AP

Review of Seth Lewis, The Language of Rivers and Stars, The Good Book Company, 2025.

            For this book, Seth Lewis draws on the biblical truth that the creation points clearly to the Creator (e.g. Psalm 19:1-6; Rom.1:20; Ps.104). Even in its fallen state, the creation reveals extraordinary evidences of God’s creativity: there is a bug whose backside is a lightbulb; caterpillars that melt into goo and are then rebuilt into butterflies; monarch butterflies that take five generations to fly from Mexico to Canada; birds that migrate thousands of kilometres; and leaves that change colour. With eyes to see, we can marvel that the giraffe is every bit as wonderful as the unicorn. God’s order and care is seen in all of creation, so ‘Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young’ (Ps.84:3).

            It is a short book but is still a bit wordy at times. The final invitation to respond – the last three sentences before the citation of Psalm 148 (see p.161) – gets the word order wrong which dampens the impact somewhat. It should be: ‘All of creation is speaking. You can respond to his voice. Will you?’ Also, there was no treatment of ‘nature red in tooth and claw’, so the message is lop-sided. Not only does the creation declare the glory of God; it also ‘groans’ for the coming redemption (Rom.8:19-25).

– Peter Barnes