O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them? For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow. Open the heavens, Lord, and come down. Psalm 144: 3- 5a

The Unknown God

            The sky was a feast of colors, shapes, and light.

            We'd eaten a late supper as a family, cleaned up the kitchen, and relaxed a bit with an episode of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  (Yes, the crew all made it out alive, in case you were wondering.) After all of that though, being that the summer solstice was just a few days ago, the sun was still high above the trees.  The clouds out the west window looked interesting so I grabbed up my camera and went out to try for a few good shots.

            If you live around here, you know that we've been experiencing a cycle of rain, heat, and humidity, so, though the temperature had cooled quite a bit since the afternoon's swelter, the air was still heavy with wet and pressed on my skin the moment I stepped outside. Gnats, which we've had in almost plague-like numbers this year, swarmed around me. In no time at all, though, I'd all but forgotten these discomforts.             The sky was spectacular!  There were mounds of clouds everywhere along the horizon and in the blue expanse above, and their lazy drifting created shifting shafts of light that broke through and over them in an ever-changing display.  I looked on in wonder.

            Upon his arrival in Athens, the Apostle Paul looked around and saw shrines and altars in honor of many different gods, one even to the Unknown God, a sort of "insurance" shrine, so to speak, just in case they'd missed a god who might be offended if overlooked.  Addressing members of the Areopagate, Paul said:

This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.  He is the God who made the world and everything in it.  Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in manmade temples, and human hands can't serve his needs–for he has no needs.  He himself gives the life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.  From one blood he created all the nations throughout the whole earth.  He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.  His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.  For in him we live and move and exist.  Acts 17:23b - 28a

            God's purpose was for the nations to seek after him, and "perhaps feel their way toward him and find him."  In those few minutes I was outdoors, looking up into that breathtaking display, I felt my way toward the one true God, not for the first time, but in a fresh new way that both comforted and refreshed. His mercies are new every morning, yes, and every evening too!  How small are my earthly concerns in comparison?  I'd gone out with only the intent of snapping a few pictures, but standing there, gnat-like in scale to the grand expanse above me, I was awed all over again by the God who "made the world and everything in it," who "gives life and breath to everything" and who cannot be contained in man-made temples. He is not far from any one of us.

            So, while this might sound too simple, and maybe even trite or cliché, I'm going to ask;  How long has it been since you stood outside like a child, and looked up into the sky until everything else fell away?

Daye Phillippo

July 2014