God's Dawn: Of Silhouettes, Light, Color, and Truth

It's 5 am, and I sit waiting for the morning sun to come up over the beach.

I sip my coffee and listen to the magnificent, incessant roar of the ocean.

I am in no hurry.

This is the first morning of our vacation, and I pray that God will slow down time.

Okay, only Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:10-11) gets that one.

So I'll simply savor each moment.

Predawn Drab Gray

Looking out the window, I see only silhouettes of items.

I see some beach plants and bushes. There is another building nearby. But none of these things have distinct features, not in this night light that is now transitioning into the predawn drab gray.

I wonder, how dull life would be if this were as bright as it ever got. There would be no need for various colors on our houses or cars. All would be drab gray. Formerly beautiful and colorful flowers would be appreciated only for their scent, and not their colors. However, on the "bright side," you would not be able to see my gray hair on my head and in my beard.

Color is apparent only as certain light rays hit the item in question. An old Moody Blues song has lines in it that say,

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
removes the colors from our sight
red is gray and yellow white
but we decide which is right
and which is an illusion

Cold-Hearted Orb

The "cold-hearted orb that rules the night" is the moon. And, due to the fact that it does not put off enough light, since it only reflects light, the true colors of what we look at are not apparent.

For instance, take a lemon, an apple, and an orange, and go outside at night with only the moon's light, and chances are that the yellow, red, and orange colors will not be discernible. The less light, the less color.

More coffee. More wonderment at God's creation, this thing called the ocean.

The Sun's Glory

Ah, the sun is now beginning to show its glory, and the clouds in the sky are beginning to take form as the sun's light allows me to see the clouds' edges.

On the ground more small things are coming into view but they are still silhouettes. I see even more plants now, and the windows on the building are now coming into view. Still, there are no real colors as of yet, but more outlines are now discernible.

Coffee cup is empty . . . time to get another cup. But I don't want to miss the "show." For some reason, on this wondrous morning, God's dawn is more exciting than a Schwarzenegger movie. I know it sounds corny, but I am riveted by the various items coming into view as the sun wakes up the west coast.

I know that there is an enormous rock called Haystack Rock, in the ocean just outside my window, and I want to see its silhouette as soon as the sun permits. Do I take the chance and get another cup of coffee, or do I stay here staring outside my window at a dark gray mass that I think is the ocean and Haystack Rock?

Another Cup of Coffee

I made it . . . I now have another cup of coffee and I am back at my perch, waiting for the morning sun to reveal God's handiwork.

Ah! The nearby building is brown. The clouds are more distinct, and there it is, the silhouette of Haystack Rock is now coming into view. There are orange highlights in the sky above. The ocean which was apparent to me just moments ago by sound alone now has white wave crests.

What's that? A gray bird just flew by and landed on a post in the sand nearby. A seagull no doubt.

My eyes are now darting to and fro, from one item to another. I want to "catch" the emerging colors, but there is so much to take in. The grass . . . no surprise, is green. But, for some reason, it is a green unlike any other I have seen before. It is a green that is deserved. I have waited for it, and now I have been rewarded. The brown building nearby has hunter green trim.

Haystack Rock is also brown, but it is a different brown than the building.

Some of the plants nearby have shades of brown and a few actually are giving up their favors of yellow. Wow! Yellow, and blue, and violet.

Quickly I shift my eyes to the rock in the ocean. Green! There is green! I wonder what's growing on that huge rock that is the color green?

Oh, that seagull is a mature bird. Its not just a gray bird. It has gray feathers and a white breast and white tail feathers, and I think I can seed a yellow beak.

Smaller birds are now visible near the water's edge. Were they not there before, or was I just unable to discern them for lack of light?

All of a sudden, I feel my body relax and settle back into my chair. I hadn't even realized it but I had been on the edge of my chair watching a most spectacular event. I had to laugh at myself. That cup of hot coffee that seemed so important a while ago is now tepid. I took one sip when I got it, but it had set untouched as I marveled at the display of light and objects and color outside my window.

Color is now everywhere. It is impossible now to look at anything and not see color. What I had assumed were just drab plants nearby are well-placed and manicured flowers. The brown building not only has hunter green trim, but some other rather odd artistic choices of color as well.

The sea birds, both big and small are not all gray.

Haystack Rock has various shades of brown and green and gold and white.

I Vote for Light

Oh, lest I forget, and in case you didn't know, the ocean is blue. The sky is blue as well, only it's a different shade of blue than the ocean. In fact, all across the sky are different shades of blue intermingled with various clouds of different shades of white.

My vote is in. I vote for light. It's so wonderful. It's so living and active. Thank God for light. Because of it, the colors of life are apparent and discernible.

Light is good. I wonder if this is why Genesis 1:3-4 says, "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness."

Think of it. I watched this morning as God "separated the light from the darkness." In some small sense, I watched God's creation this morning. Oh, how marvelous. I need to do this again next year when I am here on vacation.

Our Spiritual Lives Need Light Too

In our spiritual lives, the more light we have, the more discerning we will be. In spiritual terms, light is truth. And, Jesus Christ is the light of all mankind. Think of it. Jesus has come as the one true light that shines in the darkness of mankind's spiritual night, but those who choose to live in the darkness have not allowed his light to show forth the colors of truth in their lives. Without Christ's light, spirituality is at best one dull, gray mass. Many things are indiscernible. People without Christ argue about God, heaven, hell, good, and evil. But, in Christ's light, all of these things are discernible. The light allows us to clearly see the details of spirituality's items and colors.

In Jesus Christ is life, and that life is the light of men. Jesus came so that through him all people might be able to discern the truth (the colors) and believe. The true light, Jesus Christ, gives light to every person. And, to all who receive him, to those who believe in him, he gives the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Jesus Christ became flesh and lived among us. Those who accept him have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

For the gray silhouette of the law was given through Moses, but the wonderful colors of grace and truth come through Jesus Christ, the one and only Lord (John 1).

It's simple really. Without the light of God, that is, Jesus Christ, God's unique Son, there is no way to properly discern the colors of life and death.

Those who do not know Jesus Christ sit in darkness; they sit in perpetual predawn dark looking out their windows at items around them but never truly know their form or color. But for those who accept Christ, the Bible has this to say:

The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isa. 9:2–Matt. 4:16).