Grounding God's Grandeur

Commonplace...expected...unimpressive...run of the mill...average.

Astonishing...remarkable...stunning...amazing...awe-inspiring.

Which set of adjectives describes your view of God?  Seriously; just for a couple of minutes, reflect on your perspective of God.  I read the statement that title's this post a week ago and it has, in some ways, haunted me for the past several days.

I believe wholeheartedly in the God of the Bible.  I have had a relationship with him through His son, Jesus since I was 5 years of age.  I have studied for many years from a biblical and theological perspective about who God is and what He has done in the world.  I can dissect His attributes and describe His plan and purpose as revealed in the Bible.  Those are all very important things.  But have I reduced God to a topic of theological conversation, or do I allow the information and experience I have with God to magnify him in my thinking?  Have I become so accustomed to seeing God work that I forget to notice His greatness in the everyday experiences of my life?  Have you?

Do we remember what it took to give us the relationship that we enjoy with God?  Do we notice how the seasons come and go and function with such consistency and precision that scientists can actually predict what will happen with the weather before it takes place?  Are we consciously aware of God's creative genius when we look at the beauty in the the world around us?  Is there even a momentary reminder of God's awesome design of humanity when we hold a newborn baby?

No wonder there are spots in the Bible like Romans 11:33-36 where Paul stops, almost abruptly, in his instruction about God's work of salvation with a doxology.  "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"  He concludes with "for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen."  I agree...Amen!

What has God done in your life that can be an opportunity for you to get Him back on the pedestal of your mind and heart where he belongs?  Let's not allow our thinking about God to be so familiar to us that we inadvertently "ground his grandeur."

Remember...and rejoice!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 4, 2011 at 12:31 PM

    Grounding His grandeur....powerful 3 words to consider. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time for another change

            My wife and I have just stepped into a transition time.  This past Sunday, after our morning worship service, I read my resignation to our church family.  While it was something that had been brewing in our hearts for some time and something which we are supremely confident that God wanted us to do, it is still very difficult to declare an end to a pastoral relationship with people whom you have served with and loved for almost 9 years.  In some ways; it is made more difficult for us since we do not know yet where we are going next.  We are simply convinced that God has said "start walking; I'll let you know when you get there."  A good friend of mine sent me this quote from Francis Chan and it means a lot to me right now: "God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doe...
Read more

Still Walking...

Image
     Those of you familiar with our situation right now know that we have purposely put ourselves in a position where we will be in trouble if God doesn't come through.  That's a rough quote from a statement made by Francis Chan that I got from a friend a few weeks ago.  I'm still mulling over those words and have found myself enlivened and refreshed by their challenge.  It's funny how we see things more often when we are consciously thinking about them.  I was reading this morning from 1 Kings 17 about Elijah the prophet of God.  He was singularly used of God in a dramatic way.  He prayed and it stopped raining...for 3 years.  He prayed again and it rained.  He prayed and God raised a young man from the dead.  God did some incredible things through Elijah.      This morning I read the account of the widow that Elijah stopped to visit in the little town of Zarephath.  You're probably familiar with...
Read more

God is Good

     A little over a week from today, we'll all sit around a table filled with more food than we probably should consume in a day to celebrate a national holiday designed to focus our attention on the goodness of God to us over the previous year.      I thought I'd spend the next couple of posts talking a little about thanksgiving; not the holiday, but the attitude.  Thanksgiving always begins with a foundation of some sort.  For many people, thankfulness is directly connected to possessions and provisions.  When I have enough to pay the bills and some left over to have some nice things; I am thankful.  If, on the other hand, I am struggling month to month or I seem to have less than someone else that I am observing, then my thankfulness drops and I begin to be frustrated with something that is missing from my life.      When I approach thanksgiving from a different vantage point, I start to understand something very i...
Read more