A Small Glimpse

This blog is gonna be another insanely long one. It took four pages in my notebook, but once I started I couldn’t stop. Grab a comfy chair, maybe a glass of water, and read to your heart’s content. This is just a small picture of what God has been showing me lately. Most of the quotes are from the last few chapters in Job. Enjoy, God bless, and I’ll see you next time!

– Brian

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“STAND AND CONSIDER THE WONDERS OF GOD.” (Job 37:14)

How can one consider all the wonders of God? The Lord is the One Who “laid the foundations of the earth” and sustains it in its orbit, Who holds the lightning in His hand, on Whose breath lies the cold and the power to give life, Who gives light to those struggling and stumbling in darkness, Whose love is everlasting, Who is gracious, slow to anger, rich in lovingkindness, and good to all, Who commands the storm and at Whose speech the raging seas must become calm, in Whose sight even Sheol and Abaddon (Hell, the Underworld) are laid bare, Whose hand sustains even the Sparrow, Who makes the sun to rise in the morning and return to its slumber at night, Who gave the moon its light and the stars their names, Who “enclosed the seas” and brought the land from beneath the waves, and “Who is exalted in power” and just in all His dealings. The One Who, by His infinite wisdom, mercy, and grace, came to the earth and DIED in the place of the ones who could not save themselves, the ones drowning in their transgressions and sins of commission and omission, the ones whose righteousness is as filthy rags and are wicked in all their ways, who fall regularly, who mistrust often, who choose to wallow in their sin and deny the hand of deliverance offered them. Oh, what a wretched man I am!!

Yet, the Lord still forgives. The infinite, omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time), omnipotent (all-powerful) God is the One Who formed us from the dust of the earth and breathed His life into us, and by Whose word the universe was established. He is the One Who upholds the apprehensive, the appalling, the beaten, the bitter, the broken, the bruised, the confused, the downtrodden, the empty, the fatherless, the fearful, the foreigner, the forsaken, the grieving, the hurting, the insecure, the lost, the miserable, the orphan, the perplexed, the poor, the questioning, the repentant, the saint, the sinner, the turbulent, the undeserving, the vexed, and the widow.

He is the One Who has walked upon the surface of the sea and “in the recesses of its deep,” Who has no beginning or end, “Who has cleft a channel for the flood” and “a way for the thunderbolt,” Who can “bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion and can lead forth a constellation in its season and guide the Bear with her satellites,” Who rules forever over heaven and earth, all angels, all powers, all principalities, all things present and things to come, over death, life, height, depth, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, and over every other created thing in His great power and wisdom, at Whose voice even the demons tremble and Whose name every knee will bow and tongue confess. He has given “understanding to the mind” and “wisdom to the innermost being.” He knows the number of the stars in the sky, the sand on the shore, the waves in the sea, the clouds in the heavens, the blades of grass in the field, the hairs on everyone’s head, the thoughts in everyone’s minds, the cells in everyone’s bodies, and the sequences of the DNA in every created being and Phi to the last digit.

He established the laws of physics and set gravity into motion. He knows “when the mountain goats give birth, has seen the calving of the deer, has made the ostrich forget wisdom by treating her young cruelly, gives the horse its might and clothes its neck with a mane, and by His understanding the hawk soars and the eagle makes his nest on high.” His judgments are altogether true and righteous and no man can annul them. It is He Who clothes Himself with light and banishes darkness to the far corners of the universe, Who created the dinosaurs, Who flooded the earth with a 40 day and night deluge, Who rescued His servants from the fiery furnace, the lions’ den, the belly of the fish, wicked kings and queens, invading armies, false prophets, mockers, scoffers, bloodthirsty robbers, demons, shipwreck, imprisonment, beatings, stonings, and every other imaginable hardship, and He is the One Who still offers salvation to us today. He owns everything under heaven and no one can stand against Him. He can do all things. He is the One Whose BACK is so glorious it caused Moses’ face to glow so brightly that he had to wear a veil. He is the God Who caused Ezekiel to sit by the river stunned for seven days after a small, momentary glimpse of His glory and holiness. He is the God Who causes the Seraphim who fly around His throne to cry nothing but “Holy, Holy, Holy” for all of eternity. THAT is my God.

He is the God Who made Abraham the father of a great nation through a barren wife. He is the God Who caused the ten plagues to fall upon Egypt until Pharaoh released the Israelites from bondage and led them by a pillar of cloud and fire. He is the God Who split the Red Sea so they could cross on dry land and caused manna and quail to fall from heaven to keep them from starving. He is the God Who caused water to flow from the rock so they had something to drink. He is the God Who gave Moses the Ten Commandments that still stand to this day. He is the God Who caused fire to fall from heaven and consume Elijah’s offering and the water in the trench surrounding it and upon the offering itself. He is the one Who gave David the strength to stand against a giant and slay him with a single smooth stone launched from a slingshot. He is the God Who gave Samson the strength to topple a building with only his bare hands. He is the God Who took one of the foremost persecutors of Christianity named Saul and transformed him with a flash of light and spell of blindness into one of the foremost promoters of Christianity throughout the world in his time. He is the One Who healed every disease conceivable, fed thousands with some dinner rolls and a few bait fish, cast out demons, taught with a wisdom and authority that astonished all who heard, was tempted in every way we are but didn’t sin, and even raised the dead and conquered death Himself!! THAT IS MY GOD!!

Why can’t we see the greatness of our God? The evidence is all around. Why do so many doubt Him? Why do so many dismiss God as just a fairy tale invented to make children and ignorant people feel better, or just a policeman who wants to crush us in our sins? Why do so many think of Him as just the grandfather sitting on a cloud dismissing every bad thing we do as being fine, or as a Scrooge figure who just wants to take away all our fun? WHY DO SO MANY MISS THE POINT? Why can’t we see that evil exists because we allow it to and choose even to promote it? Why can’t we see that God is far above all and has a purpose for everything? Why are we so stubborn? Why does a fire not burn in our bones to pursue a deeper, intimate, real knowledge of the One Who created us and loves us more than even HIS OWN LIFE? Not even all the paper and ink (or in this case, computer screens) in the world is enough to capture the fullness of the greatness of God, but I hope this small glimpse helps. As soon as I hear more, I’ll let you know.