I have been taking
photographs late in the night recently. On a few
occasions, broken clouds and rolling fog have covered
the moon, and left me waiting for the opportunity
to snap my pictures. I have waited patiently during
these cold winter nights, and taken the pause to
reflect why I love the fog so much.
I do love the fog.
I love to walk in it. I love to watch it roll by.
I even love to drive in it. But, as I sat waiting
for photographs to unveil, I realized that what
I love most about the fog is not the fog itself.
What I love is when the fog rolls back and begins
to reveal what it has been hiding.
Fog is like the mystery
of religion. The glory of mystery is not that it
is hidden, but that the mystery is rolled back and
we discover beauty behind the veil of secrecy which
previously hid it. The Apostle Paul speaks of the
mystery of the Gospel as being something which has
been hidden and is now being revealed. The wonderousness
of God is not that He is hidden from us, but that
His magnificence shall be revealed to us someday.
The fog rolled back
periodically and gave me opportunity to take my
snapshots. Shadows of trees and homes would appear
in the mist, and create images which a clear night
could not have occasioned. The clouds would open
up around the moon for brief glimpses and offer
a beauty which the open sky could not have presented.
The glory of these beautiful scenes were not simply
because they were hidden, the beauty was discovered
at the moment of unveiling. This is why I love the
fog.
This is also why I
love God. During patient waiting I may sit through
extended periods of personal fog, but if I wait
long enough the fog rolls back and the glory of
His truth and character is revealed. The mysteries
of true religion are not beautiful because they
are incomprehensible, they are beautiful because
they offer moments of unveiling when the fog rolls
away, and I can catch glimpses of beauty and wisdom.
The glory of mystery
is like the glory of the fog. The beauty of it is
found when it rolls back to offer a peek at the
majesty behind it.
