The Majesty of God in Color
I made my screen background a picture my parents sent from their recent Alaska vacation. The photo is of a distant mountain range that is a slightly darker shade of blue than the blue sky in front of a body of pristine water appearing to be an untainted, mystical blue. It is a blue world. All the blues blend together to create a supernatural beauty. I was attracted to the picture because it is the closest I can remember to a time I was flying over the Pacific and found myself looking out into the blue of the water that merged with the blue of the sky. It was a spiritual experience that made me feel that I was encircled by the presence of God in my cocoon of blue.
Recently I was imaging the creation story contained in Genesis one. I was tryingto picture what the part of space that our earth and atmosphere now fill werelike when the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. It was pure darkness.How did you distinguish the end of the universe? How was the space known onlyfor its darkness confined? The Bible tells us that the first manner in whichGod impacted the space was to create light. What did it look like then? How didthe light alter the watery mass? Did the light create those same hues of bluethat so impact me? Even that first day God allowed the darkness to have its placein creation. He didn’t completely dispel it from the universe. He simplymade the light mark the day, and then the dark brought the night. Perhaps thebeauty of the light is made more meaningful by its absence when there is darkness.Next He made a distinction between the waters and the expanse called the sky.What was the distinction? How did that look? Again, it takes me back to the experienceI had on the plane and to the resemblance I see in my screen background.
We cannot fully imagine all that was happening even only those first two days.We cannot know the wisdom of God in starting the creation of a universe by hovering,then bringing light to darkness. We cannot conceive of when the angels were createdand how they were affected by this act. Were they able to understand the heartof God? I cannot answer those questions, but I can understand that the God whocreated the universe is big and amazing and too wonderful for understanding.
It is no easier to understand the way John’s gospel describes the entranceof Christ into our world. He writes, “In the beginning was the Word andthe Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made hisdwelling among us” (John 1:1, 14 a). It’s not easy to comprehend,but somewhere deep in our souls we know it holds the hope we are searching for.We believe what has been revealed even knowing that there is much we cannot understand.The majesty of God comes in all the colors of the world. Blue is a favorite colorthat touches my soul with God’s presence. Where has God’s color touchedyour life? |
