The Majesty of God-Auther's Cut
22/10/08 11:08 Filed in:Weekly
Devotional
Majesty.
Not a word we use everyday. In fact, probably not a
word we even use weekly or monthly for that matter.
But the question is do we understand the idea of
majesty in relation to our God? We are able to say
God is majestic but do we know what we are saying? Do
we honestly believe and live like we believe he truly
is majestic? When I hear the word I think of a
movie made back in 2001 with Jim Carrey. I am
uncertain how often I hear the word and my
thoughts are drawn to God rather than that.
We define majesty as greatness of appearance. Or in other words the quality or state of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder. In even simpler terms, something or someone that drops our jaws or blows our minds! This is how God is defined in His Word. He is clothed in majesty (Ps 93:1). His voice is full of majesty (Ps 29:4). So the question is still there, does God blow our minds? Do we let him? Do we know why he should inspire awe and reverence within us? I have been continuing to read a wonderful book called Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I have read this before and decided to slowly work through it again because of the wonderful picture Packer creates in explaining why our God truly is majestic.
Ultimately we tend to limit the greatness of God. We often either think God is small and incapable of such greatness, or we do not gaze upon his creation and upon him to see truly how great he is. Let's briefly explore with Packer Isaiah 40 and ask God to reveal Himself to us through His Word. Here in Isaiah 40 we have a people who need comfort. As Packer says, "The tide of events have been running against them for a very long time." In other words, life has gotten messy. People have been focused on the wars and the problems of life, both on a national level and on a personal level. Compare that today, how in your life do you feel that their is no comfort? What is going on in your world that is messy? Are you dealing with loneliness or depression? God responds to such things in this chapter.
Isaiah begins small in revealing the majesty of God to Israel. He begins first with the tasks or work of God. In verse 12 we see God pointing out the ability he has to measure the waters in his hand. This is showing the sheer size of our God. Fill your hand with some water right now. Go ahead, I'll wait... Now, see in your one hand how little water you can hold? God's hand is able to hold ALL the water on this planet! Does that inspire awe in you? He challenges man asking who else can do this? What person do you know who can hold that much? I mean, I know I got big hands, but I cant hold much more water than you, not even coming close to God's hand! "Behold your God!"
Does that bring awe to you? If not let's see what else Isaiah says here. He turns his attention next to the nations of the earth. Verse 15-17 he begins to compare God to these nations. Think today, America is truly a large and great nation. But there are other nations with even more people than us. Does the power of such nations bring fear or respect? Do you ever stop and think that another nation like Iran could possibly harm us with nuclear weapons? Now, look at the verses, look at verse 15 the very first line. Who is bigger than the nations? Want to visualize this one? Get a cup and drip one drop of water into the cup. That right there is like the nations of the earth to God. They are simply a drop of water in his grasp. He can do as he pleases with them. Again, "Behold your God!"
Still not enough? Okay, lets take the a look at the world. I know we learn, even in public schools, the complexity of life. Think about that, along with how big the earth is. How many billion people live on this planet and there are still regions of the planet we have never seen! Earth is HUGE. So how does God compare to such a big ball of stuff? Verse 22 says, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its peoples are like grasshoppers. he stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." Isaiah is trying to show the people just how big God is, even more than that just how great he is. He has to give some reference that we can understand. He says the heavens, what we call the atmosphere and most likely space itself, is stretched out in comparison to God like a canopy. Think of a canopy like this, ever make a fort with a bed sheet? It is pretty easy for you to stretch that sheet out and even easier to simply tear it down. Again, "Behold your God!"
We go even further out though and now look to the stars. When was the last time you stepped outside, found a place with very little light and looked up. They estimate there are 400 billion stars in just our galaxy the Milky Way. 400 billion! That is 400,000,000,000. A hard number to understand, but here is God. He has a name for every single one of those. Actually, for more than 400 billion. There are plenty more stars in the universe than just our galaxy. Verse 26 is talking about the stars. He knows exactly the number of the stars, but even more has names for them. I don't know about you but I forget a lot of names. I definitely do not know even a million people, and if I did there is no way I could remember their names! "Behold your God!"
That is majesty. Such thoughts should stir in us a desire to gaze at the beauty of our God. This God, who holds the waters, who controls the nations, who names the stars, this God, calls you and me son/daughter. Wow! That my friends is majesty, that is true greatness. God truly is great and my prayer is you spend time dwelling, thinking, gazing upon God and his majesty. Remember our God is majestic and even when life is messy He is there as our Father, not just our Creator. A loving Father who knows exactly the hurt and pain we feel because He Himself had to see His son die.
Next week we will briefly look at what our response should be to such thoughts...
We define majesty as greatness of appearance. Or in other words the quality or state of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder. In even simpler terms, something or someone that drops our jaws or blows our minds! This is how God is defined in His Word. He is clothed in majesty (Ps 93:1). His voice is full of majesty (Ps 29:4). So the question is still there, does God blow our minds? Do we let him? Do we know why he should inspire awe and reverence within us? I have been continuing to read a wonderful book called Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I have read this before and decided to slowly work through it again because of the wonderful picture Packer creates in explaining why our God truly is majestic.
Ultimately we tend to limit the greatness of God. We often either think God is small and incapable of such greatness, or we do not gaze upon his creation and upon him to see truly how great he is. Let's briefly explore with Packer Isaiah 40 and ask God to reveal Himself to us through His Word. Here in Isaiah 40 we have a people who need comfort. As Packer says, "The tide of events have been running against them for a very long time." In other words, life has gotten messy. People have been focused on the wars and the problems of life, both on a national level and on a personal level. Compare that today, how in your life do you feel that their is no comfort? What is going on in your world that is messy? Are you dealing with loneliness or depression? God responds to such things in this chapter.
Isaiah begins small in revealing the majesty of God to Israel. He begins first with the tasks or work of God. In verse 12 we see God pointing out the ability he has to measure the waters in his hand. This is showing the sheer size of our God. Fill your hand with some water right now. Go ahead, I'll wait... Now, see in your one hand how little water you can hold? God's hand is able to hold ALL the water on this planet! Does that inspire awe in you? He challenges man asking who else can do this? What person do you know who can hold that much? I mean, I know I got big hands, but I cant hold much more water than you, not even coming close to God's hand! "Behold your God!"
Does that bring awe to you? If not let's see what else Isaiah says here. He turns his attention next to the nations of the earth. Verse 15-17 he begins to compare God to these nations. Think today, America is truly a large and great nation. But there are other nations with even more people than us. Does the power of such nations bring fear or respect? Do you ever stop and think that another nation like Iran could possibly harm us with nuclear weapons? Now, look at the verses, look at verse 15 the very first line. Who is bigger than the nations? Want to visualize this one? Get a cup and drip one drop of water into the cup. That right there is like the nations of the earth to God. They are simply a drop of water in his grasp. He can do as he pleases with them. Again, "Behold your God!"
Still not enough? Okay, lets take the a look at the world. I know we learn, even in public schools, the complexity of life. Think about that, along with how big the earth is. How many billion people live on this planet and there are still regions of the planet we have never seen! Earth is HUGE. So how does God compare to such a big ball of stuff? Verse 22 says, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its peoples are like grasshoppers. he stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." Isaiah is trying to show the people just how big God is, even more than that just how great he is. He has to give some reference that we can understand. He says the heavens, what we call the atmosphere and most likely space itself, is stretched out in comparison to God like a canopy. Think of a canopy like this, ever make a fort with a bed sheet? It is pretty easy for you to stretch that sheet out and even easier to simply tear it down. Again, "Behold your God!"
We go even further out though and now look to the stars. When was the last time you stepped outside, found a place with very little light and looked up. They estimate there are 400 billion stars in just our galaxy the Milky Way. 400 billion! That is 400,000,000,000. A hard number to understand, but here is God. He has a name for every single one of those. Actually, for more than 400 billion. There are plenty more stars in the universe than just our galaxy. Verse 26 is talking about the stars. He knows exactly the number of the stars, but even more has names for them. I don't know about you but I forget a lot of names. I definitely do not know even a million people, and if I did there is no way I could remember their names! "Behold your God!"
That is majesty. Such thoughts should stir in us a desire to gaze at the beauty of our God. This God, who holds the waters, who controls the nations, who names the stars, this God, calls you and me son/daughter. Wow! That my friends is majesty, that is true greatness. God truly is great and my prayer is you spend time dwelling, thinking, gazing upon God and his majesty. Remember our God is majestic and even when life is messy He is there as our Father, not just our Creator. A loving Father who knows exactly the hurt and pain we feel because He Himself had to see His son die.
Next week we will briefly look at what our response should be to such thoughts...
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