For You are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. Psalm 36:9
âI was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it. Then I moved so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.â âC.S. Lewis
âSo we can say that when we âlook alongâ the heavens and not just âatâ the heavens, they succeed in their aim of âdeclaring the glory of God.â That is, we see the glory of God, not just the glory of the heavens. We donât just stand outside and analyze the natural world as a beam, but we let the beam fall on the eyes of our heart, so that we see the source of the beautyâthe original Beauty, God Himself. Â This is the essential key to unlocking the proper use of the physical world of sensation for spiritual purposes. All of Godâs creation becomes a beam to be âlooked alongâ or a sound to be âheard alongâ or a fragrance to be âsmelled alongâ or a flavor to be âtasted alongâ or a touch to be âfelt along.â âJohn PiperÂ
Craig T. Owens 