an excerpt from: Cover Art

An excerpt from: Cover Art

Adrian Johnston, a friend of mine, painted the piece I am using for the cover art. I have been so blessed to hear of God’s mercy in Adrian’s life, and it’s been a great pleasure to wrestle along with Adrian towards a greater knowledge of our Maker. I felt that this painting articulated many of the emotions, truths and realities that artists often find themselves working through as they fight for their faith, desiring to be found pleasurably faithful with their portion. Most of the time we need to get with the author of a work if we are going to squeeze out of the artwork all the pleasure there is to be had. We must apply patience and listen. So I thought I would have Adrian tell you about his wrestlings with the Lord as expressed outwardly through his painting entitled “Provision For The Cost.”

ADRIAN JOHNSTON

“PROVISION FOR THE COST”

In this painting I see a broken man, in absolute need of his God. A man hemmed in, pushed to the edges, alone by a brook on the border of Israel's inheritance. He is trapped by God's word, yet sustained by it. We see a man whose journey is mapped out by the duration of God's provision for him in every place. He sees the long days from sunrise to the darkness of night as he waits...the distance of his lips to the ravens which bring his food, and the place of desolation in which He is promised sustenance, while the word of the Lord works to fulfillment. Does he fret, or consider where this road of faith will lead? Does he forage for food, or does he simply wait by the dwindling brook in the time between the dawn and twilight ravens?

I painted this in the spring of 2004, in a small city in southwest China. In the end of 2002, I had begged leave of God from my employment in America. My heart was on trial before Abraham's faith, and like Jacob, I begged His provision for the months of preparation before He provided an open door to "Go." I was hasty, and after an exhausting first semester of teaching in China, I spent the winter break begging him for the provision of time to paint and study language and travel. He blessed me richly in all I asked of him, and though not without struggles and mistakes, many paintings and relationships were the fruit of that season.

"I want to do your will at any cost." I was awed to read of a martyr who once prayed like this. Elijah experiences the cost: estranged from his king and people; his land suffering from drought for seven years because of the word of faith that he spoke; the bitter rebuke of a bereaved widow; the feeling of being forsaken in the wilderness by Horeb. We are taught to pray to a God who hears, honors, and answers prayer. We are taught to desire God's will above all. But not often do we say, "At any cost" ...the prayer of those who prize God Himself above all other things. Nonetheless, Elijah's cleaving to God's will is testimony to us of God's intimate understanding of what Elijah needed, whether provided by raven, widow, angel, or voice of revelation. Remember when Elijah awoke in the wilderness, forlorn and exhausted, and there by him a cruse of water, and bread, and the angel who says, "Arise, eat, for the journey is too great for you." Merciful God! He knows! It is because the cost is so great that God marks our journey with heavenly provisions, to sustain body, soul, and spirit, and to bring us home.

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excerpt from The Affections of the Heart in Art - a wrestling for the full pleasures in art Jason Harms