A highlight one day this past summer was my first boat ride that led to the open waters of vast Lake Ontario. Life and nature has a different view from the water. I marveled at the beauty of the water as far as the eye could see and being able to see life on the other side of my normal view. As we crossed under a bridge that led from the bay to Lake Ontario, the driver said something that has stuck with me.
“Now you realize how small you are.”
Being one small, single person on a small boat on Lake Ontario was like looking up at the night sky full of little tiny stars illuminating the heavens, or being in the woods with the massive trees and plants all around standing so tall. Or driving by the miles and miles of lush, green farm land where the crops are plentiful.
How many times do we think feeling ‘big’ or chasing after the ‘biggest’ things in this world is best? Have you caught yourself looking to buy the fancy car, the latest and best phone, or the fancy clothes to impress others?
Have you considered how it might be better as the boat driver said to “realize how small you are?”
What if we try living as if we are a ‘little piece’ in this great big universe knowing that someone greater is orchestrating everything for us? All we need to do is keep focused on our big God and sharing gratitude for being a little part in this beautiful world. We can revel in the beauty of everything God blesses us with in this world.
Photo courtesy of Focused 001 under Creative Commons License (CC BY-ND 2.0); words added by hopetoinspireyou.com
We know there is a big God who is Creator of all.
God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth… –Isaiah 42:5 (NLT)
Since God made the heavens, the earth, and everything here including us humans, He must be a big God. He made everything out of nothing. His greatest creation is people whom He breathed His very life into, starting with Adam. When you consider all of creation, don’t you agree that you and I are just a ‘little piece’ in a big world?
We know there is a big God waiting for us to interact with Him.
For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. –Isaiah 30:19 (NLT)
God created us in love because He is love itself. Because He created us with free will, God is always waiting for us to fellowship with Him. He yearns for us to share our hearts and thoughts with Him, and even our hopes and dreams. Whenever we take time to commune with Him, He is always listening and answering us–His ways might not always be our ways.
We know there is a big God who empowers us to carry on His work.
…And it is he who says, “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.” –Isaiah 42:5-7 (NLT)
One of the greatest privileges we have on earth is to carry on the work that God started. He will lead us by the hand in the way we should go, but only if we take time to listen to that still small voice. Our lives are lights to all and we, through the Holy Spirit, have power to bless others and set them free.
We know there is a big God who values us greatly.
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him. –Deuteronomy 32:10-12 (NIV)
Though we are just one small person in this huge world that God made, He is always guarding us because we are the apple of His eye. He loves us unconditionally at all times! His wings cover and protect us just like an eagle does to its babies. We are so valued by God.
It was quite fitting to see the first part of The Breton Fisherman’s Prayer:
Be encouraged this week to…
… know you are being cared for by a big, capable God.
… praise God for His wonderful masterpieces of creation.
… interact continually with the God of all.
… ask God what work He is empowering you to do this day.
… live as the apple of His eye knowing your value.
REFLECTION:
When did you feel the ‘bigness’ of God in your life?
How can you walk closer in oneness with the Lord?
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care… –Psalm 95:3-7 (NIV)
