On my way to work this morning I saw something I don't normally see: beauty in the fog.
Before my rising, the fog had journeyed its way to find a nesting place between the sky-scraper buildings in downtown Providence. I am taken aback at how the fog somehow couraged every inch of its body and managed to stretch all of its bearing over the heart of this city. It was as if the fog wanted to declare this morning, "Let me hold you."
That's the glory of the Lord.
That's the glory of the Lord, I said to myself.
I drove deeper into the city rehearsing those words: that's the glory of the Lord, that's the glory of the Lord—meanwhile other thoughts ran rampant.
How does that look like the glory of the Lord?
Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?
Maybe fog isn't God's glory.
Where did you get this insane thought?
Maybe it's from here.
Genesis 2:4-8 says,
"This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not [yet] caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the ground, but there went up a mist (fog, vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted)."
*Words bolded for emphasis
I love how the translation The Voice puts verse 6-7:
"In those days, a mist rose up from the ground to blanket the earth and its vapors irrigated the land. One day the Eternal God scooped dirt out of the ground, sculpted it into the shape we call human, breathed the breath that gives life into the nostrils of the human, and the human became a living soul."
This fog I saw resting over the city today reminds me, God is watering the whole surface of the ground: the ground of my heart, the ground of the past, the ground of the lost, the ground of dying. God is saturating the grounds of the hard and soft places in my life. As He did in the beginning of creation, He is showering us with the vapors of grace so that from it He can form us by His breath and spirit of life so that we may be made alive!
"Don’t you know that He who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God? We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day, and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters. As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory." -Romans 8:27-30
God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Sometimes I don't see the point of the fog... but fog means rain, and rain means the sun will come again, and sun means rainbow, and rainbows mean God's promises. If you can't see past the fogs right now, rest assured that the glory of the Lord is here with us. Maybe it's through the fogs we are able to see that we've been called to a different destiny, one that allows us to experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory. Maybe it's through the waiting of the clouds to pass we can be convinced of this:
Sometimes I don't see the point of the fog... but fog means rain, and rain means the sun will come again, and sun means rainbow, and rainbows mean God's promises. If you can't see past the fogs right now, rest assured that the glory of the Lord is here with us. Maybe it's through the fogs we are able to see that we've been called to a different destiny, one that allows us to experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory. Maybe it's through the waiting of the clouds to pass we can be convinced of this:
Truly, the glory of the Lord is among us. He is holding us.
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