The other day I was driving home after a rather long afternoon looking for work and employment and finding none. To say I was discouraged was an understatement, I was downright depressed. And then I rounded the corner and saw this sunset. Now, I'm not some sort of transcendentalist, but I do have a deep emotional response to displays of God's glory in his created universe. And that's exactly what happened here... as I cruised along the freeway, I gazed at this sunset and thought about how many times filmmakers, photographers, painters, sculptors, writers, and yes, even bloggers, try to capture the natural beauty of the world around them in images and words. Sometimes they succeed better than others, but they never can fully replicate the original display before them. Here I am proving that very point... I'm trying to verbalize a sunset that was simply indescribable. I've included a simple picture from my iPhone that doesn't do it justice (and for the record, yes, I know it was dangerous to operate a vehicle and a camera at the same time). To put it simply, there is nothing that I, as a mere man being part of the creation, can do to add to or surpass what the Creator himself has done.
David knew this when he wrote Psalm 19:1-6, which says "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set forth a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat."
When Lafayette H. Bunnell, a member of the first expedition of white men to enter Yosemite Valley in 1851, first came upon that magnificent valley, he wrote the following in his diary: "It has been said that 'it is not easy to describe in words the precise impressions which great objects make upon us.' I cannot describe how completely I realized this truth. The grandeur of the scene was but softened by the haze that hung over the valley, light as gossamer, and by the clouds which partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it, and as I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being and I found my eyes in tears with emotion... for I have here seen the power and glory of a Supreme Being, the majesty of His handiwork is in that 'Testimony of the Rocks.'"
Now I don't know about you, but whatever problems I have, whatever my current situation is, I know I serve a God who created this sunset, which is only one of 365 He gives us each year... those are matched by equally beautiful sunrises each morning. He's the same God who created something as magnificent and eye-popping as Yosemite Valley. He actually spoke everything that we see around us into being, something that ought to cause us some serious mental aerobics. Dwelling on the majesty and supremacy of God as displayed in His creation, I find my depression taking a back seat and instead being replaced by a deep-seated sense of awe and wonder at the amazing grace that had been poured out on folks like you and me, to be front-row participants in the greatest display of beauty and power ever recorded. Anyway, that's something along the lines of what was running through my head that day on my drive home. For more images of creation, check out this video and dwell on the lyrics. May we never get so caught up in the things of this world, which are fleeting and do not last, that we lose sight of the Author of life itself, who's handiwork is on display each and every evening, and has never been matched by any attempt of man's.
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