If God is to reveal his glory to us experientially, he needs a context in which to do it. Our life journey with its various landscapes is that setting. But, before we consider this topic, let’s review some principles already discussed regarding God’s glory.
- God is serious about his glory.
- His glory is the revelation of his attributes.
- God wants each of us to know his glory in a personal/experiential way.
- His glory can only be experienced through a variety of different circumstances.
- It takes faith to see the fingerprint of God’s glory in our lives.
A key question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do we want to know God and his glory, or are we content to just use him?” Several years ago, I was discipling an executive vice president of a large aerospace company. We met weekly at a Denny’s near the company headquarters. It was not a restaurant where he usually ate breakfast. After a few months of meeting, he said, “Do you know why I like meeting with you?” I initially thought of the wisdom I was passing on. But he said, “It is because you relate to me for who I am rather than what I can do for you. Almost everyone in my life is trying to use me.”
If we are to know God, we must be willing to travel through various landscapes to see his multifaceted nature. As a young boy living in Iowa, the farthest we traveled from home was our annual weekly fishing vacation in Minnesota, which looked much like Iowa except for the lakes. Then, one year in the late 1950s, we broke family tradition with a venturesome road trip to San Diego, CA. Up to that time, my only knowledge of our planet’s various landscapes was from looking through a National Geographic magazine. But pictures, good as they were in the magazine, were the result of someone else’s experience, not my own.
The interstate system in the 1950s was just being built, so we traveled much of the way on old Route 66. Each state we went through offered a new vista of unique beauty. Without the aid of smartphones, video games, and DVD movies, the only thing we had for travel entertainment was admiring the countryside. Without the aid of air conditioning, keeping the windows down was necessary for survival, but it also allowed us to smell, feel, and taste what each landscape had to offer.
To my parent’s credit, the purpose of our cross-country trip was not simply to get to our intended destination but to experience the wonders of the American western landscape. Unfortunately, with today’s interstate highway system, we usually trade travel expedience for experience.
One of the purposes of the Bible narrative is to record the story of God and his people as they travel over life’s various landscapes. Cultures and lifestyles change over time, but the landscapes remain the same, save for the addition of technology. So, while reading the Bible stories and learning how God showed up in history can be motivating, it can be like reading National Geographic. But are we substituting historical pictures for personal experience?
Over the following few blogs, I want to look at eight common landscapes we travel through on our faith journey. Since each person’s journey is unique, the amount of time we spend in each setting will vary, as will the order. But over our lifetime, it is safe to say we will all spend some time in each of these life landscapes. Most of them cannot be experienced from the interstate. We will need to get off the freeway and onto some two-lane, even dirt roads if we are to experience them first-hand.
Some of the landscapes are by divine appointment; we wouldn’t choose to go there. If we were honest, some of them we would rather avoid. Yet because God is serious about his glory, he will take us there by his sovereign hand. He takes us there to show us something of his glory, not to make life hard.
However, some of the landscapes we travel through result from our rebellion, foolishness, and folly. Yet even then, we have the promise that God can turn guck into glory (Romans 8:28-29). No experience needs to be wasted if we are committed to knowing God in all his glory.
As we explore each landscape, we will examine them through the grid of:
- Typography
- Effect
- God’s fingerprint
- Observations
- Response
The classic Christian allegory, Pilgrims Progress, published in 1684, is built on a similar theme of a journey through various landscapes. The story follows “Christian” a pilgrim on his journey to the Celestial City. Along the way, he encounters various landscapes that challenge and strengthen his faith: Delectable Mountain, Doubting Castle, Palace Beautiful, Valley of Humiliation, and Slough of Despair.
Like “Christian”, our journey towards the Celestial City will take us over various landscapes. Each one presents opportunities to learn lessons, take pictures, and tell stories. But the critical issue will be what we see of God as we encounter each one: How does God show up? What we discover about God along this journey becomes our “life song” – Psalm (see TAD Blog 90).
The book of Revelation tells us that the landscapes on the other side of the Celestial City are unlike those on this side. “Eternal life” (John 17:3) is where we will continue to discover new aspects of his glory, glory that can only be experienced in our new, resurrected bodies.
Since our future home will not include pain, suffering, or evil, there are aspects of God’s glory we can only experience in our current, fallen world. One way God turns cosmic rebellion into victory is by showing us his multifaceted nature in our broken world. For example, we can only experience God’s forgiveness of sin and comfort in pain in a broken world.
If God wanted us just to know his nature only cognitively, he would have given us a doctrinal encyclopedia with a list and explanation. He tells us through the lives of his people in the biblical narrative and he shows us in the context of our own personal “Route 66.”
Those who have gone before us, having experienced the glory of God, are cheering us on not just to finish, but to experience Christ in all his glory along the way.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith… let us run with endurance the race God has set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus… (Hebrews 12:1-2).
For Reflection
- What other aspects of God’s nature are highlighted by a broken world?
- What is your favorite “National Geographic” picture in the Old Testament? What does it reveal about God?