In Ecclesiastes 5:2 Solomon says, “Do not be quick with your mouth; do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth.” Or, we might say, “God is big and you are little, so show a little respect.”
Every once in a while, we should remind ourselves of just how big God really is and just how little we really are. The person who understands this will first come to God without saying a word and simply stand in awe of Him. It may seem impossible to gaze at the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation, we see God’s “invisible qualities” and “divine nature.”
In the following video and comments, pastor and author Francis Chan invites us to contemplate the greatness of God by considering the greatness of his creation. (The quality of this video in not good. There are two more videos at the end of today’s meditation that are on a similar theme and much clearer.)
NOTE TO READERS: REMEMBER, videos may not display in the text of your email. If videos does not appear below, YOU MUST go to the upper right-hand corner of your email and click on the “Read on Blog” link. That link appears on all EmailMeditations, and it will always display a better, bolder, and clearer format.
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Francis Chan:
Speechless? Amazed? Humbled? When I first saw those images, I had to worship. I didn’t want to speak to or share it with anyone. I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator.
It’s astonishing to think that most of these galaxies have been discovered only in the past few years, thanks to the Hubble telescope. They’ve been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them.
Why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, “Wow, God is unfathomably big”? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be, “Who do I think I am?”
Switch gears with me for a minute and think about the detailed intricacy of the other side of creation.
Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That’s quite a few, for a bug. The average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it. And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to 30 feet.
Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn’t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn’t have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends’ laughs–wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious.
How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk? When they build their webs, they create sixty feet of silk in one hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that prevents them from sticking to their own web. Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by even one or two degrees.
Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I’m sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from tiny seeds that were placed in the dirt. Some were watered, some weren’t; but after a few days they poked through the soil and out into the warm sunlight.
Whatever God’s reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.
This is why we are called to worship Him. His incredible power, His handiwork, and His diverse and wonderful creation, all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come.
How can we ignore Him? How can we fail to pay attention to Him? How can we doubt his wisdom and his rule? How can we sin against Him with so little thought or regret?
Stop and meditate on the almighty One who dwells in unapproachable light, the glorious One.
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Deuteronomy 4:39 — Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
Deuteronomy 10:14 — To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Job 22:12 — Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
Job 25:2 — Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
Psalm 19:1-4 — The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 8:3-4 — When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them.
Romans 1:20 — 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.
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“Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, whose word created the heavens, whose breath created all that they contain.”
–A traditional Jewish blessing.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.
–Psalm 106:48
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Two more amazing videos to give you some perspective. God made this entire universe. You are a tiny particle, inhabiting a small portion of it, for a little while. Keep that in mind when you say your prayers. Remember who you are talking to. Be amazed that this God has said He would hear you.
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