One evening we took a drive through the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, near the birthplace of my wife. We went to the southeast into the mountains from Wolfe County to Breathitt County on our way to Jackson. It was a clear night and the moon was rising full. That night we had a delightful experience. We noticed something we had never seen before. Because we the mountains were rising and falling beneath us our perspective on the moon – the angle from which we viewed it was constantly changing. It created the illusion that the moon was moving around the sky. At first we could see it just over the trees. Later it was nestled in a hollow. Still later it seemed to be higher in the wide open sky. The beauty and the effect of that moon rise have stayed with me for years.
I have to get out every once in a while and look on big water or gaze into the night sky. I have to watch a moon rise full on a summer evening or look on a mountain range. My soul craves the majesty of God. My heart longs for the mysteries of God. There are beautiful messages about the power of God and the mysteries of God in creation.
According to the Bible, God continually reveals himself in His creation shouting his glory for all to hear, but he has revealed with greater precision his majesty and his mysteries in his Word, the Bible. Truths of heaven and hell, redemption, justification, imputation, regeneration, propitiation, sanctification, glory, and many other doctrines are designed to capture our hearts and satisfy our longings for mystery by revealing God in a clearer way. It’s not unlike the stirring you feel when you see the moon through the winter forest or the stars in the dome of heaven. It is the same in kind but much greater in scale. The doctrines of the Bible are big, truths capable of inspiring wonder, awe, and worship. To consider them with a hungry believing heart is to find a great satisfaction in a deep place.
If you haven’t discovered this, there is a pleasure greater, sweeter, purer than you have ever imagined in the doctrines of God. I walked with Hope one moonlight night along the straits of Macinac hand in hand. I will never forget the rare pleasure of her fellowship in such a beautiful setting. Our Father delights in our company too, and we can delight in His.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
February 18, 2008
Beautiful thoughts and truths about our God. I think of green, a color or should I say colors. How can people look at ALL the greens and not know there is God, our creator.
On the lighter side I knew you were a hillbilly when you said hollow. My city kid once asked me what hollow was. We were going up the hollow to see a nephew and his family. Once I told him to put everything in the fridge except the onions. I came home and he had the green onions in the fridge. He did not know what they were. That’s why we call our kids the City Kids.
wonderful thoughts.
It’s amazing. To see this weaker representation of His attributes crying forth His majesty drives us to compulsively seek Him. If we stand dumbfounded by creation, how awesome the Creator must be.
To think that one day these beautiful heavens will be rolled back and the greater Son of Man will be seen coming with great power and majesty. To try to appreciate that literal moment in a small way as I gaze into the night sky – it makes my flesh tingle and my heart sing.
Great post.