Goodness
Growing up here in the desert, I loved star gazing. It was difficult when we moved to Las Vegas because the city was so bright at night, it would drown out the brilliance of the night sky and all the stars that danced across the sky.
At one point as a child, the thought occurred to me that if I were to fall upward into space, I could just float out for an eternity. The bigness of space became terrifying to me. The beauty I had gazed upon night after night was only matched by its vastness and enormity.
There are lots of times I have felt my “finiteness.” Being close to the ocean during a storm, standing at the edge of the Gand Canyon, or even when I almost lost Sarah during after the birth of Silas. There are times when we feel incredibly helpless, out of control and the sting of our “finiteness” is staring us in the face revealing how limited we really are.
When I think of who God is, I feel this way sometimes. Think about this for a moment. Everything that we experience, the air we breathe, the very fabric of time and space, the boundaries of the reality we live in, all of these things are put into place and created for God… simply because He willed it all into being.
If we dwell on this too long, we can understand the words of the psalmist:
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!”
- Psalms 139:6 (NLT)
God’s power literally knows no bounds. He is the only One who establishes boundaries. I feel overwhelmed at the idea that God could, if He so desired, turn me into a pillar of salt or by the snap of His fingers, turn off the gravity keeping us grounded to the earth and let every living thing sly out into space.
So why do we take such a familiar tone with with this Being who wields all the power in the universe and could easily erase anything from existence?
The simple answer, we know He is good.
C. S. Lewis used a Lion named Aslan as a metaphor for God in the Narnia books. In one exchange, Lewis made some remarkable observations about God:
“‘Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.’ ‘Ooh’ said Susan. ‘I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion’…’Safe?' said Mr Beaver …'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.’”
The reason we know that God is good is because God revealed Himself to us once and for all in there person and work of Jesus.
Paul wrote to a group of believers in Colossi this very powerful statement:
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…”
- Colossians 1:19
The FULLNESS of God? That is an impossible statement to understand. All the the power in the universe dwelled in Jesus. God has incredible power and yet showed us grace, kindness, gentleness and mercy. Paul continues by saying:
“…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
- Colossians 1:20
God doesn’t just define the very fabric of time and space, He is also the definer of what is good and what is right. He didn’t have to, but through Jesus, God has earned with us the trustworthiness of allowing our definition of what is good to be defined by what He says, not how we feel.
I am excited to worship with you all this weekend. To help us focus on this idea, we will sing these songs this weekend.
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