Geysers occur only in particular hydro-geological conditions, usually near active volcanic zones, where surface water works its way down to a depth of around 2,000 meters where it meets up with hot rocks. The resultant boiling of the pressurized water produces the geyser effect.Every 90 minutes or so, Yellowstone’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful, serves up a fountain of 15,000 to 30,000 liters of boiling water and spews it 150 feet into the air - thunderous power and surprise, dramatic beauty and unfailing reliability.
The poet-king David never visited Old Faithful, but in Psalm 36 he wrote about his experience of God with equally dramatic nature imagery.
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
Your justice like the great deep.
How priceless is your unfailing love!
We drink from your river of delights.
You are the fountain of life.
In your light we see light.
What a kaleidoscope of God-qualities: love that towers above the clouds, righteousness rock-solid as the Himalayas, justice more profound than the oceans, faithfulness that beggars human wealth.
These flow out of God like a life-giving fountain that invigorates David and gives him a fresh vision for his own life.
He contrasts this experience of a God-energized life with the alternative - a God-avoiding life that becomes myopic, scheming and false. David chooses a life inspired and illumined by God.
I love how Eugene Peterson renders David’s Psalm 36 in The Message:
God's love is meteoric,And I pray . . . Magnificent eye-opening God, I don’t want to drift through your world with eyes glazed over. I don’t want to miss a thing. Surprise me each day with the glory of your work all around me. Lift my eyes to the towering dimensions of Your truth. Faithful fountain of life, energize me so I will erupt and overflow every day with God-warmth and geyser-glory. Amen.
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
How exquisite your love, O God!
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You're a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.
David,
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase Peterson:
"How exquisite is your writing as you fill our tankards with your Eden spring water insights."
You inspire us to dip our minds deep into the wellspring of our souls.
Keep it up.
Thanks, Dan. As someone else wrote,"from the fullness of God's cascading grace we have all received one blessing after another"
ReplyDeleteI am recalling my visit to Yellowstone National Park in 1992 and remember asking why is THIS particular gyeser so famous since there are loads of other ones in the park that spray bigger and sometimes more frequently. I was told that it was because Old Faithful has been so dependable over the decades since the park was established. I'm thinking that my experience with theories and philosophees about how life should work and what matters is much the same, there are loads of them out there and many of them seem more spectacular but over time NONE are as dependable as my experience with my Creator God and His Word who have been there since the foundations of the Universe were established.
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