God
created light first.
That is enough theology to last a
lifetime...
Have you ever been driving to
work, or sitting on a beach or on a mountain or in a field and watched the sun
come up? That is one of my favorite things. Not because it teaches me
anything about God, but simply because it is so unspeakably beautiful. The powered
mahogany of the sky slowly relents to lighter purples and grays. Outlines of
trees or houses begin to take form. They had been sitting there quietly
watching with you, too. A moment then comes, and I always miss it, when the grays and
purples of the sky open their sleeping eyes and awake with the faintest sparks
of orange and pinks. Clouds dance and swirl while the sounds of the earth sigh
in gladness. The pinks become brighter and soon the oranges are mixed with mellow
reds.
And then you see it...
The first
crescent wave of a golden orb peeks over the horizon. And as time passes, it
moves regally like the monarch it is up in the sky taking its place as king.
Everything it touches comes to life and the clouds adopt its purple and pink
hues, declaring allegiance to the royalty of the sun. And yet as the sun rises
higher and higher, its song is the same. Its declaration of allegiance is to
someone else:
‘God is alive! Our Creator has
sent me to tell you that he is still working, that his love has not failed. So
do not be afraid! Be of great courage man, be of strong heart woman!
Our God is for us!'
I am always left in tears at the
sight of the sunrise. Every morning the same thing, and yet it always moves my
heart, it sings to my soul and my soul answers. It is the song of creation, the
song of new birth, new mercy, new life. I wonder if it was the same song God
sang as he looked out into the void of nothingness and, moved by joy, intoned his first
of many great hymns, Let there be light...
But the story goes on. He looked at
the light and saw it was good. This
means God feels. He knows emotions. He takes pleasure in creating as an artist
takes pleasure in painting or sculpting or performing. A wise man said once that a drop of infinity is of far greater weight
than the vastest oceans of finite things.
It is like the toddler who grabs
his bucket and rushes into the ankle deep kisses of the great Pacific yelling
in glee, “I’m going to catch the ocean!”
Humanity is that bucket and God
is the great Pacific. Each individual soul is that bucket and God even still is
the great Pacific. He has more than more than more than enough of his goodness
and love to fill you up, to answer your prayers, to show you that you are his
impossibly loved son or daughter, right now as you are.
And in this story, before he created
us, this infinite Artist understood to the infinite measure every scenario that
could occur within his choice to paint. He understood what could happen; he knew
evil was a possibility, and yet he still creates…and calls it good.
We cannot look upon this first scene
of the Great Story and assume that he was impulsive with his actions. He is not
a God who in the whim of the moment decided, ‘Ah, what the heck. Let’s just do
it.’ No, if he is the Pacific and all creation is the bucket, then he was well
aware that the brokenness of this world was plausible. He did not act ‘in the
dark’ of some unseen event emerging from his creation. He shaped Lucifer too
and knew that he could possibly betray him. He did not create ignorantly and he is never
surprised. His infinite being will not allow him to be surprised.
One drop of infinity swallows up the
vastest regions of finite space. It swallows them up, it penetrates them to their
core, it extends onward, inward and still has more which overflows.
This should change our thoughts
when we hear, “My cup runneth over!” It most certainly does and has more to
spare. We are the cup beneath the waterfall which never stops flowing; yet we
have no idea where the water is coming from. Why do we not pray knowing this? But
that too is later.
In this first moment, to know God is
infinite and hear that he calls light and creation good,
that he still decides to act, puts my soul at rest. He knew what could happen
and he still created. I will trust him.
No comments:
Post a Comment