The Story

So the thought which seems natural to follow is my art should do the same.

As this thought is tumbling through the back of my mind, Chan continues on describing the glory of God. He uses Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6 for his example, putting together a verbal image of the throne room of God. In my mind, I tried to picture the image, and what kept catching my eye are the Seraphim. The winged beasts covered with eyes, who use their wings to cover their face and never stop declaring, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

Could I do that?

I have a hard enough time trusting that God is really who the bible describes Him to be without seeing Him. Would I be able to stand in His presence, cover my face from seeing Him and still declare His glory?

My pride tells me the answer is no. I have struggled and wrestled with this issue. You see, I believe God created us with purpose and design. Naturally, this leads me to believe we should live this purpose and design out. Here is the space where Satan so often tries sneak in. It may be because I am a words of affirmation person. It may be because I am a middle child. It may be because I am crazy. I never feel like people notice. I always feel like if I can just fulfill my destiny, then…then they will notice.

What kind of destiny is that? Sounds a little Anakin Skywalker to me. 

You see, my purpose and design is to bring glory to God. Not to myself. As much as I struggle with the thoughts of “If I am living out who God made me to be, then why shouldn’t I reap the benefits?” I have to recognize it is a slippery slope between reaping the blessings of God and living for the Harvest. 

As I was laying in bed last night, I think I was able to finally put into words how I understand God’s concern for His glory, in my own small way. It looks like this:

God wants humanity to know who He is.

God is glorious.

It is my job to let that glory be shown through me, so humanity knows who he is.

So lets get back to the tumbling art and the Seraphim. I decided I needed something to remind myself of the posture which I need to take when approaching God: to cover my eyes, to have no expectations, and to declare His glory. So I carved these rubber stamps, my interpretation of the Seraphim. I look forward to using them to make journals and other art in a hope to to point others to the lesson which I am trying so hard to learn; to point them to the glory of God.