The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols-- worship him, all you gods!
Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name
--Psalm 97
The more I examine my life, the more disappointed I am with myself for all the little things I put before God--all the idolatry in my life. I worship a God who makes mountains melt like wax.
Pause for a second and imagine this. Mountains melt like wax before God. Wow.
So knowing this, how is it that I still sometimes seek satisfication in lessor things? I fall to my knees in misery when God takes away a crutch I held onto just like an Israelite crying when my golden calf is thrown into the fire. I beg for it back as if I don't realize that in God I have more life than I could hope for with anything else.
We are trapped in bodies of flesh and we crave the tangible, but God doesn't always appear in tangible ways for us. Our small minds that are confined in the physical want constant reinforcement. God gave us His word to read, meditate on, and carry with us everywhere so that we would have this reinforcement. But we are weak. We grow complacement in our spiritual practices and turn to the easily accessible people, possessions, worldly goals and worldly ways--our comfortable idols. And Satan laughs.
None of the petty idols in my life could ever compare to the God of the universe. Nothing in any of our lives could stand before God--no person, no job, no material possession, no activity, no fame. We live to glorify God with all of creation. Spending our lives for any lessor goal does not make sense in light of who God is and in light of our destiny with Him. He can melt the mountains in our lives today and turn our worlds around for His glory. Bow down and let Him reign.
Since I can't go to the gym at the moment because of the physical therapy for my knee, I have developed the new habit of rushing home from work to walk the dog. These walks hardly qualify as exercise since long-haired miniature dachshunds are not known for their long legs or endurance, but they do clear my mind. I've learned on these walks that my 2 1/2 year old dog knows a lot more about living than I do after 29 years after practice. Unlike me, my dog does not measure her walks in terms of miles covered or calories burned. While I'm using our time together to unwind from work, my dog uses our time to engage with God's creation using all five of her senses as much as possible. And I do mean all five senses! My dog savors every moment we are outside, taking every step unapologetically, even when her frolicking requires us to stop at every other tree. I envy her carefree appreciation for living. While I am busy doing, my dog has mastered the art of being.
In addition to bonding with the dog on our walks, these last few days, I've been enjoying the changing seasons. While my sinuses certainly don't fully appreciate springtime in Maryland, the rest of body does. One of my two favorite times of the year occurs as creation slowly rouses from its winter slumber, and all that was dormant begins to burst into new life again. The changes the spring brings remind me of the countless new beginnings that God offers His children. No matter how many times we stray or fall, He restores us to new life in Him, to our beauty in Him, just as the flowers and the trees are restored to new life and colorful beauty each spring.
Walking the dog has simply given me a great excuse to be outside. In the fall, I am outside every day coaching, but during the other three seasons, I typically spend my afternoons safely tucked away in a climate-controlled gym. This year, I am remembering how much I enjoy the outdoors. The community where our new house is located maintains wonderful trails through the woods around our neighborhood, and I've enjoyed exploring these quiet pathways and marveling at the first breaths of warm air on my arms and the sight and sound of birds dancing and singing through the trees. Experiening the complex beauty of God's creation always draws me closer to Him who created it all.
From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. --Psalm 50:2
Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the beauty of God's creation. I watch perfect white clouds waltzing across a bright blue sky. I marvel at the green of the treetops illuminated by golden sunbeams and the ripple in a lake created by a delicate spring breeze. I listen to birds chirping their love songs and the carefree laughter of children playing outside. I rejoice in the warm, fresh air caressing my skin, and I wonder at God's glorious radiance. The same God who created the spectacular beauty that is our natural world, including such majestic feats as Mt. Zion, knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He keeps creation running smoothly, and yet He also knows the exact number of hairs on each of our heads (Luke 12:7). Just as He commanded all the beauty of creation into existence, He breathed life into each of us (Genesis 2:7). And while the beauty of the world sometimes makes my heart flutter like butterfly wings when I try to take it in, the beauty of the world is only the backdrop for God's masterpiece of humankind. We are the culminating work of His creation, yet since the fall we don't always reflect His glorious radiance the way nature does. Our sin has dimmed our glow, but God offers a cleansing through the blood of His Son. When we have been washed in Christ's blood, God sees us as He made us and intends for us to be rather than in the ugliness of our sin. When we walk with Him, His glorious radiance will illuminate us from our spirits outward, and we will effortlessly find ourselves responding to His command to let our light shine in the world (Matthew 5:16). Like nature, we cannot help but shine when we reflect the radiant image of the One who created us.
Moses said to the Lord, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." --Exodus 33:12-23
Moses is such a great example of the power of faith that I am going to talk about him again today. Moses came to God boldly. He spoke directly to God in reverence, but without apology or self-censorship. He let God know how he felt and what his requests were, no matter how lofty the requests might seem. Moses love God, trusted God, and stood in awe of God. He wanted to see the glory of the God with whom he spoke so intimately over the years. He wanted to see the glory of the God of all creation who created Moses and could just as easy squash Moses if He so chose. But God didn't choose to squash Moses for his request to see God's glory. Instead, God chose to respond to Moses' bold request by doing what He had not been recorded doing for anyone prior to Moses--He would show Moses a glimpse of His glory and splendor. Moses must have felt the excitement and joy bubbling up in his heart that God would grant his unusual request and afford Moses another unique opportunity. As we saw yesterday, God expected big things of Moses and Moses acted obediently; in the scripture today, we see that Moses asked God for big things and God rewarded him. Oh what we would see if we would have the courage to do likewise.
Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. --Colossians 1:16-17
John and I just returned from an extended weekend in San Francisco, CA. We were there for a wedding, but since neither of us had been to San Francisco before, we allowed time to explore. Having never been to the west coast, or even most of the middle of the country before, I am probably more easily impressed than most when it comes to natural beauty. Having seen little, it takes little to impress my sheltered eyes, and San Francisco surely left me swooning. I am a sucker for blue skies, lush trees, and sparkling water. During our brief stay, we found San Francisco to have an abundance of all three. I'm also a sucker for breathtaking views, and with it's rolling hills and endless coastline, San Francisco has more views than two people can hope to take in during a short 4-day stretch. I remarked more than once to John that I hadn't anticipated being so impressed with the scenery. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I actually chose to wake up early two of the four mornings we spent there to jog along the bay near our Fisherman's Wharf hotel.
In the face of such moving natural beauty, I couldn't help but marvel at the works of God's hands. He created the trees and green fields that I take for granted in Maryland at the same time that He created the cliffs and beaches of California. He filled the oceans with salt water and plopped continents down in their midst. Though Christ didn't walk the earth until many thousands of years after God wove and spun the created world we see, God created everything through Christ and for Christ. While He didn't appear in flesh until creation was old news, Christ existed before the oceans, before the hills, and before the most aged of trees. God created all things through Christ for His pleasure. Even now in the midst of my jet lag, I sit here in awe of God's art. In just the little fragments of creation that I have seen with my eyes, I am left breathless. Imagine if I would be able to see all of creation and not just a tiny segment!
What inspires even more awe to swell in my chest is that for all the beauty that I have seen and could see with my human eyes, God has created even more beauty in the unseen Kingdom that I won't ever be able to glimpse while I'm walking this earth. And more so, all of this creation, both seen and unseen, He balances in His hand. My mind is too small to begin to comprehend the breadth or complexity of God's hand in which He holds all of creation together--what I can see, what I cannot see, what I have yet to see--in His palm. Meditating on His vastness this weekend in light of the little bit more of creation He allowed for me to be privy to has invigorated my spirit. Today, on four hours of sleep with a body still caught between time zones, I continue ride the wide and tall wave of wild love for a God who can rejuvinate a spirit with a mere glance and create a universe out of His personal overflow of beauty and grace.