I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the countless ways
that God, in creation, expresses His simultaneously faithful consistency and
creative originality.
In Isaiah 43 (as in many other passages) God reminds His
children of His faithful, dependable love for them and goodness toward them
with statements like,
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you,”
“I will be with you,”
“I am your Savior,”
“I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush
and Seba in exchange for you,”
“you are precious in my eyes,”
“I love you.”
And then He makes this statement:
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do
you not perceive it? I will make a way
in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:19
In the creation of music, one of the most captivating and
emotive phenomena in human experience, God speaks to us about His consistent
character yet continual originality. Music,
a sequence of notes performed in rhythm, must always maintain an established
tempo and musical key, yet within that tempo and key the notes may be spaced
and sequenced in any variety of ways to create a unique and original piece. Unless a composition includes both a
consistent and unchanging beat as well as a creative and varied arrangement of
notes, the result is mere noise. When
the constancy and originality are harmoniously paired together, however, the
product can, as Plato put it, “give soul to the universe, wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
Visual art reflects a similar dynamic. Our eyes are drawn to shades of paint on a
canvas because of the simultaneous order and variance present when a harmonious
palette of colors (harmonious because of their precise spacing from one another
on the visible spectrum) is arranged in a completely new and original way
before us.
He is good.
He is loving.
He brings beauty out of chaos.
We can count on it.
Yet He is always expressing these attributes in new and
creative ways.
He is faithful and unchanging, yet His scope of expression
is as infinite as the frequencies within a musical key. As boundless as the potential arrangements of
color from a palette.
I’m so excited to see what God will do next!
No comments:
Post a Comment