Three Things that Amaze – No, Make that Four!

Near the end of a book written to teach us wisdom, comes a portrait of four things that can leave you in awe. Proverbs 30:18-19 says,

There are three things that amaze me—

no, four things that I don’t understand:

how an eagle glides through the sky,

how a snake slithers on a rock,

how a ship navigates the ocean,

how a man loves a woman.

Desert, Torrent and Sea

Woven throughout the puzzling images of the Book of Revelation are the twin themes of victory and suffering.

Half-way through the book, in Chapter 12, John sees ‘a great and wondrous sign’ that illustrates this double truth.

A pregnant woman is on the verge of giving birth, but a fierce red dragon stands in front of her ready to pounce on her infant the moment she delivers. It’s a bizarre picture to be sure, but it's a symbolic portrait of the cosmic battle under-lying the history of the human race.

The woman is a composite of Eve, the mother of all living (who was stalked by the serpent) and Mary, the mother of Jesus, stalked by Herod after Jesus was born. The new-born boy-child, we’re told, “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” So we know this is about the reign of Jesus and the hostility of the evil one who seeks to destroy him. The child is no sooner born than he is “snatched up to God and to his throne” (v.5). The story leaps from the birth of Jesus to his ascension to heaven.

Paul’s Shipwreck

The Book of Acts finishes with a crackling good story of shipwreck.

Since the time of Homer 1000 years before Jesus, Greek sea-faring stories invariably included the great adventures of the perils of the sea travel. Such stories not only entertained well, but served as metaphors of the challenge and uncertainties of human life, especially the precarious risk facing human beings pitted against nature and whatever divine powers, friendly or sinister, were thought to over-lap with the natural world.

The Book of Acts takes it place alongside these stories.

The Ocean Speaks

In honor of my brother Phil who loves to sail and to write, here is an excerpt from an essay he wrote about the sea.

* * *

Despite the ocean’s restless ambiguity, its confusing contrariness, its utter disregard of us, its entirely predictable infidelity to us – No! because of all those qualities - the ocean speaks to us of human life.

Early it is foggy along the bay, and in the coves and sometimes, in mysterious ways, out on the open water. The soft refracted light blinds us to the existence of anything beyond the self,

Unruly Child

Imagine a womb large enough to hold the oceans of the world until it was time for them 'to burst forth from the womb'!  That is the bizarre but graphic image God uses in The Book of Job in speaking of the birth of creation.

Then, expanding on the birth metaphor, God describes wrapping the new-born Sea-child as a mother swaddles an infant: 'I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness.' 

Imagine thick ocean fog - Who can see through it? Who can see beyond the horizon or penetrate the silence of all that lies in the deep darkness of the sea? What a rich metaphor for the mystery of the oceans, their vast distances, beyond our sight and knowledge!

Birthing the Sea

In February 2009, 48 high school and university students aboard the 57 foot Nova Scotia ship the SV Concordia, were sailing in rough seas 500 kms off the coast of Brazil when a bizarre wind – a microburst - suddenly capsized their boat. Within 20 minutes it sank.

The students and 16 staff members all escaped safely to life-boats and were rescued the next day by commercial ships, but they will never forget the unpredictable, untamable power of the sea.

Terra Firma

The famous Tower of Pisa began sinking by the time the second floor was being built. The cause – a weak foundation and unstable subsoil.

By contrast, the Golden Gate Bridge withstands enormous tides and currents and survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake unscathed in part because it sits on solid foundations, at one end on a bedrock ledge and at the other on a massive pier the size of a football field.

Mere Mortals Walking on Water

Three Gospel writers tell about Jesus walking on water in the midst of a wild storm, but only Matthew tells us about Peter’s wild response. “Jesus, if it really is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” says Jesus.

'Come' is one of Jesus’ favorite words – part invitation, part summons – and always a call to do something that feels risky, to step out of our comfort zone and our places of pseudo-security and to trust him.

Walking on water is counter-intuitive. 'Terra firma' is home for us. A boat is a constructed extension of home, canoes and kayaks give us both buoyancy and adventure, but stepping out alone onto the deep at the invitation of Jesus is an act of daring faith.

So imagine the drama as Peter vaulted the gunwales to join Jesus out on the lake. Imagine the warnings of his friends – “Pete, you’re an idiot!” “Don’t be so reckless!” Imagine the shaking heads, the held breath, and then cheers as he stepped forward on solid water.

Peter mirrors us in our finest moments of courage and faith when we throw caution to the wind, when we take the plunge towards God, mere mortals attempting the impossible.

Water-Walker

The gale broke over them in the middle of the lake without warning and roared all night. For hours they strained at the oars, fighting the winds and the waves. They are seasoned veterans on this lake, but it was getting the best of them. The raging lake was showing its legendary renown as the face of Chaos.

And then, suddenly, they saw the unthinkable - the form of a man walking towards them across the water. ‘Ghost’ was all they could imagine.

But this ‘ghost’ was actually their very down-to-earth friend Jesus coming to them where they least expected him – but when they most needed his help. He called to them above the wind, “It is I. Don’t be afraid!”

It was a night they never forgot. It was a voice that rang in their memory forever.

Erosion

This is Canada’s Water Week, culminating on World Water Day, March 22.

But today - one of the powerful effects of water on landscape and the human soul - erosion.

Erosion is part of the natural order. It can be devastating like a tsunami, but it can also produce magnificent scenery like the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado, the Grand Canyon and the famous White Cliffs of Dover.

Erosion and the chemical process of dissolution that carves out cave systems all over the world, are signs of the universal law of attrition. Nature wears things down. Nature and time gnaw away at us – ‘erosion’ has the same Latin root as ‘rodent’. Whether gradually or ferociously, everything moves from order to disorder.

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Guilt is a terrible thing.  But if there is something worse than guilt, its name would be Denial.  Denial is the paralyzing refusal to come to terms with the monster that is destroying you.

Helen Rynne as Lady Macbeth

A grim scene in Macbeth illustrates the destructive power of repressed and unacknowledged guilt:  Lady Macbeth sleep-walking the halls of her castle with a candle, trying in vain to scour the damning blood-guilt from her hands.

Yet here's a spot . . .

Out, damned spot! out, I say! . . .

Who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him? . . .

What, will these hands ne'er be clean? . . .

Here's the smell of the blood still:
All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand.

Oh, oh, oh!

Her façade is cracking; denial is hard to sustain. 

Water Warehouse

The Genesis Creation story describes the artistry and power of God creating the world. It is effortless, effective and orderly. God speaks and things happen… Light, Sky, Ocean, Land, Grass,

But Psalm 33 depicts God working hard to organize nature.

Think of God as a warehouse manager . . .

"He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;

he puts the deep into storehouses.'

Psalm 33:7

It’s a picturesque metaphor - the vast inventory of the oceans collected and compressed into barrels or skins, stacked up and stored in place so that human life can prevail on the earth.  Vivid language to express the majesty of Yahweh’s governance over the world with purpose.

Land and Sea

“God said, ‘Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.’”

Genesis 1:9

Photo Credit: Distantpeak.com

It’s the second dazzling water event in the great Genesis Song of Creation – the emergence of the earth out of the Sea at the voice of God - the transformation of a featureless ocean into a sculptured landscape!

Antrim Coast Northern Ireland

Imagine the forces that came into play that day, as tremors ripped through the earth’s crust, trenches gashed the sea-floor, hollowing out deep marine basins - and elsewhere giant crags of land thrusting up through the surface of the sea, catching the glint of the sun.

The dry land gives us a place to stand, to build and grow. The earth buffers us from the ocean waves, yet it drinks in the rain and holds enough water to sustain grasslands and cedar forests. Trees and people need to be rooted, as do cities and civilizations. We need the land just as we need water.

► Day One gave us Light;
► Day Two, Air and Sky;
► Day Three divided Land from Sea.

Joy to the World

It’s the Christmas carol that never intended to be one.

Joy to the World is Isaac Watt’s 1719 translation of the Psalm 98. But there’s nothing in that song about a baby or manger, about shepherds or angels.

It’s an ancient Hebrew song that summons the earth to shout for joy to God and burst into jubilant song because God is on the move! It calls on the sea to thunder an encore and rivers to add their applause in a rousing symphony that celebrates or anticipates the arrival of God’s wise and righteous rule over the earth.

A Drop in the Bucket

Where does the phrase “a drop in the bucket” originate?

Last Sunday was the first of Advent, the start of the Christmas season. In keeping with her Swedish tradition, my wife Tiffany lit the first of four candles that mark the weeks leading to Jul - Christmas Eve. The first candle speaks of Hope - and the ancient promise of a Saviour – who would answer the hopes and fears of all the years.


On Friday we attended a concert that included among other pieces, the selection from Handel’s Messiah “He Shall Feed his Flock" about God shepherding his people –

He tends his flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;

he gently leads those that have young.

Today I located those words in Isaiah - Chapter 40 and was struck by the water imagery that immediately follows the Shepherd text.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Shepherds have to think constantly about water for their flock - water, grass and safety are the big three needs of sheep.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It’s a story for anyone who has ever been caught between danger and disaster, between a rock and a hard place. It's the ancient story of Exodus.

Beyond their wildest dreams a tribe of slaves found themselves free at last, heading east on the Desert Road towards their long-promised home.

Two days later, camped by Yam Suph, the Sea of Reeds, they saw the dust of Pharaoh’s army with 600 chariots bearing down on them. Yam Suph posed a formidable barrier - too wide to circumvent and too deep to cross; it blocked their only path of escape. If they were chosen people, they appeared chosen to die.

Jonah - discovering God's immensity

The strange story of Jonah is not just the tale of a runaway prophet and a very large fish.

It’s also an instructive parable with a provocative and global message.

I think it speaks boldly to the current debate about mosques in a post 9/11 America.

God refused to write off the city of Nineveh despite their vice and violence. God sent Jonah east to give them the word, but Jonah went west instead. He wasn’t about to risk his life or reputation for such unworthy and improbable converts.

In truth, Jonah could see where God was going with this mission – and he refused to accept.

The Blue Marble

From space, Earth looks like a "blue marble" - 75% of it covered by water. The vast blue of the oceans laced by swirling white clouds showcasing the beauty and symmetry of God’s Creation.

Psalm 104 revels in Earth-maker's workmanship – sky, clouds and rain, rivers and wet-lands, wild-life and forests - and now (in my final post on this ancient hymn) the wide blue oceans.

The Hebrews were not a sea-going people, so biblical oceans usually roar wild and restless. But in this song, the ocean is spacious and hospitable,“teeming with creatures beyond number, living things, both large and small” – from tiny microbes and plankton to dolphins and manta rays, from corals and conchs to octopus and sperm whales. Yet despite the fullness of the sea, it is not crowded; there is plenty of room for ship traffic and for whales to cavort, calve, graze and migrate.

Roaring God

I've just spent a wonderful holiday week-end enjoying one of God's geological masterpieces - Ontario's Muskoka.

Let this serve as prelude to my continuing comments (see last Friday's post) on Psalm 104.

Enjoy!





The first glimpse of Earth-maker in Psalm 104 is a Home-builder, radiating sunlight. Then, a tender mother swaddling her new creation with a blanket of Ocean.
Then dramatically . . . a Commander snapping fingers, ordering Ocean to retreat allowing Land to rise.

Continents lift like blue whales breaching, rising out of the ocean depths. Sea-water falls away; streams flow down mountains – as water always does, seeking out the lowest places on the planet.

Photo credit: "Irish Cliffs of Moher" Pauline Watson, Lethbridge, Alberta



This psalm was ancient Israel’s hymn celebrating Creation (see sidebar text) – and there’s nothing tame about its vision. God roars a rebuke and Nature obeys in a powerful tectonic drama. These are not impersonal geological mechanisms, but Nature responding to its creator’s command, like an orchestra following the conductor’s baton.

Geology is a fascinating record of this process of earth-formation – the interaction of rock, heat, water and time. The Hebrew vision captures the energy and drama of these processes, but it also identifies the maker as an Artist with life-creating, life-protecting purpose and determination.

Notice how God uses creative power for constructive life-supporting purposes. God’s rebuke is not timid, nor haughty or defensive as human rebukes often are. Rather, it is empowering and developmental. Oceans and rivers exult in God’s initiative and ingenuity; they sustain life on our planet and enable living things to flourish.

I wonder … what we can learn from watching how God works – because I'm convinced that our part in creation is not just to be admiring spectators.
I wonder … how might God’s rebuke might sound in response to the Gulf Oil spill and other ecological travesties ?
I wonder … what I can do today to help Earth-maker’s purpose to flourish?

Psalm 104 - Part Two

“What a Wonderful World!”

Centuries before Louis Armstrong painted “skies of blue and clouds of white” with his gravelly voice, artists and poets, children, lovers and scientists have stood speechless at the beauty of our elegant world.

Psalm 104 is a majestic ancient song, a melodic re-telling of the Genesis creation story. (For the text, see "Today's Water Word" sidebar.) This psalm describes God as Earth-maker, robed in sunlight, setting up tent in the blue sky with clouds-chariots and wind-couriers at the ready. Ocean depths below reflect the grandeur of Sky above. The physical world mirrors the glory of its Creator.

God wraps the planet with an ocean robe, the way a mother enfolds a newborn. Then as Earth emerges from infancy, vibrant mountain springs spill out of the ground and course down through streams and rivers, lakes and wetlands. The song describes animals of every kind nesting by these waters and bird-songs whistling from the trees. It sings about forests, grain-fields and vineyards nourished and nourishing because of the rains that fall from the sky.

Psalm 104 celebrates the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth, and attributes it all to God. It prays that this glory will endure for all time and that God will find as much pleasure and joy in it as we do –

The glory of GOD—let it last forever!
Let GOD enjoy his creation!
(v.31 The Message)

Wonder . . . Reflect for a moment on the stunning visual beauty of our world and the dynamic power of nature – either around you right now or depicted in this song.
Pause and be restful; sense the joy throbbing in creation – and an ache behind the joy - and thank God for the immense privilege of being part of it.

Psalm 104 – Part One