love the age my children are now for many reasons. Not the least of these is the fact that my children think I know everything, or pretty close to it. They’re also pretty sure I can do everything. I love it when they come to me and ask me to do something that’s too hard for them, with total confidence that I can do what they can’t. It never even seems to enter their minds that I might not be able to do something. When, on occasion, I have to admit that I can’t do what they’re asking (carry a child or two as well as my purse, a diaper bag, and fourteen bags of groceries) or don’t know the answer to their question (“Mommy? How big is Jupiter?”), they are surprised.
They are also easily impressed. Feats of strength and creativity that seem average to me are incredible to my children. For example, one day shortly after turning five, Ellie was practicing counting. She would think of huge numbers (some of which were real) and try to count to them. Sometimes, however, she would get stuck on which number came next. So she turned to me.
“Mommy, are you a good counter?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m a very good counter,” I said.
“Can you count to 800?”
“Yes.”
“Can you count to twenty-hundred?”
“Yes. That would be two thousand.”
“Can you count to the last number hundred?”
“There’s not really a last number, but I could keep counting forever,” I said.
“Wow!” Ellie exclaimed, amazed.
As far as Ellie knew, I was a math genius, and she was impressed.
Friend, you and I live every day in the presence of One Who is truly a genius. Actually, “genius” doesn’t even begin to encompass the magnitude of His abilities in every area we can imagine. So why aren’t we more impressed with Him?
God is capable of far more than we can imagine. He can do vastly more than we, being limited and finite, can do or ever will be able to do no matter how hard we might try. Yet we fail to be half as impressed with His extraordinary abilities as Ellie was with my average ones.
When was the last time you stood in awe of God’s magnificence? When was the last time you were truly impressed, so much so that your heart was moved to praise, or maybe to silence?
Oh, sure, we know that God can do incredible things. We know about all the miracles described in the Bible. Yep, pretty neat, we think to ourselves, and we never really stop to contemplate the greatness of the One who commands the elemental forces of nature and the hearts of kings with only a word.
You and I can’t even sustain a single breath on our own. We are dependent on Him for the very movement of air in and out of our lungs. He is the One Who provides us the air to breathe and properly functioning lungs with which to breathe it.
You and I can’t create anything if we start with nothing.
We can’t speak a word and cause something to come into being.
We can’t orchestrate the entire universe so that our master plan comes to fruition.
You and I should be in serious awe of our majestic God.
Spend some time just being in awe today. Go before God. Ask Him to forgive you for taking Him for granted, if you need to do that. Ask that He grant you a fresh appreciation of His incredible power and skill in superintending the universe in general and your life in particular.
Then praise Him for all He is, and all He has done, is doing, and will do.
It’ll be a taste of the worship we’ll be privileged to render unto Him for all eternity.
Psalm 113:5—Who is like the Lord our God, the one who sits enthroned on high?
Psalm 145:3—Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.