Yosemite’s Majestic Beauty: A Powerful Reflection of God’s Infinite Power
Yosemite National Park is one of the most glorious places on earth. Tucked deep into the High Sierra mountains of California, this park covers nearly 1,200 square miles with elevations ranging from 2,000 to 13,000 feet. Famous for the granite monolith Half Dome, giant sequoia trees, iconic vistas of Bridal Veil Falls, and meadows filled with flowers, Yosemite is a testament of God’s creative power. One glance up at its soaring cliffs and you immediately think of the majesty of God, just as Romans says.
“What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”
Romans 1:19-20
Over the years, I have made several trips to the valley floor of this national park. One late afternoon in the 1980s, I sat in a grassy meadow and gazed up to marvel at the long, deep shadows cast by the sun across the rocks. The rocks seemed to glow with life, and everything around me felt as though I were in a forest cathedral. It reminded me of John Muir’s words in his book The Yosemite, “But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its wall seems to glow with life.” I was enthralled.
Later, I worked to capture that same breathlessness in a composition of watercolors. Because I hold my paintbrush between my teeth, I cannot control watery paints very well. I wanted to capture the startling crispness of the granite walls, but that required long, straight strokes. With dogged determination, I dabbed my wet brush into the paint and slowly inhaled then exhaled three times to steady my nerves. Only then did I lay the brush on the paper. I painted each face of the cliff in one continuous stroke. I did it! The line of granite was unbroken. After finishing each section of the cliffs, and before painting the next, I would say to myself, “I can do all things through Christ who not only strengthens but … relaxes me.”
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:13
My careful effort and total focus brought about an image that comes rather close to capturing that glorious afternoon in Yosemite. And yet, the Bible talks about the splendor of creation—the splendor of even so massive a granite skyscraper as El Capitan—as the work of God’s fingers.
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place…”
Psalm 8:3
God created the world—mountains, oceans, planets, animals, and even humans—by the work of his fingers. God used his fingers to mold mountain ranges, carve out rivers, and ladle full the seas. Creation is not only God’s handiwork, but God’s finger-work.
However, when the Bible speaks about what it took to save us, it’s by his strong arm. Redeeming sinful people could not be just the finger work of God. It took the very life of Jesus the Son of God. The blood, sweat, and tears of Calvary accomplished our salvation through the work of God’s mighty arm.
“The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”
Isaiah 52:10
It may have been easy effort to create the world, but it was no easy effort for Jesus to go to the cross. As sons and daughters of God, we are the glorious result of the work of his holy arm. All the beautiful things in this world—including the Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite—pale in comparison to the salvation God wrought for us. So, if you happen to find yourself at the foot of El Capitan in a late afternoon’s glow, thank God for his majesty and power… but most of all, thank the Lord for your salvation!
– Joni Eareckson Tada
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