"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands!" the psalmist says. Truly the physical universe is inconceivably enormous and expansive. We live on one of nine planets revolving around an average yellow star we call the Sun. That star is one of 100 billion stars just in our galaxy alone, the Milky Way galaxy. There are an estimated 100 billion galaxies just like ours or even bigger. Traveling at 186 thousand miles per second, it takes a beam of light a thousand years to cross our galaxy. If I were able to drive my Mazda pickup at 60 miles per hour in a direct line through space, it would take me 11 billion years just to cross the Milky Way galaxy. The other 100 billion galaxies would remain yet to traverse.
I suppose in the eyes of the unbelieving world, the God that is worshipped by the people who call themselves Christians seems too small and narrow to have created this cosmos. Sadly there may be some validity to their perception. We Christian people have made God out to be very small indeed by the trivial and casual way we treat Him in our worship services and in the way we project Him in our lives. We need to back up and repent of this complacent familiarity and truly reverence God for who He is!
It is simply overwhelming to think that the Super Being who created all things could have an interest in you and me, even to the point of wanting to have intimate fellowship with us. The psalmist thought in these terms who wrote, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, WHAT IS MAN that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? And yet you have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet." Imagine that! Made in the image of God and given the capacity to fellowship with Him. Jesus teaches us to pray "Our Father..." What a staggering thought! Jesus teaches us to address the Creator God as a FATHER. What awesome condescension there is in God!
But in the course of time, while we have tried very hard to get this message across to people, that God is a Father and wants to be your friend, it seems that we Christians have forgotten His awesome power and majesty and holiness. He has become the big sugar daddy in the sky, our bosom buddy that looks the other way and winks when we sin. He's our servant or valet when we need something, but when we are doing our own thing, we don't give Him a thought. We have become arrogant in our assessment of ourselves, and demeaning of God. As God spoke through Isaiah, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things...But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word."
There is not very much "trembling" at His word nowadays, even in our churches. We have exalted our programs, our church buildings, our music, and especially our own comfort above the mighty God who is to be worshipped and feared. We are like babies who squall when our milk is too warm.
I never thought I'd be writing this, because I have always majored in the love and mercy of God. But there seems to be no FEAR OF GOD today in our church and society. I don't mean the cringing, fawning fear that we feel in the presence of an intimidating bully. I mean the kind of deep respect we hold for a 240 Volt 40 Amp electrical current. I guarantee that we are EXTREMELY CAREFUL how we handle that kind of power. Electricity is a wonderful presence that can warm our homes and light our cities. And yet it will kill you in an instant if mishandled.
And how much more awesome in power and holiness is our great God! It is only by His great mercy that we stand today. The people of God need to humble themselves and seek the face of God. We need to tremble again at His word, and be quick to do what He says. We need to repent of the petty way we have lived our lives. I am certain that if the fear of God were to be restored to our churches today, then the rightful respect for human authority, for parental authority, for law and order, for treating others properly would be soon to follow.
@ copyright 2000 by Scott H. Northrup. All rights reserved.