By Peter Kennedy
“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” – Lamentations 3:25
The color yellow is significant to Vincent van Gogh. The famous Dutch painter, sadly, rejected the truth imparted him in his Christian home and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, as he later began to embrace the truth again, his life took on hope, and he gave that hope color.
The best-kept secret of van Gogh's life is that the truth he was discovering is seen in the gradual increase of the presence of the color yellow in his paintings. Yellow evoked (for him) the hope and warmth of the truth of God's love. In one of his depressive periods, seen in his famous The Starry Night, one finds a yellow sun and yellow swirling stars, because van Gogh thought truth was present only in nature. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in this painting and should be the house of truth, is about the only item in the painting showing no traces of yellow. But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, his life was on the mend as he began to face the truth about himself. The entire picture is (blindingly) bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection.
Jesus Christ wants everyone to put their hopes in Him. Today in prayer, thank the Lord that He does not disappoint those who place their hope in Christ.
"To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us." - James I. Packer
God’s Word: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” – Micah 7:7
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