Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the grandeur and glory of God. I think it is partly in response to the daily reminders that we live in a fallen world that seems to be falling faster by the minute and partly prompted by reading Paul David Tripp’s book “Awe,” which ascribes much of our human struggles to a battle between awe of self and awe of God.
I have to say I have found great freedom and peace in taking my eyes of the doings of humanity, which are driven by awe of self, and casting them on our awe-inspiring God.
It’s also part of a journey I started a few years ago, on my sixtieth birthday. I expressed my desire to the Lord that the next phase of my life would be about knowing Him better.
He has been answering that prayer. As He often does, in ways I did not expect.
To know Him more means to stand in awe of Him more. And to stand in awe of Him more, I must be set free from awe of self, beginning with the awareness that I had more awe of self than I realized.
A few years into the journey, I feel very much like a Who in Who-ville. Perhaps you are familiar with them. I’m not talking about the ones who were in the clinch with the Grinch who tried to steal their Christmas. I’m talking about Dr. Seuss’s earlier version: the ones who called out to Horton the elephant. They called out to him from a small speck of dust.
It turns out there was a whole town full of Whos on that one speck.
I read that story to my children many times when they were little, and it stayed lodged in the recesses of my mind as a word picture of how small we are compared to the greatness of God. A speck of dust compared to the size of an elephant.
The story took me back to a video I once watched that describes our smallness compared to the vastness of the universe God created.
It started with an image of a person lying in the grass. As the camera begins to zoom out, the person quickly begins to shrink in size until no longer visible. Instead, we see a country. Zoom out further and you see a continent, then a planet, followed by our solar system in which the planet itself is a speck of dust. By now the imagery is computer-generated, on the basis of what astronomers have discovered about space.
Zooming out continues. The solar system disappears into a small quadrant of our galaxy. It turns out that our sun is one of the smaller of an estimated 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. To get from the sun to the outer edge of the solar system would take 1.87 light-years or 19 million human years. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. Scientists estimate that our galaxy measures 100,000 light-years across. That is 5,800,000,000,000 x 100,000 miles. I can’t type that many zeros without losing track.
As if that is not enough, there are over 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, as far as astronomers with immense telescopes can ascertain. Based on their observations, our galaxy is one of the smaller ones in the universe.
Those same astronomers, many of whom are atheists, have discovered that in order for the universe to have come into being by something like a Big Bang, at least 200 interdependent elements had to fall into place within seconds after the event. In articles that are now circulating online, they are reluctantly admitting that this could not have happened by coincidence and that there is something like an Intelligent Design.
Duh.
I find it amazing that this universe, which is far too big and complex for any human mind to measure, was put together by the same God who designed the intricate, microscopic color palettes that make up a flower petal or a butterfly wing. He is the God of both the macro and the micro.
It is even more amazing that this God made me and you, knows our every thought and cares for us. The Bible, the official guidebook to the Whos of Whoville, tells me so:
“O Lord you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” Psalm 139:1-4
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depth of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:13-16
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6,7
I, a Who from Whoville (earth), invisible to the biggest telescope if it were peeking into our galaxy from the edge of the universe, am known by God. My existence was His decision. He made me and ordained the journey of my entire life even before I took my first breath.
Not just me, but millions of people that have entered into a relationship with Him all over the earth, at the same time.
Let that sink in and fill you with a sense of the greatness of our God.
And if that wasn’t enough, He became a Who in Whoville in order to make known to us His kingdom in language that was understandable to a Who, and to be put to death to satisfy the punishment that we, the Whos of Whoville, deserved for our rebellion against our Creator and Father.
The Apostle Paul says it well:
“…Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being formed in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8
And if that wasn’t enough, He invites every Who that has seen his or her sin, repented of it, and surrendered their life to Christ, into an intimate daily walk with Him. He is not lurking at the edge of the universe leaving the Whos to their own devices to try to make it, but He is near and Has made Himself accessible through prayer:
“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:26-28
“Pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
These immortal truths made my heart leap and filled me with a sense of awe and wonder at the greatness and goodness of God. As I, a little Who, lift my eyes to the sky and think about the grandeur of God Who brought a universe into existence that is far bigger than any of us can comprehend, and remember that this great God knows my name, my every thought, and invites me to stay close to Him, I have no reason not to pray and immerse myself in His Word, His revelation to me.
Too busy? Lame excuse. No need? Lamer. No desire? Lamest.
I remember the words of our New Testament professor in Bible College. I forgot a lot of what he said, but this I remember: “Class, if there is anything worth remembering from what I have been teaching to you, it is this – never lose your sense of wonder.”
So, today I invite you to join me in imagining yourself a Who in Whoville, living invisibly on a speck of dust called earth – yet known and loved by God, redeemed by His love and invited to have daily fellowship with Him.
Let that fill you with a sense of awe and wonder, and let that move you to make fellowship with Him something to be treasured, desired, and devoted to far above every little thing that occupies our minds, our time, and our energy.