Vivid Imagery is a literary technique that effective writers use. It means to include all of the senses when describing something in a piece of writing. These senses are seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching.*
For as long as I can remember, I have always had a vivid
imagination. I think that is one
of the many reasons that my wife Piper and I hit it off so well… from that very
first day we began our friendship… on the very first day of our
senior year in high school… in the very beginning of the 1970’s. For you see… she possessed just as vivid
an imagination as I did!
So, dream and imagine we did. From practically that first day together as
we walked the hollowed halls of Montgomery High, through the next 48 years
together and then the last five hours of her life, as I held her hand at her
bedside and looked into her enchanting brown eyes and softly reminded her about
all the wonderful dreams we had imagined and successfully pursued
over our lifetime together.
The Apostle Paul encourages us in Ephesians 3:20 to:
“Never doubt God’s mighty
power to work in you and accomplish all this. (referring to our ability to know the intimacy of His love for us in
verses 14-19) He will achieve infinitely
more than your greatest requests, your most unbelievable dreams, and exceed
your wildest imaginations!
(and then) He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes
you.” (TPT)
And I can assure you that over the years, we
definitely had prayed some pretty outlandish requests, dreamed many
unbelievable dreams and most of all… enjoyed exploring and living some of
our wildest… and most vivid… imaginations!
The 23rd Psalm has always had a unique and
special place within my Christian walk because of the vivid imagery
that it always elicits within me. It is
the type of imagery, as our definition above explains,
that tends to touch and stimulate all of my senses, including those of seeing,
hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching.
The Passion Translation especially paints a vivid
picture of David’s prose and poetry that helps the reader to catch the
full intent of this psalm. In writing
this work, David draws from his expansive knowledge of shepherding a flock of
sheep “in the rugged Judean hills around the Israelite town of Bethlehem, a
few miles south of what was then the Canaanite stronghold of Jerusalem.”**
The vivid imagery of this portion of
scripture has acted as a vehicle in which I have been transported… in my
mind’s eye… to some of the most awe-inspiring, beautiful and serene
locations that I have visited throughout my life… and has helped to carry me
on through some of the most difficult test and trials that have personally come
against me and my family. In the
first three verses of this psalm, David writes from his heart and vividly
declares,
“The Lord is my best friend
and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place
for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the
quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He
opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure and leads me along in his footsteps
of righteousness so that I can bring honor to His name.”
I don’t know about you, but when I read my Bible, I can’t
help but to engage all of my senses. I
always tend to picture myself sitting amongst Jesus and His disciples as they
walked the countryside of Judea, or standing with Moses and Joshua as they
travelled through the wilderness or fought the battles in their possession of
the land that God had promised them.
I enjoy vivid imagery of Paul and Silas, as
Paul preaches to the masses during their various missionary journeys and I
study the face of Peter as he wrestles with the ever-increasing depths of his
new Christian beliefs, while untangling the ties of the Jewish law… in the
light of the truth that Jesus taught and lived before him and the other 11
Apostles.
When I read and study the Word, I do so… as they used to
advertise the new-fangled color programing on TV in the 1960’s…in “Living
Color” and with a very vivid imagination! It is very similar to the way that I think
of and/or dream about my sweet wife.
Because of the covenant relationship that we continually developed and
enjoyed, I always see her and the experiences that I am
remembering with such vivid imagery that it stimulates all of my
senses including those of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching.
And so… using the 23rd Psalm as a template…
I would encourage you to imagine yourself into the sights,
sounds, flavors and aromas of the settings that you
encounter through the teachings of your Bible, as you read and
study the Word each day. Allow
yourselves to be engulfed in the vivid imagery that the writers… under
the direct influence of the Holy Spirit… present to you through the pages
of your Bible.
Let go of yourselves and discover what it is like to take
up Jesus’ personal offering to you and enjoy the “resting place in His
luxurious love.” Know what it is
like sit and absorb the personal refreshing at His “oasis of peace” next
to the “quiet brook of bliss where He restores and revives” your
life. And take His hand and walk with
Jesus down the meandering “pathways to God’s pleasure” that “lead you
along in His footsteps of righteousness,” so that everything you do in life
“brings honor to His name.”
As you open up yourselves to enjoy the fulness of the vivid
imagery that is presented throughout your Bible, I can almost guarantee
that you will experience a new depth of excitement and understanding in your
covenant relationship with God. You’ll
discover that it will fine tune all of your senses and allow your
seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch to be
in sync with God’s!
I mean WOW! That’s sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it! It makes me want to jump in right now and
experience more and more of the vivid reality of God’s Word into
every area of my life… HOW ABOUT YOU?
Have a great conclusion to your 4th of July celebrations
this weekend… as you spread the vivid imagery of the Good News of
the Gospel message that’s working in and through
you… to those all around you!
*https://www.enotes.com/topics/history/questions/what-vivid-imagery-mean-86491
** https://www.britannica.com/question/Where-did-David-grow-up
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