The Right Posture Toward Breathtaking Beauty
Good morning Immanuel. Our God created and sustains this universe, and He notices and tends to you.
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)'
Pastor Sam said in a sermon a few weeks ago, “no one stands next to the grand canyon and thinks ‘I am awesome.’” We laughed. He’s right. That would be an absurd response. But what is the right posture toward breathtaking beauty? What should be our posture towards the grandeur of a sunset over the Middle Tennessee hills, a trip to the Smoky Mountains, the Florida panhandle, or Percy Priest Lake?
I often respond in one of two ways: 1) I try to capture the moment with a flimsy phone camera. While there’s nothing wrong with this response, there is something deeply disappointing about it because pictures pale in comparison to the real thing. Or 2) I despair. I don’t think that is too strong of a word. I see the expanse of the ocean, the never-ending layers of hills, and the depth of the canyon, and feel puny, insignificant, and unseen. While this response is understandable, there is something wrong with this posture. It’s out of step with reality. It ignores the glorious goodness and nearness of God. I thank God for Psalm 8 and how it guides our response to these moments of taking in the bigness and beauty of God’s world.
My Psalms professor, Dr. Collins, said this about the passage — “Now it would be so easy to scan the heavens, to see how vast they are, and to think of them as God’s handiwork, and then to reckon that we are just too small to be of any interest to a God great enough to have done all this. But, as Derek Kidner points out in his commentary, “the right inference from God’s ordered heavens is not his remoteness but his eye for detail.’”
The next time you find yourself looking at something beautiful, maybe a sunrise or sunset, stop yourself. Catch your thoughts. Do not despair. Maybe don’t even try to capture the moment. Look into the remarkable detail. Take in the jaw-dropping expanse. Gaze at the glory, the sheer weight, of it all. And marvel. Think of Psalm 8:3-4. Our Lord made all of it. And our Lord is mindful of me. Our Lord cares for me. And whisper the words that bookend Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Our God is all-powerful, and He is near. Our God created and sustains this universe, and He notices and tends to you.
🙏🏼