We only have to look above our world
into the vastness of outer space and be reminded of how we diminish in comparison.
The spiral disk of our own Milky Way galaxy is but one of a myriad of galaxies
in the seemingly unlimited universe. I admit that when I look up during a
starry night, my first thought is how phenomenally puny I am in physical
comparison to the heavens, chasing that with David’s anthropomorphic thoughts
(cf. Jn 4:24),
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of
Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man (emphasis mine) that You
are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” Psalm 8:3-4
Allow me to quote a poetical
paraphrase of the passage above,
“I look up at your macro-skies, dark
and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their
settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?” The Message
Another verse comes to mind from the
Psalter,
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psa 19:1).
What comes from that is the acknowledgment
and praise of the indescribable greatness of Yahweh. All of creation is teeming
with evidence of his infinite wisdom and power (cf. Rom 1:20). And what is
even more amazing? The half is yet to be told of our eternal, infinite, and
immutable God when we see Him face to face (1 Jn 3:2)!
Looking up always seems to put things
in perspective whenever we think we are somebody of importance on this terrestrial
molecular dot in the Universe we call planet earth. Man had dominion over the
earth (Gn 1:26), remember? But sin changed all of that when it entered the
world through Adam (Rom 5:12), and all
things radically morphed. As one commentator described it,
“Dogs bark at man, snakes bite him,
birds and fish elude him. The explanation is that when sin entered the world
through Adam, man lost his unqualified sovereignty over the lower creation” (Bible Believers Commentary on Psa 8:6-8).
Here comes the good part; in spite of
our sin, Jesus still came to this terrestrial ball we call home to consummate
what was hinted at when Yahweh clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of an animal
(Gn 3:21),
“I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10b).
When I realized I was a goner without
Christ; I seized upon the life of Zoe. Not only does the world around me make
me feel tiny, but my Adamic nature embarrasses me to a shrinkable low, and I
feel innately small, prone, and face down before a Holy God though I know I am
forgiven. It is the Holy Spirit within me that energizes me regardless of my
sinful state to go before His throne of grace with a certain boldness as being
family (Heb 4:16). “Abba, Father!”
Let me tell you about another area of
feeling small that the LORD used to press home the truth to me. It is being around
scholars of the Scriptures who make my knowledge of the Scriptures pale
significantly. Now, I realize they are doing it for a living, and I am not; so
it stands to reason that their knowledge of the Scriptures would be far superior
to mine, but it still humbles me to be in the presence of great and godly men;
I feel small, diminutive in spiritual stature. It is not an inferiority complex
but sharing a “similar” perspective, without pressing the similarities, with
our physicality as opposed to the Universe. There is a feeling of unworthiness,
of lesser importance, a “What is man?” that comes to mind. It is not spiritually
healthy (cf. Acts 14:15).
After reading about this godly man who
earned a Th.D. and Ph.D. and his long list of achievements, accolades, and awards, I
thanked God for his life of service while I considered my work as nothing
compared to his. Yeah, comparing one’s spiritual service with another is not spiritually
healthy either; I know; you never have done that. So, I asked God, “How could
M-g ever rise to that level of respectability without a resume like that?
As I reflected on that I received a
phone call from a godly elderly woman. We chatted a few, and I asked her, “Have
you ever felt small? She said, “Yes.” I asked, “So small that you felt unworthy
to the point of embarrassment to be in a person’s presence or intimidated
because of their accomplishments?” She flat out said, “Yes.” So I relayed to
her my feelings of the day that what I felt was natural, but not supernatural. As
soon as I finished with my “pity party, the LORD intervened; truth broke out
while still on the cell phone.
I told her that God just spoke to me
by asking me a question. “How do you feel in My presence?” You talk about
feeling like the size of a pea or worse, the size of an atom; people can see a pea (feelings of insecurity),
but an atom can hide behind its size from the naked eye but not from God. There was a “Are you
there” moment of silence. All the inward negative gears of self stopped and shifted
gears in the other direction toward the positive. I have never claimed to be a
scholar, a theologian, or spiritually smarter than any other believer, only
that I belonged to the priesthood of true believers and a joint heir of Christ
who loved to express His truth the best way I knew how. I have always been
humbled that God would consider me worthy to do that.
But the question from the LORD gave me
a needed perspective that day. It’s embarrassing to confess to chasing down a
rabbit’s trail. It is not how we feel among men, but among God in service for
Him! How much more should we feel unworthy, small in scale compared to the holy,
omnipotent, omniscient, omnisapient, eternal, infinite, and immutable God! All
of the creation pales before his Majesty and magnificence! The heavens declare His
indisputable, incomparable greatness to man! “What is man, O LORD?” My soul
asked of Him. The answer is nothing and everything to those who believe. In Him, I find my proper boundaries of humility and greatness.
Though the image of God was terribly
marred by sin, Adam and Eve were not abandoned and left unattended; God took
the initiative of their redemption (Gn 3:21). With us the entrance of the Holy
Spirit by grace through faith began the work of Christ-likeness. A new creation
had begun, transforming darkness into light by the renewing of the mind (Rom
12:2) that leads to growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet
3:18). In Him we are everything; outside of Him, we are nothing...
When we said our “see you later,” I
was somehow in my thinking feeling better about how small I was in
comparison to Yahweh rather than some other man; it was a spiritually healthy thing! Should it not be so? What arrogance for any creature to
think he or she is greater than the Creator, to know better than Him, to have no
need of Him considering who He is!? The wow factor was to be redirected from
the greatness of men to the greatness of God.
Even the greatness of men is
given by God! Honor and respect they are due in the here and now, and to be
appreciated for their work in service to God and His kingdom but no more than
that. But it is the God in them who is to be lifted up! We are to lift up Christ,
not ourselves or others, and forge our way in the will of God in the power of
the Holy Spirit for His glory alone. There is no need for comparisons among
godly men; as allies, we serve together against a great spiritual foe. All the
troops are needed in one capacity or another.
I got another answer that day, “Do not
worry or compare your service to Me with others. If I will that he or she does
this or that, what concern of it is yours? You follow me and feed my sheep”
(cf. Jn 21:20-22). We all play a vital role in glorifying God and advancing His
kingdom. Yeah, we’re small alright in comparison to His greatness; it’s the only right perspective to have, but in His
service, our service is not dismissed as nothing or unimportant, as if having
nothing to say, to offer, to contribute because we lack the credentials of the
world. There are no masters of the Word, only students. Naturally, some
students are better at it than others.
For we who truly believe are children
of the King of Kings, it’s our position in Christ that makes us awesomely
significant, much taller than smaller, sons and daughters! Feelings of
smallness are spiritually healthy when God is the comparative, and feelings of
greatness should only come from what He has done for us or others who believe. We
have those days of smallness, don’t we? Maybe, we should have those days more
often, keeping things in perspective.
What are we truly? We are nothing (in comparison to God) but
everything (in Christ). Realizing the nothing (without Him we are nothing) is a positive and humbling perspective. In everything (pertaining to Christ) is where the eternal things of God are (1 Jn 2:17b). The dark and prideful side of nothing is of the world (1 Jn 2:16-17a). It helps to avoid it! Ever feel small? <><
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