Every detail of every boat in the harbor is doubled
perfectly upside-down in mirror-blue water.
The sun rises too bright up from the depths of the harbor, repeated in
the blue sky so brightly one cannot look near it. Now the snow iced mountains draw boundaries
on all sides, close in and across the salty expanse into the distance, receding
shades of blue on blue where the water meets.
Just an hour ago, rain tapped on the deck outside my hotel
window—gray blurred the landscape closing in with mist, and the dull staccato
of rain mixing with rap music being played somewhere down in the marina
oppressed.
Blue expanses. Light
in the depths. We can see so much more
when we are in the Light. Mysteries, all
around us.
“…and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet
as it were a pavement of sapphire
stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”
Exodus 4:10
“And above the expanse over their heads there was the
likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire.” Ezekiel 1:26
We learned in our
glacier sightings this week, that the glaciers appear blue to us because all
the other colors are absorbed into this densely packed ice of hundreds of
years. Only the blue refracts. Why only blue? Why is God’s throne blue like sapphire? Just as the endless expanse of the sky, the
depths of the ocean under light, so the impenetrable yet powerfully fragile
crevasses of a glacier that resounds very much like thunder when pieces the
size of a many-storied building break off into icy water.
“The
voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The
voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” Psalm
29:3
“At this also my heart trembles and leaps out
of its place. Keep listening to the
thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and His
lightning to the corner of the earth.
After it his voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and he
does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice; He
does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow he says, “Fall on the earth”…By the breath of God ice is
given, and the broad waters are frozen fast… Job 37:1-6,10
The footnote says
that Elihu’s graphic description of God’s majesty displayed in the forces of
nature is somewhat like the first speech by God in chapter 38—meaning that
Elihu speaks in a manner after His Creator.
Do we? Elihu goes on to speak of
God’s relational character with his people:
“The Almighty—we cannot find him;
He is great in power; justice and
abundant righteousness He will not violate. Therefore men fear Him; He does not
regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”
(23-24)
And sure enough, God
answers Job by telling him to consider His creation and what it reflects of His
character; to be comforted and filled by this, not having received an answer to
the why of his suffering.
Our son called
yesterday from Indonesia. It was the
middle of the night, and he was on a boat, nine hours around an island. While he was telling us all the guy stuff of
his experiences so far, he would interrupt every now and then to say that
lightning was flashing in the distance; or that the stars were incredible,
spangling the sky; or that glowing flying fish were passing the boat. Raw exposure to the wonders of God, out in
the middle of the ocean across the world.
He was in awe at the beauty of it, curiously mingled with the everyday
realities of too-spicy food and a headache.
“We now have this light shining in our
hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great
treasure. This makes it clear that our
great power is from God, not ourselves.”
II Cor. 4:7
And so we too are
quieted in the midst of our storms when we recognize the overpowering majesty
and beauty intrinsic in the Person of our God.
And we are energized
in the dailyness of our responsibilities by heeding and having eyes to see the overpowering
majesty and beauty intrinsic in the Person of our God.
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