Macro Skies, Micro-self

The dark of night seems to linger so long these mornings as January unfolds day by day and the times for sunrise and sunset seems to remain constant, while I long for more light. But then it begins-- black gives way to grey shadows; even the bare trees take on their own beauty as they stand out naked against the brightening sky; and then almost imperceptibly, color begins to show-- pale yellow that slowly turns to orange and then to red, more and more brilliant as it fills the horizon; and even on some days the color is mirrored in the clouds in other parts of the sky.

 And I marvel, again and again, day by day…

It was my husband Laurence who introduced me to chasing sunrises and sunsets. And it is he who has shown me how each day the sunrise and the sunset are different, depending on the cloud cover. Only God, a playful God, would set up such an ever-changing landscape, leading us to awe and to wonder! Why brilliant red and orange and yellow to invade the black and then gray sky? Why such flamboyance, such a show? “Glorious!” we say, and the One who is Glory invites us into his glory and changes us, Paul says, from one degree of glory to another. He is present day by day, welcoming us into newness, into possibility; to breathe afresh, to start with a blank slate, to respond moment by moment to his presence and his invitation to life.

“Oh, Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth,” exclaims David in Psalm 8.

Or as Eugene Peterson, whose translation is called The Message, says

“God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.”

That word brilliant echoes for me in the sunrise I just observed. “Brilliant” is bright and then beyond bright—exceptionally bright or radiant—it is one of those words that sounds like it means when you say it.

And that is our God! And he is just that: “our” God-- not a God way up there somewhere lost in the outermost parts in some place we call heaven that seems farther and farther away as scientists unpack how huge the universe really is, but “our” -- that is close, that is belonging, that too is breathtaking.

David goes on to say that God’s glory has been set above the heavens and yet in such a way that even children can see it; maybe they understand it better than we sophisticated adults. And it is the night sky that David focuses on. We tend to see light as good and dark as bad, but there are things that can only be seen at night, in the dark. The sun that God made to rule the day is still responsible for the night light we call the moon, that waxes and wanes throughout each month. I find that fascinating. This world that God has so carefully crafted-- everything made purposefully—yes, the moon was to “govern” the night but in a different way than the sun whose brilliance is constant even when we can't see it because of the cloud cover. And the moon rules the sea-- the tides that ebb and flow and keep the waters of the huge oceans moving and allowing the plants there to flourish and the sea animals to find food and all they need. And all these have purpose and have lessons to share with us.

The things we see in the dark are very different to those we see in the light. In fact, in the light we often miss so much as we walk around or drive around, our mind consumed with our thoughts and the world around us unnoticed. But in the dark, if we're lucky enough to be in a place where city lights do not dominate, we look up and out, take in the curve of the moon, the stars that appear to twinkle and we say with the Psalmist:

“I look up at your macro skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder…” Psalm8: 3 in Eugene Peterson’s Message translation.

How easy is it as we hurry through our days on cruise control to forget who we are, to compare ourselves not with one another but with this magnificent God as he reveals himself and what he has created. How often do we stand still and wonder, open our eyes to appreciate the intricate beauty in all he has made and see ourselves and so often judge ourselves as not enough… Who am I? What is man, we ask with David.

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:4

Often the Psalmists use the word “selah” to invite the reader to pause. This seems like a great place to do just that: to sit in the wonder of who he is and who I am.

And then come the amazing words:

“You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:5

What? Us? Me? What was on your heart, O Lord, when you did this?

“You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet;

all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.” Psalm 8:6,7

Hold on! That is such an echo of Genesis. We read of how God day by day added to what he had created: day 1 was light; day 2 was “sky”; day 3 the “land” separated from the “waters.” And then came the first declaration:

“God saw that it was good.” Genesis1: 10

Day 4 sees the creation of the sun and moon, and with them God’s plan of setting up day and night, seasons, years, and the tides to keep the oceans contained.

“And God saw that it was good.” Genesis1:19

Day 5, the real fun begins—the birds and the fish—can you imagine the fun they had, the Father, the Son and the Spirit, dreaming up form and color with seemingly infinite variety. And then the

land creatures; more creativity—Whose idea was the duck-billed platypus?

And God saw that it was good.”   Genesis1:25

And then the pinnacle of it all:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,

and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,

over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures

that move along the ground’.” Genesis 1:26

And the final pronouncement:

“And God saw all he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

Another moment of selah.

So, what are we doing with this honor and glory with which you have crowned us, Lord? With this assignment you gave us? With the beautiful creation you have entrusted to us? The purposes of God have not changed, even as so much has changed in our world over the centuries.

Is there a way we can live in our world today that would invite God’s “very good”, that would bring pleasure to his heart? He made each of us, carefully formed us in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-15), and placed us in a particular place on his precious earth. You in your small corner and I in mine: could we shine, could we bring light and love and joy into our world, and touch the people who we meet daily with his touch? Could we care for this earth and the creatures and plants that he entrusted to us? What would that look like for you?

And then can we echo with David in his closing words of Psalm 8:

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”