We all need a spark of
encouragement from time to time. And the truth is life, no matter how big it
is, cannot deliver the type of encouragement we often need. There are not
always the encouragers about, ready and willing to pick us up in our heap.
But encouragement from the God of Ages
comes in this knowledge:
In comparison with the size of all
things, and the significance in all things, and the state of all things, God is
incomparable. In comparison to happiness and sadness, abuse and neglect,
anxiety and loss, celebration and humiliation, there is no comparison when we
compare God with all things. The Lord of glory, the King of Kings, the Saviour
of the world, is incomparably mightier than our biggest of problems, challenges,
and losses.
The trouble is we forget. We have
bad memories.
Taking a Look at the Stars and Quarks
If we were to take 2
minutes and 34 seconds to contemplate the size of things, we
would get a better gauge for the size of our problems. Our challenges, whilst
they may be seen in proportion, are just as important to God as they are to us.
When we take a look at the stars,
imagining the concept of size, and we recognise that God made all this, yet he
stoops to remain interested in our losses, we understand a little more just how
amazing God is.
The stars remind us how precious
we are, that we, bodies no less significant than the greatest of heavenly
stars, were created by a loving God.
Now imagine size at the opposite
end of the scale; one of the smallest particles of matter is the quark. Our
bodies are made of trillions of quarks—on a similar (almost-ballpark) scale to
the number of stars in the universe.
God, the greatest engineer of all,
the God of Ages who has strung creation from eternity to eternity, has all
things in his hands—and, he loves us.
Our Problems in Perspective
God never underestimates the size
of our problems. All of them are serious issues to the Lord. But put into
perspective our problems transform in a moment. And whilst we might not be able
to maintain this perspective we can draw encouragement from God anytime we
wish. He cares!—even when others don’t.
This encouragement comes from the
knowledge that we, along with every other created thing, have unique relevance
and significance to the God of Ages.
Then we read our Bibles, hearing
God’s Spirit say,
“Because
you are precious in my sight,
and
honored, and I love you...”
—Isaiah 43:4a,b (NRSV)
***
God loves us. The Grand Designer
and Engineer of the Universe has each of our lives safely in his hands. Despite
our problems, pressures and pains we are loved. There is no better
encouragement.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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