For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, NIV)
Last Friday, we considered the glory of God in you. It was an amazing recognition that what God does greatly, he does in us. Sometimes, though, this can be hard to see. After all, we are pretty good at identifying our weaknesses and picking them apart—and this isn’t true only for golfers.
What may be important, then, is to gain a sense of just how big God is (and how “small”), for when you see the breadth of God’s glorious presence in the world around you, you may gain greater eyes to see what he has in mind for you.
I have often asked myself the question of what followers of Jesus are supposed to do with vacations. Many of us choose to visit spectacular man-made sites, from the Main Street of Disneyland to the Champs-Élysées, from Seattle’s Space Needle to Sydney’s Opera House. But shouldn’t believers be spending their money on short-term missions trips or Bible-rich conferences? Sometimes, yes. But I also respect the thinking of one well-known pastor who encouraged his people to get to where the glory is. His thinking followed these lines:
You need to get to places that overwhelm you. You need to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and feel small. You need to stand on top of Pikes Peak and let the wind tear through your clothes. You need to sink your feet into the Pacific and look as far as the eye can see and recognize that what it sees is one vast expanse—the ocean—meeting another vast expanse—the sky—from one end of the horizon to the other.
In places like this, God is big—far bigger than man. And this is something our eyes need to see and our heart needs to process.
But it may be equally helpful to see how “small” God is. Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard, who wrote that in a mere teaspoonful of forest topsoil, microbiologists estimate our finding “up to two billion bacteria and many millions of fungi, protozoa and algae.”
See, the God to whom we look, the God who professes to love us, shows his glory in the magnificent and the minute. No wonder his glory can elevate even us!
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Jeff Hopper
January 10, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.