The Artist

 "On thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." 

This is one of my favorite psalms. It really is a prayer request. I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I want to gaze upon the beauty of Yahweh. I want to have a heart that seeks him in His designated place of worship. 

I started a new series on Sunday morning called, "We Believe" based on the Apostle's Creed. Our first foray into the study we looked at "I believe in God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." Summarized:  God exists. God is personal. God wants us to draw close. And the last...God is an artist. 

I couldn't stop thinking about this last point. Toward the end of my sermon (which unfortunately did not switch to my power point presentation), I showed multiple pictures of Hubble telescope galaxies, nebulae, starburst, etc..., a bug-eyed monkey, a hedgehog, a beautiful deep blue Owl, and ultimately, the diversity in humanity with a picture of a bunch of ethnically diverse kids. 

I told Deb on the way home Sunday that without the Hubble, no one would have ever seen those images. Point:  God didn't make beauty first and foremost for me. God made it for Himself. God loves to create beautiful things for His own pleasure. 

He could have so easily made everything like my old 1960's television set: black, white, and shades of grey. But He didn't. And I fully believe that when I get to heaven there will be colors that I have never seen. I'll get my 64 crayolas out and say, "Nope. That's not in the box." 

No wonder John had such a hard time describing the things in heaven. "It was like..." "It looked like..." 

Some commentators believe that "the beauty of the LORD" has to do with his character of kindness and graciousness." Not so. I believe that God is beautiful as only He can be and as only He defines it. 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." But in this case beauty will be in the eye of everyone. "Your eyes will see the King in his beauty" (Isaiah 33:17)

As a theologian I humbly assent to this fact: In the beginning God created, He didn't teach. 

I think it's time to make room for the watercolors in the midst of my textbooks. 

At least the colored pencils are in my right-hand drawer.