Wednesday, July 28, 2010

God Will See


Are you familiar with this painting? How about these?




Yes, I think you got it right! These are paintings on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel in Vatican City painted by Michelangelo, one of the greatest painters in his time.

Have you ever wondered how did Michelangelo finish his masterpiece? Was it really that he accomplished these paintings by himself alone?

Quoting Michaelangelo himself:

“After four tortured years, more than 400 over life-size figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become.”
As HowStuffWorks describes:

Working on scaffolding was physically demanding, and Michelangelo created image after image on an ever increasing scale. He eventually exerted all the power of his mind and spirit, using themes and motifs from past sculptural works in his glorious fresco masterpiece. The four-year ordeal proved physically and emotionally agonizing for the reluctant artist…
Perhaps what have struck me the most was his response when someone asked him why so serious painting those images even on parts of the ceiling where no one could notice. And I also asked myself, “Yeah, why bother to exert your effort to paint something that eventually only a few could notice?”

Michelangelo’s reply to that inquiry was:

“God will see.”
It was just a three-short-word sentence, and yet it contains a profound truth. This calls for a great commitment – Michelangelo gave all of him in order to accomplish a task he voluntarily accepted.

Are you currently in a certain task and it seems it demands your commitment? Moreover, are you performing your task with all of your heart, energy, and passion, and yet it seems it ends up that you’ve got unnoticed and unrecognized?

As Ephesians 6:5-8 says:

Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.
I hope every time we are tempted to lose heart and get discouraged, we could pause for a while and say:

“God will see.”
© 2010 Erickson Ibana