How Great Thou Art

This week's midweek grace is based on Job 38.

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

There are few privileges more blessed than that of taking time to reflect on, contemplate and wonder at the greatness of God. No doubt that’s what the writers of the great hymn ‘How Great Thou Art’ were thinking of when they penned the words of this majestic hymn of worship.

The theme of last Sunday’s message was what does it mean for God to be God to His people. Our passage was Deuteronomy 10:17-19 in which Moses the man of God exhorts God’s people to hold fast to Him by declaring His supreme majesty and unique being. This is the kind of pure biblical theology about God that moves us to fall on our knees in humility as we think through the implications of the being of God. There are a number of passages like this in Scripture. Passages which explore the depths of the character, nature and being of God and cause us to wonder at the sheer greatness of our good and gracious God.

Job 38 is one such passage. It is the beginning of God’s response to Job’s demands for an answer to his suffering. It is a response however not to Job’s questions concerning God’s integrity, but one that explores and reveals aspects of God’s greatness and supremacy. Within this humbling passage of Scripture God declares His unique greatness in a number of ways. Thus, from this text we once more ask ‘what does it mean to be God?’

It means that the Lord Himself laid the foundations of the earth without any help, counsel or constructive criticism from anybody because there was nobody around with the power, knowledge or wisdom to give any such aid. In fact those who were around (angels and heavenly beings) did what all creatures are bound to do when God is at work, namely they worshiped.

It means that the Lord sets the laws and workings of the oceans so that they don’t overwhelm coastlands and make everything a sopping, soggy mess. We stand on the beach, look out over the ocean waves and wonder at our smallness. The Lord God almighty stands in the heavens and controls those same waves with more precision than we do when holding a cup of water in our hands!

What does it mean to be God? It means that He has the privilege of telling the day to wake up and the dawn to arise. It means that He has the ultimate birds eye view of the entire earth and has intimate knowledge of all its places. How ludicrous therefore for the wicked to think they can hide from Him!

What does it mean to be God? It means that He’s traversed and ’stood’ in the very depths of the seas while poor old David Blaine couldn’t even hold his breath in a tank for ten minutes. It means that He can make each snow flake different, reserve a blizzard for the time of His choosing while we watch and pray for the snowplow to come down our street.

What does it mean to be God? It means that He disperses lightning as easily as we flick a light switch and sends the east winds with more ease than we use to blow a kiss to our children. It means that He sets the temperature at which water is a liquid, freezes and turns to ice and then heats to a mere vapor. It means that he exercises more control over the weather of this world than we do when adjusting the climate control in our cars and homes.

What does it mean to be God? It means that He doodles on the canvas of the universe and creates the patterns of the constellations. It means that He sets and sustains the laws of heaven and earth for His own glory and the good of His creation while showing grace to those who discover them and yet credit something else for their existence. It means that He rules His world with absolute control and dominion so that no one can thwart Him, no one can challenge Him and no one can question Him.

What does it mean to be God? It means that gives man wisdom and understanding to create an alphabet, formulate words, construct language and then write about His greatness. It means hunting the prey for the lioness with more care than we use to open a can of cat food for Whiskers or Tabby or whatever your feline’s name is.

What does it mean to be God? It means coming to the world you made so that you could become the cornerstone and foundation for the salvation of your people. It means denying yourself the worship of heaven for a time so that you could enjoy the worship of your people forever. It means standing up and commanding the waves and the winds to be quiet so that your followers would know that you are the living God. It means subjecting yourself to the laws you set for time and subjecting yourself to the hands of the wicked so that they could carry out what the Father had ordained before there was time.

What does it mean to be God? It means having the shadow of death overtake and cover You the author of life so that you might die for the sins of Your people. It means tasting death so that death itself can be swallowed up in victory. It means hearing and answering all those who call on you for salvation just as easily as you answer the call of the young raven who cries to you for its daily food.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance