Through Painted Deserts

Recently, I finished Donald Miller’s Through Painted Deserts.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone – and just saying, I wish I could write like him.  Anyway, in reading this book, I discovered a few parallels in what God is and what He created. 

On the first day of creation, God spoke light into existence.  All he did was say “Let there be light,” and there was light.  He saw that it was good. (He created it, so how could it not be good?)  I know I put this quote on Facebook just a few days ago, but it is the basis for how I came to see things a bit differently.  Donald Miller writes: "Consider the complexity of light in light of the Hebrew metaphor: we don't see light; we see what it touches. It is more or less invisible, made from nothing, just purposes and focused energy, infinite in its power...How fitting, then, for God to create an existence, then a metaphor, as if to say, here is something entirely unlike you, outside of time, infinite in its power and thrust: here is something you can experience but cannot understand. Throughout the remainder of the Bible, then, God calls Himself light."  He is exactly right here.  Light, as scientists define it, is not really matter or waves, but somewhere in between.   Through centuries of study, scientists cannot fully explain the phenomenon of light; yet, even with its unexplainable properties, light is the sole purpose by which we see everything.  Without it, we would be lost in total darkness.  Its importance can only be magnified in the fact that it was the first thing God created.  He did not need it, but He knew that humans would come to depend fiercely on it.  So is the same with our Creator.  We cannot fully understand Him or explain His omnipotence, but we realize He is the Light by which we see everything else.

The second parallel I noticed was love.  Here is another phenomenon, if you wish to call it that, that we cannot fully explain. Some scientists say the feeling we experience as love is triggered by a series of chemicals in the brain.  These chemicals start a chain reaction when we see someone or something that triggers their release.  The mystery is why people experience the feeling of love to different objects or people.  Perhaps it is our genetic makeup or certain environmental factors, but the fact of the matter is, love is the driving force behind the majority of our actions. For Jesus, it was the sole purpose He gave His life for His people.  Several times, the Bible states God is Love.  He is the embodiment of the feeling every human so intensely craves.  We go through this life looking for love, which we usually find in the form of lust and sin.  What we so often miss is that our one true Love is longing for our hearts and souls in a way that cannot be explained.  All the chemicals in our brain and DNA are trying to point us to Love, if we would only bother to look in the right direction. 

Another paradox I believe God intentionally created was the sensation of beauty.  Here is yet another thing we cannot comprehend. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think that’s true.  For me, beauty can be found in an infinite number of places in this universe.  Some people claim true beauty is a sunset on the horizon of ocean waves.  Others may say it is the fiery treetops of West Virginia in the fall.  A baby’s innocent laugh or a pure smile is beautiful.  Regardless of what the beholder deems beautiful, I believe God created the feeling of beauty solely to bring glory to Him.  I don’t know about you, but when I marvel at the starlight in a summer sky, God is in that beauty.  Everything beautiful is touched by His fingertips, and you can feel that in a breathtakingly stunning moment.  He created beauty so we can simply relish His perfection.

There are so many other feelings and sensations that I believe God created to eloquently display His wisdom and grace, to make us feel His presence in each of them – feelings of peace, hope, joy, happiness, and faith.  I’m not a theologian so I can’t claim that any of these statements are correct, but I feel deep in my heart that my God knew what He was doing when He spoke light into existence.  Everything is so perfectly mapped out and planned that it’s almost impossible to ignore Him in Love, Light, and Beauty.  In so many ways we as humans have twisted these feelings into worldly and selfish desires.  I wish we all could take a step back and ask why they were created in the beginning instead of how we can reach them.  If we do this, hopefully we can find our way through all the muck and mire to the true definition of Love and Light.