Sitting with my granddaughter on a chaise lounge in the backyard, she informed me, in her delightfully imaginative non-stop chatter, that she saw marshmallows in the sky. Squinting into the sun, I saw plump, frothy clouds slowly drifting against the daylight blue backdrop of the heavens. After a brief ‘conversation’ about clouds, I asked her who made them. She replied “God”.

Another time, as she was attempting with typical childish enthusiasm to capture a fragile butterfly gently fluttering its wings atop a peony, when asked who made the delicate creature, she answered without hesitation, “God”.

Children look at nature and enjoy, rather than question, the authenticity of God’s handiwork: a bird’s nest carefully woven by a robin’s beak; the sun’s unstoppable nightly retirement behind the distant horizon; a tree gently swaying in an unseen breeze; tiny drab seeds sprouting into a blossoming rainbow of fragrance. The distant twinkling points of light that puncture night’s ebony hue; an ear-piercing thunderclap accompanied by a dangerous, yet dazzling light show slicing across an angry sky – all wonders of God. All wonders unquestioned and easily accepted by the wholesomeness of a child’s mind.

So why do we as adults have so much difficulty accepting creation by God? Perhaps an answer lies in the fact that little children are untouched by egos that instigate doubt and trigger unrelenting denunciation of a loving and just God! Children are not looking for a phantom instigator of creation – be it a ‘big bang’ that violently spewed trillions of particles throughout the cosmos, or a microscopic organism that slithered onto dry land after being immersed in a liquid existence. Because their faith and trust aren’t tethered to tangible proof and scientific rhetoric, children accept the veracity of a Divine Creator without question. They aren’t swayed by possibilities and probabilities. Instead, they accept through faith, the honesty of God’s Word as they view the wonders of the vast universe through eyes of innocence.

Where is our faith? Why do skepticism and defiance form the skeleton that supports man’s denial of God being the Divine Creator? Why does man vehemently fight against the Genesis account of creation (Genesis, Chapter 1)? “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is…” (Exodus 20:11a) The answer is simple – we don’t want to be accountable to a Creator!

Our pride puffs us up, vaulting us into a belief that we can handle any problem or situation. Rather than turning to the Lord and accepting His mercy and grace, we believe ourselves to be in control! We want to be answerable to no one, especially not to an omnipotent, omnipresent, all sovereign Holy God!

Children are unaware that the Book of Job (the 18^th book of the Bible, and perhaps the oldest) speaks of the bands of Orion or mentions Arcturus, one of the greatest stars in the universe. That Isaiah 40:22 clearly described the earth as round, is foreign to a child. To children, the details of water’s evaporation and condensation, and the winds’ circular motion, all detailed in the Book of Ecclesiastes, are unfamiliar. Children simply believe!

Their hearts are free of doubt and uncertainty, unencumbered by distrust and misgivings. Truth is, children have the purity of faith needed to not only believe God to be their Creator, but to accept and believe that eternal salvation is offered through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Yet, we as adults demand proof of our creation, proof of a Living God. We search for answers in the knowledge of men, not in the wisdom of God. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is not God.” (Psalm 14:1a)

If man would only study the Scriptures as tenaciously as he labors to discredit and disavow God, he would quickly replace disbelief with a child-like faith; a trustful attitude that can and will lead to God’s presence. “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Please heed Jesus’ spoken words! “…Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” (Mark 10:15)

Nancy Hamilton