Beautiful Destruction?
The Big Ditch. The Monster Pit. I’ve heard a number of odd terms applied to the Grand Canyon since I visited there. It is absolutely breath-taking and mind-boggling in its enormity and variety. I found one website that had more than fifty nicknames and Native American names for this amazing geology.[i]
I have read the most common theories of how it came to be. They all include some sort of either long-term or sudden, massive, catastrophic erosion. All the tell-tale signs are there, from the shapes of the points to the curving, carving appearance of the Colorado River winding along the bottom. There are layers upon layers of the earth’s crust exposed. Regardless of its origin, the appearance is almost universally described as “beautiful.”
Such descriptions puzzle me somewhat because erosion is normally associated with destruction. From floods to hurricanes to oceanic tides to glaciers, the power of water in whatever form to reshape the surface of the earth is overwhelming. The Grand Canyon is only one example. Most of the time, in my experience, erosion is not perceived as a good thing. I’m not sure whether we don’t like uncontrolled changes to our landscapes, or we want to preserve certain aspects of the world around us, but it seems that erosion is something to be avoided. So, what do we do with the Grand Canyon? It is at the same time astoundingly beautiful and one of the biggest displays of erosion on the planet!
In my mind, I can look at it in two ways – beautiful in its destruction, or a display of something much greater: God’s divine nature. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he makes a case for the latter. In verse 20, he says, “…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…”
After I recovered from the initial shock of my first look over the rim of the Grand Canyon (see my previous blog entry), I was struck by the behavior of the people around me. We all talked in whispers, walked slowly and quietly, and were polite (almost to the point of absurdity) with one another. There was a sense of awe that could not be denied! How in the world can an enormous erosion scar in the ground inspire awe? I believe it is because it displays the glory of the Creator God. We simply cannot encounter something of that magnitude and not be awed.
To compare, I think back on my times of wandering the city centers of some of our nation’s biggest metropolises. Chicago and New York come to mind. Standing at the foot of the Willis Tower or the Empire State Building is impressive, to be sure. But I didn’t see anyone stopping and looking up in awe. The times I’ve visited, I noticed that some took pictures, others pointed and gawked, but nobody spoke quietly, or acted in a particularly gracious manner. After all, we could all go inside, and with the right arrangements, be whisked to the top in just a few minutes. Once again, the view was impressive there, too. But it didn’t inspire awe the way the Grand Canyon does. After all, even the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE) at 2,717 feet tall[ii] is less than half the depth of the Grand Canyon at 6,093 feet![iii]
To address my other way of looking at this phenomenal sight, I also believe that God has a way of creating beauty even in destruction. We live in a broken world, but even in the midst of tragedy and catastrophe, the Lord brings beauty to the surface. It mostly comes from human souls, too. Kindness and generosity, willing sacrifice and compassion abound when bad things happen. And then, after the initial shock, there may even be beauty to be seen. Like the things that bloom and grow after a forest fire that could otherwise never be perceived, our God has a way of bringing beauty from ashes (see Isaiah 61:1-3).
Today, maybe we need to get out into the natural world and be awed. The Grand Canyon may not be available to us, but our Lord’s character may be found in the humblest of plants or the beauty of a sunrise. Get out there and encounter the living God!
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[i] https://nicknamedb.com/grand_canyon
[ii] https://www.topseee.com/2021/12/top-10-tallest-buildings-in-world-2022.html
[iii] https://sciencetrends.com/how-deep-is-the-grand-canyon/