THE MAGNITUDE OF GOD – FRIGHTENING? COMFORTING?
OR BOTH?
When was the last time you went outside and looked
at the stars? Whenever I do that, I’m reminded of how big God is and how small
we are. It could be scary if I didn’t know that I am on His side. I experience a
similar reaction when I look at certain passages of scripture, like in Isaiah
42: “Thus saith God the Lord, he
that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the
earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people
upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein” (v.5).
“I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare
his praise in the islands” (v.8).
“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up
jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against
his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and
refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and
devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all
their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools
(vv.13-15).
“And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will
lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not
forsake them (v.16).
“They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that
trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, ‘Ye are our gods’”
(v.17).
Though
God has a sense of humor and fun and delight, sometimes we need to look at the “no
fooling” side of Him as well. We see it in Isaiah 40: “The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God’” (v.1).
“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
“The voice said, ‘Cry.’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry’? All flesh
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people
is grass.
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God
shall stand for ever.
“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high
mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your
God!
“Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm
shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his
arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young.
“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted
out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
“Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor
hath taught him?
“With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him
in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of
understanding?
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as
the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little
thing.
“And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing;
and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
“To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare
unto him?
“The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth
it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished
that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him
a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
“Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you
from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof
are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to
nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
“Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea,
their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the
Holy One.
“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these
things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by
the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid
from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not
known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of
his understanding.
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he
increaseth strength.
“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40: 1-31).
These scriptures from Isaiah have
magnitude and majesty, and although we not understand the details, we are certainly
going to be impressed emotionally by their impact on us.
Love, Carolyn
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