cloud, the falling rain, the babbling brook, the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens—all invite our attention and meditation, and bid us become acquainted with Him who made them all.^{23The Youth’s Instructor, March 24, 1898.}

From That I May Know Him