God's Glory in the Skies

So…last week I wrote about a normal work week for “pastor people;” but sometimes someone in your church has a bass boat and offers to take you out for some fishing…and your normal week becomes less normal.  

We headed out to Bartlett Lake about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Now, I have done lot of fishing, but no largemouth bass fishing. I have seen it on TV and I’ve heard people talk about it, but lake fishing has never really been “my thing.” The guy with the boat, however, is a big-time lake fisherman (he’s regularly in largemouth bass fishing tournaments). And his boat is so nice and so fast. When I say fast, I mean grinning-like-the-Joker-fast, as the wind pulls hard at your eyes, cheeks, lips, and nostrils — and grinning-like-the-Joker-fast as the guy driving the boat has a sly grin, enjoying how fast he is going — and how tense his passengers are. 

Once we found a good spot, our captain set us up with the right fishing gear, gave us a quick lesson on how to catch the fish, patiently untangled our lines, and coached us on our technique (or lack thereof).

Then the sun began to set in a most beautiful way. Soft, silver sunrays shooting through grey-shaded clouds hit the water and reflected the wonder of the sky onto the surface of the lake. The desert mountains — painted green from all the monsoon rain — looked soft in the golden-hour tones. Over the next thirty minutes the sky transformed many times with multiple colors as the sun went down without any hurry behind the mountains. 

After the sun went down in the west, the sky put on another show. To the northeast, clouds changed from billowing, bright white to stormy and gray. As the sun retired, allowing darkness to take its turn, lightning filled the clouds. The external color of the clouds was constantly changing while the belly of the cloud pulsated with piercing, bright flashes. By the time darkness took over the sky, lightning produced the only flashes of light. The storm never made it overhead, but it kept threatening us with strong breezes that would come and go. 

The sky’s final show was just as amazing as the sunset and the storm. Though we didn’t notice the clouds dissipating or the storm subsiding, we did notice the sky filling with stars. Still and steady, quiet, yet impossible to miss, the stars took over the darkness.

I remembered how, when we were younger, my brother once told me that each time someone who loves Jesus dies, they poke a hole in the sky’s darkness on their way to heaven. So, what we call stars are actually the places God’s people have poked through, causing little holes where heaven’s light shines through. I like that thought, even though it is bad cosmology and theology.

But I digress…

As the night went on, the Milky Way showed up in full, mysterious form. And, even though we were three men fishing on a boat, it felt special each time we saw a shooting star jet across the sky. (None of us would have admitted to it, though.)

“God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere….That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith. The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.” – Psalm 19 (MSG)

God loves to reveal who He is and what He is up to to His children, whom He calls friends. He desires to give us wholeness in place of double-mindedness and division. My prayer for you and me this week is that we would notice where our lives have been pulled apart; how double-minded and divided we, as a church and as a nation, have become. 

Every generation has to come face-to-face with the reality of their depravity; therefore, every generation needs a fresh revelation of God, the Father Almighty, Creator of the heavens and earth. In this moment of cultural, relational and spiritual division, we need to seek God, find God, and allow God to reveal to us what is true and necessary, good and just. As we experience his revelation and wholeness, it is a great honor — and should be a great joy — to share His revelations with others.

Let the good news about God and His love be the message we preach,

David

P.S. For all you fishermen and fisherwomen out there, we did catch about 15 largemouth bass. The biggest one was about 1.5 lbs.