Can He Paint The Sky?

Can he paint the sky?

This question didn’t spring from the lips of a friend or family member. I did not hear it in a sermon, scroll across it in a post, or pick it up from eavesdropping on another conversation. No, this question was just a whisper in my own thoughts that God used to notch down a pedestal I’d been building to elevate someone in my thinking.

This profoundly simple inquiry reminded me that no matter how wonderful, successful, fun, or inspiring a person might be in my eyes and no matter how much value I think he or she could add to my life, there is no person on the face of this earth that can paint me a picture using the sky as a canvas and the rays of the rising sun as paint.

Only God can paint the sky. Only God is worthy of worship. Yet, the human heart is so prone to make people into idols.

In his book, When People Are Big and God Is Small, Edward T. Welch explains why:

“When we think of idols, we usually think first of Baal and other material, man-made creations. Next we might think of money. We rarely picture our spouse, children, or a friend from school. But people are our idol of choice. They pre-date Baal, money, and power. Like all idols, people are created things, not the Creator (Romans 1:25), and they do not deserve our worship. They are worshipped because we perceive that they have power to give us something. We think they can bless us.”

Even though there are great people and many who deserve our respect, love, and admiration, we are all human and flawed. Humans can never fully bless other humans and satisfy the longings in each other’s souls. When our hearts bow at the feet of other people, believing they hold the answers, acceptance, security, love, and hope our souls long for, our focus and attention shifts from the One who truly does have the power to meet our every need.

We constantly need reorientation. For me, God often uses his creation to redirect my worship and the sky frequently stirs the most awe.

The whisper I heard was certainly not the first time God used the heavens to probe a heart. In Isaiah 40:25-26, he asked,

“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing” (NIV).

No one compares. No one is equal. For proof we just need to lift up our eyes and listen as “the heavens declare the glory of God” and “proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1-4).

His stars painted against the night sky speak confidence to our hearts that the one who knows the name of every single star knows our names and will never overlook us. The breathtaking sunrises and sunsets that highlight the heavens testify of his magnificent beauty and faithfulness. No matter what happens today, good or bad, he will bring forth the sun again tomorrow and his love and mercy will be new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). The rainbows he sets above declare he is trustworthy, never breaking his word, and encourage us to press through the storm (Genesis 9:11-17). The flashes of light he scribbles against the stormy atmosphere proclaim his power and authority as they leave us humbled and awestruck (Job 38:35).

Indeed, the skies continually preach to our hearts that there is no one like him.

When I catch myself idolizing other people, I’m learning to look up and again ask myself “can they paint the sky?” They may be pretty fantastic but if they can’t paint me a sunrise and didn’t actually hang the moon, they don’t deserve my worship.