This August, my wife and I enjoyed a much-anticipated trip to Alaska for our 40th anniversary. As we sailed from Seattle, we saw Mount Rainier from our cruise ship balcony. Like many things of beauty, though, there were challenges. Weather prevented us from sailing around the Endicott Glacier. In Juneau we went to Tongass National Park and saw the stunning views of the Mendenhall Glacier and hiked in the refreshing coolness of the rain forest. The next day, it was closed because of flooding, a symbol of life filled with beauty and splendor, countered by disappointments, frustrations, and unplanned detours. Nature is amazingly beautiful, but can be very difficult.

So how do we find beauty in the brokenness?

Find beauty in the power and presence of God

Psalm 8 declares:

1 Oh Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.

2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength.” (Psalm 8;1-2, NLT).

Here we find hope in the presence, power, and provision of our Lord (Adonai) and Jehovah [Yaweh) our personal covenant keeping God, suggesting God props us up, providing support. When life hurts, I need God to prop me up. As I held my brother’s hand giving him the meds to his last breath, when my nephew died of cancer at 13, when I watched the helicopter transport my son, when a white faced doctor said “your wife has breast cancer,” when doctors told me twice “you have cancer,” when I dealt with my own sins and failures – I needed that support. And, when I stood with countless people on the worst day of their lives, we needed that support. During tragedy, God’s beauty is seen as he walks beside us.

The “majesty” of God used in the beginning and end of this chapter, is from the Hebrew word “adar” which means “excellent” and comes from a word meaning “wide” or “large”; “powerful” (BDB Lexicon).

God’s love, power, grace and mercy are “large” and “wide” to all humanity and this broken world.

God “silences our enemies.” Enemies are people who hate or mistreat us or anything that opposes us. It could be addictions, afflictions, or our own thinking. God changed my mind about myself.

The term “silence” derives from “sabatu” meaning to” cease, desist, rest.” The noun form “shabath” is familiar to us as “Sabbath.”

In scripture, shabath suggests rest or stopping touching all of life. Work pauses, wars cease, hearts find shelter and rest in God, and invites us into sacred rest climaxing in God’s final work.

Amid a broken world, God’s power and presence is displayed in creation and his love. Often, we see it in the silence not always recognized. God himself will make everything right in its time. Scripture clearly tells us wars, suffering, and death will cease. Even death is not a final story, because he promises resurrection hope! If you are in a time of “silence,” perhaps God is working, and rest assured, he has the final word, and one day will silence hatred, violence, suffering and death.

Find beauty in the creating and sustaining power of God

“3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers–

the moon and the stars you set in place–

4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.” (NLT)

I love the Message paraphrase:

“I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,

Your handmade sky-jewelry,

Moon and stars mounted in their settings.

Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,

Why do you bother with us?

Why take a second look our way? ”

As we looked out at the amazing glaciers and hiked the cool freshness of the rain forest and saw the moonlight on the ocean, we were struck with the sheer beauty of God’s work as an artist painting the amazing Alaskan and Canadian skies. The sunset on the ocean sang loudly of the beauty from God, and the moonlight displayed his care in the darkness of night.

Find beauty as a special display of God’s creation

Talking about humanity, the psalmist in verses 4-6 reveals the apex of God’s creation-us:

“4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You gave them charge of everything you made.”

I used to be down on myself and saw only my weaknesses, failures, and more. Certainly, we are fallen beings who desperately need a Savior. However, that does not change the fact God made us in His Image. God helped me understand that putting myself down wasn’t godly nor helpful. Being bullied as a kid, and feeling unworthy because of not being athletic, or smart enough, or attractive enough wore me down and led to serious dysfunction in my life. Thankfully, God’s grace prevailed. My peers in Clinical Pastoral Education enabled me to say “yes I am an excellent Chaplain” for example. That is not prideful but acknowledges the gift and grace of God in my life.

Working in healthcare, the amazing creation of humanity always puts me in awe. The structures, organs, and electronics of the body are amazing. Ekg’s measuring electric currents, lab tests reveal a life-giving balance. As a cancer survivor I learned about cell structure and treatments. Proton Therapy with negatively charged particles delivered thousands of times the speed of light effectively saved my life.

Are you struggling with who God is, especially for this season of your life?

Focus on the beauty, holiness, character, and excellence of God himself and beholding that beauty find hope for this broken world.

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Dan Hamilton is chaplain at Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital.