God’s Art is Awesome
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Psalm 102:25
Yirah, 2020
Oil on canvas
20” x 16”
God’s art is awesome and it is all around us! His glorious brush strokes can be seen on every flower, every mountain, every starry night, and every sunset. All of Creation boasts the glory of God and bares His fingerprints.
It is not uncommon in the art world, for one artist to drawn inspiration from another artist’s work. As God is the creator of the “every-everything,” I consider Him to be the original Master Artist and the beauty of His creation inspires me on a regular basis.
The inspiration for this piece was one of those lovely unexpected moments. First, allow me to start by telling you where I wasn’t - I was not on vacation at some idyllic destination, nor was I at a picturesque national park, nor even at a lookout point on our local trails. I was at our storage unit. How is that for amazing?! I was running errands with my sister and we happened to look up. We both just sat in awe, totally captivated by the beautiful scene unfolding before us.
As I attempted to recreate this awe inspiring moment with paint, a devotional I once read came to my mind. The devotional was part of a Bible reading plan called 7 More Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. On the 3rd day of this plan, author Dave Adamson introduced the word “yirah” (יִרְאָה). The Hebrew word yirah is commonly translated in English as the word “fear.” This, however, is a gross simplification of the term and a bit of a misrepresentation. A more appropriate interpretation would be, “to behold with awe or reverence.” Dave Adamson used the example of experiencing a sunset to better illustrate this feeling:
When my wife and I saw this red sky over our backyard in Georgia, we called our girls to see it too because we were in awe. We were in awe of the colors, the shapes, and the God who created this spectacular scene. The Hebrew word we translate as “awe” is yirah, which also means “respect, reverence, and worship.” Yirah also means “fear.” I grew up thinking to “fear the Lord” meant to be afraid of Him, but as we watched this stunning sunset, I didn't feel fear. I felt awe and reverence. I felt yirah. (Day 3, 7 More Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know).
Difficult subject; awesome rendering. Interesting to see how you worked out the colors & how the colors played out against the tree line. Great to be introduced to a new Hebrew word [& the book it was in] - it enriches my understanding. Are 'stables' and storage units somehow connected? And the kittens are back :)
ReplyDeleteI’m so happy you enjoyed the post Shirley :) …and yes, the kitties are back! In answer to your question, the horse-stall looking things are actually large bays at the storage complex.
DeleteI felt yirah seeing the angelic-looking cloud in the center (of photo and of painting)!
ReplyDeleteWow, there is an angel in there! Thank you for pointing that out my anonymous friend! :)
DeleteI have to admit, it would be really cool to see God's actual paint brush. Could you imagine the colors he would have on his palette?
ReplyDelete