“Oh, Lord, my God…When I, in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made…”
We recently vacationed in several of the great national parks of Utah and Wyoming: Bryce and Zion Canyons, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, Arches and Capitol Reef. In past trips, we’ve seen the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, and the Badlands. And, we live near the Smoky Mountains. In the parks, and while driving across the plains and deserts to get to them, a recurring theme is overwhelming: God has given us a big, beautiful country to be our home.
We kept seeing views that were just so BIG that they seemed impossible. We tried to convey that feeling in photographs, but eventually gave up. The size just refused to fit into a single image. Here are a few of our attempts.
The related thing we noticed is how tiny we humans are in comparison to the landscape. I was forever taking pictures that include specs of human beings in contrast to the immense mountains and canyons. The scale is so vast that it is difficult to portray. Here are some of my attempts in Bryce Canyon National Park. There are people in each picture, but you may have to click and zoom in to find them!
“I see the stars…”
For all of this scale and beauty, though, it pales in comparison to the rest of creation. The Grand Canyon and Mt. Everest are both very small portions of planet Earth as a whole. Earth is only one planet in the solar system, and by no means the largest 1. The sun is 100 times the diameter of Earth and over a million times the volume, and it is just an average-size star. There are stars 100 times its size. Our sun is one of about 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It is one of at least 200 billion galaxies in the universe, probably 10 times that many.
And our God created and sustains all of that, while at the same time attentively hearing a child’s bedtime prayer! How does He do it? Why does He do it?
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
Psalm 8:3-4
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
I expect that skeptics reading this article react with a step farther back: “What make you think He does it?” I have many articles on this site explaining the evidence that convinces me. This link goes to a few of the main ones. The short version is that this indescribably vast and complex universe could not have come into existence by itself any more than the computer than I’m typing on and the one you’re reading on did. Computers and universes require designers and creators.
In our quest to discover the source of everything else, we find a book that describes someone with the exact attributes — power, intelligence, timelessness — that would be required for such a feat. That book provides its own evidence corroborating its accuracy. It also tells of the interactions of that Creator with His much-loved favorite creatures: us.
“And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.”
That same triune God first created beings who had a will of their own. Their highest and best good would come from freely submitting that will to align with their Creator’s. But He gave them a choice whether to do so, or to follow their own will and separate from Him. The first humans, and all of their descendants to this day, chose separation. The consequences have been devastating.
But God chose reconciliation. He chose it so fervently that He stooped to become one of His own creatures, taking on human life so that He would be able to sacrifice that life for our sake. Then, once He had defeated sin and Satan, He rose in victory to offer eternal life to all who believed in Him and accepted His gift.
…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself…
2 Corinthians 5:19
“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!”
Two thousand years have passed since Christ’s ascension back to Heaven to prepare a home for us there (John 14:1-3). That seems like a long time. But remember: Abraham was promised a great nation full of descendants in about 2000 B.C. He has them now! The Jews were promised another prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) in about 1200 B.C., and King David was promised a descendant who would be king forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13) in about 1000 B.C. Jesus was born 1000-1200 years later.
…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
2 Peter 3:8
Jesus will return to finish history in God’s own good time. But it is guaranteed that He will return. And what a glorious time that will be!
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee…”
From creation…to salvation…to eternity, what is there to say but:
P.S. I linked it just above but don’t miss this Hillsong version of the song. It’s my favorite of the ones I found. 🙂