Tag Archive for Job 26:14

Anticipation

2015-06-30 Devotional with Hymn No comments

In my office hangs a poster of a large whale’s tail. The tail alone is seen above the water’s surface, with the other 99% of the whale being out of sight.

I’ve enjoyed this poster for years. I’ve owned it since before I had a good place to hang it.

What draws me to it, I believe, is its promise. What I see is impressive. But what I don’t see intrigues me more. The whale’s tale suggests a bigger being, a completely different type of being, a deeper life, a greater realm. What I see is a promise of what I don’t see, and it fuels my longing to see and know more.

It reminds me of God. What I know of Him is spectacular, but everything I learn promises even more that I have not yet seen or experienced, that I cannot yet fully grasp. As Job said after describing God’s greatness in creation:

Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand? (Job 26:14, NASB)

God’s promise through Paul is even more explicit:

Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12, NASB)

God has poured out Himself, His own breath, His own life force, on all of us who simply trust Him. He has lavished on us His power, wisdom, and love, through the Holy Spirit of His glorious Son. But as great as this Gift is, it is only a downpayment, a deposit, a promise of His full gift of Himself to His people:

Having also believed, you were sealed in [Christ] with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14, NASB. See also 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5)

Consider the greatness of God’s gift of His Spirit. Right here and now He can be more and wants to be more than you have let Him be. But also, let this great gift fuel your anticipation for the greater gift that is yet to come: our complete and constant union with God.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Longing for Home
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

The Immensity of God

2014-09-21 Devotional with Hymn No comments

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
(Psalm 8:1, 3-4, NIV)

Have you ever had the experience that the psalmist describes above? Have you been out under the clear night sky and looked up at the stars and the vastness of the heavens? Have you marveled that the Creator of all this has any interest in you? Here are some facts that may stimulate your imagination.

Light travels so fast that a beam of light can circle the earth more than 7 times in a second. The moon is a quarter of a million miles away, and its light reaches the earth in less than a second and a half. The sun is approximately 93 million miles away, and its light arrives in approximately 8 minutes.

Our own galaxy or group of stars is called the Milky Way. How long do you think it would take light to travel just across our own galaxy? 100,000 years! Light travels around the earth 7 times in a second and 93 million miles from the sun in only 8 minutes. But our galaxy is so vast that even light takes 100,000 years to cross it.

Galaxies are vast beyond our imagination. But ours is only one galaxy. How many galaxies do you think there are in the universe? Estimates vary, but in 1999, data from the Hubble space telescope led scientists to estimate that there are 125 billion galaxies in the universe. Some estimates run much higher. Try to imagine that: 93 million miles in 8 minutes; 100,000 years to cross our galaxy; 125 billion galaxies.

We are so very small. Reality dwarfs us. It dwarfs the human race. It dwarfs the entire earth.

But here’s something else to consider: this vast universe is only the smallest taste of the Living God. He overflows the physical universe. Job 26 talks about God’s mighty works in creation, then in v.14 says that in all these we see only the fringes of His robe. We hear only a faint whisper of Him.

What’s more, the gap between God and us is far greater than the size of the universe. The real gap between God and us is in the essence of who we are.

  • He is all-powerful and all-wise, unbounded by matter and time. We are weak and blind, living momentary lives, consumed with the here and now.
  • He is holy and pure. Without Him, we are corrupt and sinful.
  • He is unlimited love. We are proud, small-minded, and selfish, wrapped up in our own comfort and narrow interests.

But now for the most amazing truth: God’s love has bridged this gap between us. This immense chasm of time, space, and character has been closed by God’s all-encompassing love. All the immensity of God, all the eternity of God, all His glory and power and holiness have been embodied in a human being: Jesus Christ. We are united with this immense God in Christ (Colossians 2:9-10).

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Fullness of God’s Glory
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics