Glory of God

Psalm 97:1,6,9 - The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad! The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods. 

I had the opportunity to spend a few days with my husband seeing some of the western part of our United States. If you've ever seen the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, that's kinda what we did. We added taxi to it though! 

We flew to Denver and took Amtrak to Reno, a 24 hour trip which means we slept on the train. An experience I'm glad to have had but once is enough! We saw the foothills and then some of the Rockies. Magnificent. Once in Reno we rented a car to drive through the mountains to Yosemite National Park and on to Sequoia National Park the next day. We also touched a part of Kings Canyon National Park. The trees and mountains were outstanding. 

All I could do was look at this relatively small part of the world, in the grand scheme of things, and TRY to imagine God's greatness. It's like your mind shuts down because it just cannot be imagined. Our comprehension of all He is is so totally small. So it has to be by sheer faith we believe. 

I love just my yard and all the little things that grow and bloom and create beauty in small bits and pieces. My little corner of the world. But what we saw this past week was immense for us but still minuscule to our God. How big can He be!? I tried to dwell on how many trees there were. Then, how many leaves or needles on each. Impossible. I had to stop.

God is awesome. That word is thrown around to represent ball teams or people some idolize or even what we had for dinner, a play we saw or concert heard. I wonder if this word shouldn't be used to describe God alone?

For the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. (‭Psalm ‭47‬:‭2‬)

The word awesome here is translated terrible. The meaning is: to stand in awe of, be awed; to fear, reverence, honour, respect. How do we truly feel about Him? Do we fear Him? Do we reverence Him? Do we give Him the honor that is due Him? How do we truly know if we are? Do we give Him any credit for anything at all? It's how we should feel daily about Him.

Here are a few things to ponder. Do not consider them lightly.

Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He is holy. (‭Psalms ‭99‬:‭3‬)

Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. (‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭6‬)

Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. (‭Psalm‬ ‭66‬:‭5‬)

These are only a few times His awesomeness is spoken of. I fear we take it for granted. We consider the things in our lives awesome...sometimes without considering Who made them all possible. We cannot comprehend the greatness of our God but we should set our minds and hearts on at least contemplating it and Him. After all, He is all things to us. He has given us life and given us nature to view to prove His greatness, that we might glory in Him and seek Him for ourselves. The key word is seek. Seek and He will open up our eyes to understand. Too much, you ask? Not enough. Look outside. Look at the awesomeness of this glorious God. Fear Him. Revere Him. He alone is holy.

Job‬ ‭26‬:‭7-14‬ - He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not 
broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can 
understand?

Greatness

Matthew 20:28 - For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others...

The thought has gone through my head since last Wednesday night, "what do I do?" What is that one thing God wants me to devote myself to? What am I programmed to do for Him? So having felt like that as I entered church Sunday morning we were confronted with this message: Living to the Fullest Degree.

We completed our Wednesday night Truth Project series but tomorrow night we are going to continue by again asking ourselves what we can do.

In the sermon Sunday morning Pastor Paul basically stated we all have a quest for greatness. Where does it come from? God puts it in us. How we choose to achieve this greatness is up to us. We can desire greatness to pat ourselves on our own backs or we can desire to do it to please the One who gave it to us.

So just how do we gain this greatness? We serve. Hmmmm, I think I mentioned that before....Jesus came to serve not to be served and if this is how He lived His life it should be ours too.  "Serving is the way to live to the fullest degree," Pastor Paul shared with us. "If you wish to become, you must serve."

Proverbs 11:24 - There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. We have to give in order to receive.  The more we give the more we receive. If we hold back what talent God has given us we cannot receive what He wants to give us...joy, the feeling of satisfaction, great rewards in heaven, those eternal rewards.

However, we must serve out of love for God, not for self. He will reward generously when we do and only He knows the motives in our hearts. Romans 14:10 tells us we will each give an account of himself to God.

So all through service I asked over and over "what is the one thing, God, that I'm good at?" How can I serve? I've served in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Russia on mission trips. You can't help being blessed serving others even if seems a small thing. I remember someone telling us that God would bless our socks off. And He did. I can remember coming home and not being able to get my head around life back home...unfortunately it doesn't last...unless you continue to serve in some manner.

I recall the faces of the Guatemalan and Nicaraguan children when they received little gifts ... and the faces of the congregation in Nicaragua when we put up the bulk of a church they so badly needed and the pastor's gratitude at the school we constructed in Guatemala. I especially remember the little girl who did not leave my side as we walked through "the dump"  in Guatemala where the homeless families live and root through trash to make a very meager living. I wanted to take her home... I recall the sober faces of the Russian church ladies we ministered to one night. They truly do not offer much in the way of emotion. But that evening they wept when we went around the room and hugged each one of them. 

That type of compassion that rises up can only come from the Lord. It happens in me so easily. That's the heart of Christ He wants us all to have, all the time. We don't need to go too far to find similar people in our own world. Those around us with their own troubles... How I would love to wrap my arms around one person this week to tell them how much Jesus cares for their hurting heart. The doors need to be opened.

On the outside this is not my character. You would not guess I feel like this. So has my question been answered? Not entirely. I know God has programmed me with something. I just need to tap into that. I don't know that it will be another mission trip out of the country. 

God does knows my heart. When I've been faced with other questions I truly needed answers to, He showed me answers or opened doors. I believe I will be stepping out in faith and realizing my need to trust God in what He wants me to do. Where will I start?

What I do know is when I do this, I will be "living to the fullest degree." I certainly don't think this always means great "greatness." It can be simple greatness. It may be simple to us but if we have done it, it is great greatness to God because we have done it.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.