Recently, I read a story
about an Indiana man who went to a rummage sale and spent a few dollars on a
couple of pieces of used furniture and an old painting of some flowers. When
the man got home with his new purchases, he decided to hang the painting strategically
over a hole in his living room wall.
A few years later, he was
playing a board game called Masterpiece in which players try to outbid
one another for famous artwork. Much to his surprise, one of the cards in the
game featured a painting of flowers that looked strikingly similar to the one
he had hanging on the wall:
Intrigued, he began
researching on the Internet and discovered that his painting resembled the work
of Martin Johnson Heade, a 19th-century American painter best known
for landscapes and flower still-lifes. Wondering if he were onto something, he
emailed Kennedy Galleries in Manhattan (which handles many of Heade’s works)
and asked if they would be willing to take a look at his painting. They agreed,
and, after examining the painting, were able to authenticate it as a previously
unknown work by Heade subsequently named, Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth. “This is an important discovery, and the
painting is a magnificent example of Heade’s work at its best,”[i]
said Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., author of the definitive book on Heade’s
paintings.
As a result, the Museum of
Fine Arts in Houston purchased the painting from the man for an incredible $1.2
million. Not a bad return for a few dollars investment! The man (who has chosen
to remain anonymous) is no doubt now living somewhere in Indiana in a house
without holes in the walls.
I can’t imagine how exciting it was for this man to realize
that he unknowingly had a masterpiece hanging on his wall. He thought he was
living with something ordinary, but all this time he had a treasure hiding in
plain sight.
Like that painting, the presence of God is with us all the
time, even when we don’t recognize it. It is just as David wrote so beautifully
in Psalms:
Where
can I go from your Spirit?
Where
can I flee from your presence?
If
I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if
I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If
I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if
I settle on the far side of the sea,
even
there your hand will guide me,
Your
right hand will hold me fast.
(139:7-10)
There is nowhere we can go that God is not present. He is
with us at work, while running errands, on the golf course, when the kids are
screaming. He is present with me as I write this, and right there with you as
you read it. He is a treasure hidden in plain sight, just waiting for us to
discover Him.
I tend to think of God as being present where I “left” Him –
in the chair in my bedroom where I read my Bible, or in the church sanctuary
where I was last Sunday. But, when I remember that He is with me wherever I go,
I can reach out to Him to receive just what I need in that moment, whether it’s
strength, wisdom, or just the joy of knowing that He’s there.
A.
W. Tozer said, “At the heart of the Christian message is God Himself waiting
for His redeemed children to push in to conscious awareness of His presence.”
Are
you aware of His presence today?
[i] Judith Dobrzynski, “Painting Packs a
Million Dollar Surprise,” June 4, 1999,
www.nytimes.com/1999/06/04/arts/painting-packs-a-million-dollar-surprise.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm.
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