creation of Adam by Michelangelo , Rome Italy March 08 creation
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Luke 12:27 (ESV)
The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote in his epic poem, Idylls of the King,
As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would,
Till the High God behold it from beyond,
And enter it, and make it beautiful?
It seems that all of us sometime find ourselves praying to what we see as a “lesser god.” We make Him small and try to put Him in a box. We treat Him as an elderly and laconic genie in a bottle. But as King David writes, “7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10 ESV)
We try to shape our lives in our way, don’t we? And in so doing, we let God know that we don’t always really trust Him to do the right thing. When I was going through a very difficult time dealing with my father, a wise friend told me, “Michael, we all say to God, ‘Lord, I know that judgement is yours, but let me handle this on. You won’t be hard enough!” We want to do it our way.
But if He created and manages the universe, if water will boil at 2120 tomorrow like it did today, if the rain falls and the sun rises, if the miracles of childbirth continue tomorrow, if our hearts continue to beat, if our atmosphere continues to provide oxygen to supply us, if He manages every atom and He still clothes the lily, how magnificent and powerful is He?
Alistair Begg wrote, “But our heavenly Father knows best, and He is painting on a far bigger canvas. His purpose is not to make our journey through life pleasurable or to make all our dreams come true. His purpose for us is far grander: to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.”
Friend, understand today. We serve a mighty God. We can fight it, disagree with it, or we can obey the Lord of the universe. I have chosen. Have you?
