The phrase ‘delicate power’ might as well be an oxymoron. Humanity only knows of a certain kind of power; one that is closely associated with force, one that accomplishes a specific function and has the ability to override the hindering factors. The threatening nature of power is what makes it, well, powerful, and this model is what we generally follow when we try to create circumstances that would garner power to ourselves against others.
Yet, when we look at nature, we find another model of power that is complete, harmonious, and considerate. Nature models a type of power that can co-exist with delicate things and delicate beings, and this is what convinces me that God is such a brilliant, ingenious, out-of-this-world, mind-blowing engineer.
If you have any bit of interest in the marine life, you know that the moon practically governs this underwater universe that covers more than 70% of the surface of the earth. Its cycle directly influences the tidal forces of seas and oceans, dictating the rhythm of life of billions and trillions of living creatures. When you and I go to sleep at night, these creatures wake up and with the currents in the depths of the water, travel upward to search for food, mate, and live, and a whole bio-dynamics take place in pitch darkness. Many of these night creatures are the transparent ones, oddly shaped, electrified, and bioluminescent; they’re very delicate creatures.
At night, life is busy underwater, the forces at work are strong, yet you and I don’t feel anything or know anything about it. Most days I look at the moon and think, “Oh, that’s nice.” I think of it no more than an accessory for the homogenously dark sky, and everyday it appears in a slightly different shape. Couples stare at full moons or stroll underneath its light, thinking of it as no more than a prop to enhance romantic moods. But this seemingly harmless, innocuous circle in the sky IS the ‘light that rules the night.’
Think of gravity and how it works. This force that keeps us from getting dispersed into space, is so delicate that it took mankind a while to ‘discover’ it. I mean, it’s always been there. Yet it’s so subtly intervolved with our moment by moment experience that most times we don’t even think about it. Yes, we see its evidence, that when we jump we always come back down. But we don’t find ourselves struggling to pick our foot up like it’s being glued to the ground. Nor do we get zapped back to the surface of the earth when we jump like what happens to opposing magnetic poles. Our vertical movements are, on a day to day basis, free.
But this same force governs celestial bodies and their movements. It keeps the earth in its orbit, and it keeps the moon around too. Powerful, but very delicate.
And then you read, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom 1:20. The parallel is marvelous…
Ah, I love it!!
“Nature and revelation alike testify of God’s love.” (STC)