Curiosity leads to worship

Curiosity is a powerful God-given gift. Wonder and awe are forerunners to learning and worship. Color, shape and movement; the sounds of music, voice and industry; aromas; the taste of fresh bread or steaming soup on a cold day; and the feel of elegant silk or gritty sand all arouse wonder, curiosity, that leads to reverence. How did all this come about? Don’t you wonder, who instilled thought of harnessing sounds, hearing melody before they were audible, and making symphony reality? Who discovered the power of yeast so essential for raising lumps of flour and eggs into fragrant hunger-satisfying hot breads? How did it happen? Where did these wonders all start? The list of wonders is inexhaustible.

Who taught the spider to make a web, and whose idea was it to apply a silken web to practical use? Out of curiosity, this morning I visited the digital library at my fingertips, the internet. The One who spoke spiders into being designed each with an innate ability to spin its own web. Spiders let out a single sticky thread and patiently wait for a breeze to catch it. In time the loose end catches another surface and then the spider begins systematically traveling back and forth adding additional, strengthening layers. Networks of sticky and smooth threads become a one-of-a-kind web. Spiders spin webs so they can trap insects to eat. In our culture, webs are often reduced to “icky,” unclean things fit only for being sucked into vacuums or swabbed away with chemically saturated cloths. But, for the curious, webs are a source of wonder and awe. (I can hardly wait to tell my “I’m-afraid-of-spiders-grandchildren” all about this!)

When Isaac returned to the wells dug by his father, Abraham, the reopened wells became the issue over which Isaac’s team and the natives of Gerar fought. As each well was opened, and ownership was contested, Isaac named them “Dispute” (Esek), “Opposition (Sitnah), “Room” (Rehoboth) and “Seven” (Beersheba). (Genesis 26) Each struggle, every unpleasant argument, all the conflicts over idle wells made useful became a strand in Isaac’s web of faith. Then, at Beersheba Isaac “built an altar” and then, “pitched his tent.” He was a worshiper, one who was moved with the ways of God’s interventions, an observer of his Maker’s provision. Isaac took time to name the places of adversity because they were essential to his faith and to his future. Since Isaac was a mere mortal like us, he would not have chosen conflict, but he observed, discovered, and was filled with wonder!

Chris Tomlin’s lyrics beautifully capture the spirit of wonder and awe.

Lord of all creation
of water earth and sky
The heavens are your Tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high

Chorus:
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are Holy, Holy
The universe declares your Majesty
And you are holy holy
Lord of Heaven and Earth
Lord of Heaven and Earth

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
When i stumble in the darkness
I will call your name by night

The libraries of the whole world are filled with information, but will never satisfy all the curiosity God has built into us. Our wonder, explored, observed becomes worship. Sounds, images, tastes, aromas and touch awaken curiosity and we worship! Let us be the people who are content to pitch tents, but build altars to worship the God who causes us to marvel.

Otto Wegner

– The habit of expression leads to the search for something to express. – Henry Adams