Experiencing awe: God’s power and Yosemite
Look for “grace notes” as little signs of God
One of the things keeping me busy during lockdown is going through old photographs. The other focus is finding ways to draw closer to God and build my faith to deal with this trying time. During quarantine, when it seems our senses are heightened, I look for overlap and places where the same message is coming to me through different means. I call these things “grace notes.” One of these happened immediately when I watched my father’s Bible study after seeing this photograph of Yosemite Valley. A “grace note” was speaking to me about the awe-inspiring power of God and what this means for us during this time.
Being in awe of God
There are moments in life when I need to be woken up and startled by the power of God. Just like last week when the darkness of Easter overwhelmed me, this week I am struck by the magnitude of God’s power. He is the creator God whose power is evidenced at Yosemite. That view which was so huge and magnificent was just one tiny piece of evidence. Just this glimpse of the results God’s power at in the Yosemite Valley overwhelmed me. It was all I could handle. Is that why we can only think about how vast and magnificent our universe is for a brief time before getting freaked out? If we saw all of God’s might at once, we could not handle it. For just that second while my heart raced and my breath caught, I could experience God. What an amazing, fearful gift!
Glimpses of His power are enough
I can only imagine how the disciples felt after spending the day with Jesus. That night at dinner when they realized it was Him. Seeing Him break the bread just like at the last supper. There was a glimpse of God’s love and grace. It is as if the full power and impact of the resurrected Christ would be too much to bear. In fact, at the very moment of the disciple’s realization, Jesus vanishes. Does he vanish to protect them in some way? Would they feel the full crushing weight of their sin and the resulting suffering He had just endured? How much undiluted power can we endure? Would they briefly glimpse the power He now held over death….and therefore, they did now, too?
Look for “grace notes” all around you
These two reminders (“grace notes”) of God’s awe-inspiring power, in Yosemite and in Scripture, soothed my anxious heart this week. Watching the world fight this invisible virus and the seeing the death and pain it is leaving in its wake, I feel uncertainty and fear. The ground has been removed from under my feet in so many ways. But my faith is something I can cling to. God created everything which is and knows exactly how this all ends even if I have no idea. I am comforted not only that He is all-knowing, but for the reminder that He is all-powerful and beyond anything I can experience or imagine. Like the disciples recognizing Jesus raised from the dead. Just as my husband and I gazing at this magnificent view at Yosemite. I remind myself my God is almighty and greater than all my fears and worries. It is the experience of the Psalmist.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2
