wonderfulcomplexity

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"If all this appears self-contradictory - Amen, be it so. The various elements of truth stand in perpetual antithesis, sometimes requiring us to believe apparent opposites while we wait for the moment when we shall know as we are known. Then truth which now appears to be in conflict with itself will arise in shining unity and it will be seen that the conflict has not been in the truth but in our sin-damaged minds."

- A. W. Tozer on God's self-sufficiency, Knowledge of the Holy

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Be often in the views of the excellencies of God. When we have no intercourse with God by delightful meditations, we begin to be estranged from him, and prepare ourselves to live without God in the world. Strangeness is the mother and nurse of disaffection.

Stephen Charnock from "Practical Atheism" in The Existence and Attributes of God

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God places lilies next to rocks. He places trees next to streams. He causes bright sun to follow a dark night. He made the muscles of a lion and the delicacy of the wing of a hummingbird. One way God establishes beauty is by putting things that are different next to each other.

Paul Tripp - What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage

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The Wonderful Complexity of Christmas

Christmas is a great time for contemplation. It provides us with an opportunity to consider what’s really important, namely, the gift of God’s own Son, Immanuel, “God with us”. Over the centuries, Christians have rightfully marveled at the reality of God becoming fully man. Almost nothing is more incredible than the reality of the incarnation of Jesus. All of God’s wonderful complexities find their greatest expression in the Incarnation because “in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Mary, Jesus’ mother, recognized this. Consider what she says in Luke 1:51-53 as she rejoices with Elizabeth,

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Mary realized (as did Zechariah and Elizabeth) that God, in placing “the Lord” inside Mary’s womb (Lk. 1:42-43), was busy revealing multiple aspects of his glorious character. In the three verses quoted above, Mary alludes to God’s strength, judgment, omniscience, authority, grace, providence, goodness, and justice. When you consider God becoming a man this Christmas season, do you remember that God was putting these attributes on display? Do you realize what wonderful things God was revealing about himself when He sent his Son? I hope so. There can certainly be no thoughts more worthy of our contemplation during this time of year. So in the midst of all of the other important things in which you’re sure to engage this time of year, as the author Hebrews instructs us, “Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession” (3:1). And as you do, marvel at the amazing character of our God revealed in the him.

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Lyrics with Scriptural Support

"Wonderful Complexity" was intentionally biblical. Almost every line was written with specific passages of Scripture in mind. My prayer is that, after these lyrics have been long forgotten, their truth would remain imprinted on your heart to increase your joy in the Lord for a long time to come.

Grace and Peace,

omri

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Complex - consisting of many different and connected parts/

Not easy to analyze or understand/

Complicated/

Intricate/

In a word - Yahweh. GOD. Complex/

Unseen, intangible, and infinitely beyond human reach/ (I Timothy 6:15b-16)

Yet seen, touched, held, and handled by haughty human hands/ (Mark 14:65; John 14:9)

His cosmic character is cast off past comprehension/ (Romans 11:33-36)

And yet, He carefully communicates with corrupted creatures/ (Genesis 1:28-30; Hebrews 1:1-2)

Such condescension, and it's wonderful/ (Psalm 119:12)

Mighty in strength and boundless in His benevolence with limitless understanding/ (Job 9:4; Psalm 147:5)

While being strong in jealousy and the power of His wrath, He is yet kind and gentle, providing, sustaining, and caring for His creation/ (John 2:13-17; Ezra 8:22; Matthew 11:28-30; Psalm 104:10-30)

He is great and greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable/ (Psalm 145:3)

He who possesses understanding gladly stands under what cannot be understood because he understands that this, yes, this is a paradox/

Like a pair of docks which have skillfully positioned themselves on opposite ends of an ocean to proclaim contrasting views of the same beauty/ (Hebrews 13:8)

It's His beauty/

Like how One could encapsulate His great grace/ (Ephesians 2:4-9)

While in the same state, He's both loving and wrathful/ (Exodus 20:5-6; Psalm 5:4-7; Hebrews 1:9)

This Chief Priest was a weak sheep/ (Hebrews 4:14; Isaiah 53:7; John 1:29)

Giving all he had to offer at the altar to the Father/ (Hebrews 9:11-12, 23-26)

Harbored blood that could wash souls white/ (Hebrews 9:13-15)

But in what life would the priest become the sacrifice?/ (Hebrews 7:26-27)

A regal King, no “deity” is coming close/ (Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 40:12-28)

So complex, my mind's vexed, but it's wonderful/

He could best atone once he left the throne/ (John 1:1-3, 14-18; Hebrews 10:4-7)

The One who’s present everywhere was left alone/ (Matthew 18:15-20; 28:18-20; Mark 15:33-34)

He has infinite fury, but He's really patient/ (Matthew 18:8; II Thessalonians 1:9-10; Numbers 14:17-20; II Peter 3:9, 15)

His exaltation is the result of His humiliation/ (Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:6-9)

And try to get this/

How is it that God is omniscient and yet still forgets sins/ (Hebrews 4:12-13; I John 3:19-20; Jeremiah 31:34)

It's complex, but search it and you'll find that/ (Proverbs 25:2)

In God's character, there's beauty in the contrasts/ (Psalm 147:1; Job 26:14; Deuteronomy 3:34)

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Behind the Complexity

THE SONG

The song concept that became Wonderful Complexity was one that I’ve desired to explore for a long time. About five years ago, a friend gave me Arthur Pink’s Attributes of God and ever since then, I have been reading Scripture with an eye toward seeing God’s character. Nothing has contributed more to my Christian growth than growing in my understanding of God’s attributes. In an attempt to help others share in my own joy, I wrote Wonderful Complexity.

I was first introduced to the beat by Sam Pagel, the owner of Pelican Media who shot the entire video. The first time he heard Ryan Heeney's beat, he knew he wanted to create a video for it, so I was all in! After listening to the music plenty of times, I knew that it would be perfect to develop this concept that I had been contemplating for so long. As usual, I made plenty of alterations and revisions throughout the writing process until I thought that each word was purposefully placed and served the song well as a whole.

Lyrically, I attempted to communicate the complexity of the song’s content through the form by employing various poetic techniques, including personification, wordplay, alliteration, rhyme, and free verse. The latter portion of the song even adds contrasts in that it is written and delivered as a rap, whereas the former is more freeverse poetry.

THE VIDEO

Thankfully, God has surrounded me with amazingly creative people! I would never have created this video in a million years on my own. I gathered a range of artistic friends, each of whom possesses multiple talents. This creative team was made up of people who know music and are just good at a host of other things - J. Miles, a rapper with a Business Administration degree, Sam Pagel and Ryan Heeney, and Mike Jones, the Creative Director at Resound Creative. After each of us had spent time listening to the beat and reading over the lyrics, we brainstormed for hours, combining and revising our best ideas. The first meeting was fruitful and before we knew it, we had all our plans set.

One thing that I am learning, especially as it relates to making good art, is never remain married to your first idea. When I met again with my team weeks later, we decided to scrap everything we had planned last time. We went back to the drawing board. As opposed to illustrating the complexity of the song topic in a visually complex manner, we decided to aim for something visually simple, but captivating. Since we wanted to visually capture this abstract idea of complexity, we decided that using a variety of naturally (or supernaturally, rather) occurring features in creation would best serve the visual.

Having already scheduled time to be in California at The Master’s College for two weeks during the summer for classes, Sam decided to join me for a camping trip in Sequoia National Park where we would shoot half of the video. The scenes in Sequoia took the better part of 8 hours to shoot. Although we shot from afternoon to night, we compounded the visual complexity by playing the scenes backwards in the video, from night to daytime. The intent was to capture several complexities within creation - stone, soil, water, trees, flowers, the sky, clouds, moon, light, darkness, mountains, etc.

The stage scene took place at the Phoenix Theatre in Downtown Phoenix. We knew what we were looking for, but our options were scarce. Thankfully, God provided exactly what we needed at the perfect time. With the help of a couple connections, we were able to shoot on a stage that had been professionally designed for a series of local performances. The set design was amazing! I think, in person, it was even better than the video reveals. My formal attire on stage, versus the more casual, trucker-hat look in the forest, was also intended to visually complement the contrasts in the song even down to the prominent colors that I wore in both shots.

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The Lyrics

Sometimes, after I've listened to a song over and over again, paid close attention to each word, dissected it musically, and picked apart just about every subtle nuance that I could pick out, very few things can enhance my listening more than simply reading the lyrics without the song. So for those of you who have enjoyed Wonderful Complexity thus far, I hope the lyrics only enhance your enjoyment. Here they are:

Complex - consisting of many different and connected parts/

Not easy to analyze or understand/

Complicated. Intricate/

In a word - Yahweh. God. Complex/

Unseen, intangible, and infinitely beyond human reach/

Yet seen, touched, held, and handled by haughty human hands/

His cosmic character is cast off past comprehension/

And yet, He carefully communicates with corrupted creatures/

Such condescension, and it's wonderful/

Mighty in strength and boundless in His benevolence with limitless understanding/

While being strong in jealousy and the power of His wrath, He is yet kind and gentle, providing, sustaining, and caring for His creation/

He is great and greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable/

He who possesses understanding gladly stands under what cannot be understood because he understands that this is a paradox/

Like a pair of docks which have skillfully positioned themselves on opposite ends of an ocean to proclaim contrasting views of the same beauty/

It's His beauty/

Like how, One could encapsulate His great grace/

While in the same state He's both loving and wrathful/

This Chief Priest was a weak sheep/

Giving all he had to offer at the altar to the Father/

Harbored blood that could wash souls white/

But in what life would the priest become the sacrifice?/

A regal King, no deity is coming close/

So complex, my mind's vexed, but it's wonderful/

He could best atone once He left the throne/

The one who's present everywhere was left alone/

He has infinite fury, but He's really patient/

His exaltation is the result of His humiliation/

And try to get this/

How is it that God is omniscient and yet still forgets sins/

It's complex, but search it and you'll find that/

In God's character, there's beauty in the contrasts/