Color. God is amazing. Back in December of 2019, when God told me to break up the routine of the S.O.A.K. calendars by focusing on color for June, I thought that it was just a clever idea. All of the previous calendars for 2019 had been about a specific topic or characteristic, so I thought His directive to inject a bit of color would be an interesting way to incorporate the Word of God into a monthly journaling challenge. It was also an informative way to explain that God has meaning in everything, even the colors that we see in the spectrum of light.
However, as we enter the month of June, 2020, I find myself seeing and knowing that God had a greater purpose in me writing out the year’s topics in advance. He is letting me know now that He knew then what was coming into the lives of His people today.
Here in the United States of America, we are on what seems to be the verge of complete civil unrest and racial war. It all stems from the murder of an African-American (Black) man at the hands, rather the knee of a Caucasian-American (White) man and his 3 accomplices, one of which is Asian-American (Yellow). What is so egregious about the crime is that it was one, caught on video tape and two, it was perpetrated by sworn officers of the law, policemen. This incident occured on On May 25, 2020. But today, June 1, 2020 there are hundreds of thousands of people protesting, fighting, looting and rioting across cities here in America, all in the name of Mr. George Floyd. The basis of this murder and it’s ensuing consequences have been based solely and completely on one thing: COLOR.
The color of ones skin does not, nor ever will, reveal the content of ones heart. Just as wearing a biker jacket does not make one a gang member, the particular color of one’s skin does not make them inferior, subordinate or a criminal. Technically, by all scientific research confirmation, there is only one race, the human race. Yet, in man’s quest to supersede the authority of God, somewhere down the line, some groups and segments of different societies started defining others by the color, tribe, nationality and other anomalies present in the human body. The Jews of Jesus time were prejudiced against the Samaritans, their own flesh and blood cousins. The Romans defeated Egypt because they felt they were superior to the dark people of that land. The Spanish and English looked upon the Native and Indigenous people of the Americans as inferior and infamously called them Red, simply because they lived a less industrial lifestyle. I could go on and on about the injustices of the past. Especially those experienced by the people I identify with, who are the descendants of African enslaved in the Americas over 500 years ago. Yet, through this month’s S.O.A.K. calendar, I know God is trying to show us something greater.
There is greatness, strength, hope, glory, warfare, love and more within the depths of color. Each hue is a representation of what God may be displaying or trying to convey to us when we see it. The Bible says in Song of Solomon 2:4, “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love”. Can you imagine a beautiful banner or tent put over you in the most gorgeous colors of red, scarlet and white? In Isaiah 59:19 it says, “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” See yourself in the middle of the fight of your life, surrounded by the enemy and your hope is gone. But you look up and see the Flag of Heaven, a royal blue, gold and silver standard raised high, signally the arrival of God’s Armies ready to fight on your behalf. Color is important to God. Not in the ways man and satan have perverted it to mean. Color is meant to bring joy, refreshment, awe, wonder and beauty to our world.
So, in a time and season when things here in the U.S.A. seem to be about nothing but racial hate based on complexions, this month God has sent us COLOR to study, acknowledge and pray about. It is my prayer that you will use this month’s S.O.A.K. calendar to meditate upon the Word in a way that will erase the meanings of Black, White, Brown, Yellow and Red in your hearts. All across the planet, God is calling for His people to turn away from the ways of this world and embrace the Kingdom of God’s view of everything, including race. Use each day this month to savor the complexity of God’s love for us, in that even colors mean something to Him. As a child, I learned a song called “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” One line says, “He’s got you and me brother in His hands, He’s got you and me sister in His hands…” I truly believe, with the help of the Lord God, we can cleanse our hearts of the division between “race”, for there is only one race that will endure into eternity, and that is the Redeemed Race, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands”. (Revelations 7:9)
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