The Blazing Glory

I was sitting in my sun room this morning with my coffee getting ready to do some reading. Snow on the ground, birds busy around the feeder, it’s icy cold out. And sunny.

I sat down at my table and found the sun was at just the right angle to shine right in my eyes. Brilliant, blazing, dominating—it was all I could see. It was uncomfortable. I shifted around—still blinded. Shifted some more—still blinded. I finally had to move into complete shadows, where I couldn’t see the sun at all. Only then could I see what was around me.

It was a Romans 1 moment, I realized.

The world is blinded by the Blazing Glory of God. It dominates the scene. Everything else fades into darkness, insignificance. But if it’s not the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2) that you hunger to see, it’s downright uncomfortable. And so you shift—you move—trying to get away from the Blazing Glory. And you keep moving, and keep shifting until you’re sitting in darkness and you can finally see the World that surrounds you. You settle for the dim reflections of glory in the created even while hiding from the Creator. You look for pleasure, comfort, security, and satisfaction in the World, shifting about so that the rocks and mountains (Revelation 6:16) continue to hide you from the Blazing Glory.

So, where are you sitting? In the darkness of the grave? Or in the presence of the Blazing Glory? And what do you long to see? The world? Or its Creator?

For with Thee is the fountain of life; In Thy light we see light. Psalm 36:9

The glory of God revealed in the created world

Flowers strewn across alpine meadows, blossoming in profusion. A sapphire sky studded with puff-ball clouds, like pearls scattered on blue velvet. Black granite peaks outlined with pure, white snow, thrusting high in the distance. The pale green of aspen, flowing in swaths across larger patches of darker evergreen, like small sylvan avalanches.

It's the glory of God in living color. "No," you insist, "it's just the natural result of natural processes operating over time in an impersonal universe."

Natural processes? Yes. Operating over time? Yes, of course. But processes operating through time that have been specially created by God to function just as we see them, and for His glory. It is not an impersonal universe, devoid of purpose. The universe is the creative effort of the God Who is; made for His glory, created for His purposes, and hurtling toward a destination He has carefully designed.

"The heavens declare the glory of God. . ." the psalmist said. Indeed, they do, if you have eyes to see, and a heart to understand.