Have you ever just felt compelled to lie on your back at night and gaze at the starry spectacle above us? For me, it's one of my favorite things to do. I could spend hours upon hours just admiring the wonder of God's creation and the universe He spoke into motion. As it so happens, I felt a deep longing in my heart to go to one of my favorite places tonight and to just look up. To watch. To worship. Without fail, God revealed a tiny bit more of the glory of His work to me...
Looking into the stars, it is obvious that each is placed intentionally and delicately by Him. However, we can only see the far off balls of light when we shut out all other illumination and focus directly on them. When we let our own man-made light sources pollute our gaze, we lose focus of the beauty and glory of our Creator in His work. He wants us to experience Him through what He has made for us, but it seems that so often we let our own worldly "lights" get in the way. We don't see the beauty of His plan because we are so caught up in our own. Even more so, it's impossible to see the wondrous refinement and elegance of far off galaxies when we have our very own LED Maglite shining directly in our pupils. The same can be said for God's wants and desires for our lives becoming eclipsed by our own selfishness, iniquity, and pride.
I think what compels me so much to place myself prostrate upon the ground in admiration of what the Lord has made is the fact that I know that's what I have a stake in: the eternal glory of God that He makes manifest in His creation. As much as I enjoy the earthly things that I get to do and the fun I get to have, there's still a longing in my heart for something more, something better. I was not made simply for this world. No, I was made for something far beyond the toils, trials, and tribulations I find myself in. When I look into the sky, I see a glimpse of the glory of God that is to come, the future hope that I have in Christ as His co-heir. He has not only made us His children, but kings! "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father…" (Rev. 1:5-6). "Thou…hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:9-10). Just as the stars don't even give us the tiniest peek into the beauty of God, we cannot even begin to understand or fathom the depth of what God has done for us through His Son. We can only fall down in amazement and praise His mighty craftsmenship as we watch His plan come together. So it is that our sonship relies very little on our own understanding, but infinitely on our faith in Him and His plan.
It is a mighty thing to watch! When I look into the star-filled night, it's almost like I'm looking at the front-side of God's tapestry. For us, a tapestry is simply a piece of designed fabric that is embroidered onto a canvas. The textiles are woven together to make a beautiful, nonreversible image. One side has immense beauty, while the other side is frayed and is seemingly without form. Much is the same with our current condition. We view our lives and see frayed edges, misplaced threads, and uncareful stitching. But, friend, we are only looking at the back of His tapestry. What He sees is a universe that He takes great joy in, something upon which He called "good", His ultimate word of approval. God has the perfect perspective of His perfectly woven creation, where ours is distorted by our sins. It just seems that every now and then, when I set my eyes on the stars above, I see the other side of His tapestry and the world I am truly meant for.
With love.
No comments:
Post a Comment