Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Beauty of the Creator

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim..."

A frequent theme of my life as a believer has been my preference of creation over Creator. Like a lot of really good thoughts, in my mind it was a very "tweetable" thing to say and although very true, not real personal...but ok, in REAL LIFE, what does that look like? More than not choosing creation, how do I begin to choose the Creator?

Look at Habakkuk's prayer (Hab 3:6). Praying to God about God, Habakkuk said, "He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered."
Reread those words before moving on.

In a sense, Habakkuk says, "O Lord, I know who you are. I've heard of your power. You can do whatever you want. So because of who you are, I will take joy in you regardless of what happens!"

Habakkuk saw the beauty of the Creator.
The result (that we see) wasn't wealth or health, the result was that (in his heart) the things of earth paled in comparison to who the Creator is. An easy thing to talk about and nod our heads at in agreement, but in real life?

In a sense, the truths of the character of God exploded Habakkuk's mind. Believing that God can "look and shake nations" and "make mountains scatter" was enough for Habakkuk to throw his hands up!
"Game over, its all yours, you created everything! Why would I not trust you and take joy in you, the King of everything?"

In Romans 5:2, Paul says, "we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." See how this has nothing to do with rejoicing in hope of us or in hope of what God gives us? We absolutely cannot rejoice in hope of the glory of God if the beauty of God isn't real to us. We will continue to rejoice in the things God gives us when far greater joy is offered in the rejoicing of who he is.

Paul- "For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him." Philippians 3:8

When Nebuchadnezzar woke up from his funk (Daniel 4:34-35), he said, "for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him,'What have you done?'"

It seems that the real joy in life now IS the beauty of the Creator. We were created to worship, so even if you have a basic knowledge of who God is, that should be beautiful! If all you know now is that God stood and measured the earth, looks and shakes nations...ain't that beautiful? Isn't that mind-blowing?!
How are YOU gonna make mountains scatter?

It's not just what God does that makes him beautiful, it's who he is! We get to see who he is by what he does and has done.

I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that rejoicing in the character of God makes life make more sense and more enjoyable.

It becomes about him and not about us.







1 comment:

  1. It's funny that I was just pondering today (yes - pondering) "what if" I was told I had some deadly disease like cancer and would definitely die...how would I truly feel? could I be truly thankful no matter what...? I never really came to a conclusion...I just tossed the thoughts about in my head and pondered :)

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