Anyone who has been on the Pacific Ocean knows that it is formidably awesome and beautiful. Seeing it from miles above gives us a perspective of its vastness and grandeur. But being on it during a ravenous storm gives us an entirely different experience. Beauty and awe are transformed into fear and dread. Both perspectives, from afar and up close, are views that are accurate and yet very different. For us to have a view of God that both sustains us in our weaknesses and trials, while also keeping us ever worshipful, obedient, and humble in our posture toward Him, we must be careful to balance God’s attributes of being personal with the fact that He is great and majestic, transcendent and sovereign. Our contemporary Christianity leans more toward an emphasis on God as personal—i.e., as Packer states, “not a mere cosmic principle, impersonal and indifferent, but a living Person, thinking, feeling, active, approving of good, disapproving of evil, and interested in His creatures all the time” (Knowing God, p. 74). To err in favor of God’s personal nature is to become overly comfortable with Him, familiar, and sloppy in our estimation of Him. In this tendency we see God as one who is concerned about ME and my needs rather than placing emphasis on the reality that He is transcendent, Lord, and worthy of my total devotion, and seeing myself as a bondservant for His glory.
On the other hand, the danger of placing too much emphasis on His majestic aspect (greatness, vastness) is that, as John Phillips puts it, “[it] seems to de-personalize God more and more until he becomes a vague unfocused Abstraction.” (Your God is Too Small, p. 65). Avoiding a view of God as impersonal and distant or as casual and overly familiar is difficult. He is not a force or our buddy. While surely He is our friend and comforter, He is also holy and majestic. God is indeed majestic, high and lifted up, as in Isaiah’s vision of Him in chapter six of the book that bears his name. Many are the scriptures supporting the idea that God is royalty, the King of the Universe, majestic and lifted high. He is inexorably in control, of transcendent nature, and perfect in holiness.
Building on this foundation, I want to point to ways in which we can elevate our view of God and rightly worship Him as the majestic creator King, while also seeing Him as personal and loving. My thoughts are greatly influenced by J.I. Packer’s book, Knowing God. In order to elevate our view of God we must first remove from our thoughts of Him limits that make Him small. Notice in Psalm 139, David’s meditation on the infinite nature of God’s presence, knowledge, and power.
O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written. The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, and Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
Selective passages in the latter chapters of the book of Job reveal the nature of God’s unlimited power, wisdom, and sovereign control. Notice chapter 38:4-11:
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? "Or who enclosed thesea with doors. When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop '?
A small view of God that diminishes His power, authority, and intimate knowledge of us creates high expectations of self and others that are fertile soil for the fear of man. Faith atrophies and myopic gazing on one’s own worth becomes our preoccupation. In such a condition, God seems remotes and disinterested. At best, He is a fickle friend with little power to illicit our praise and worship. This is the kingdom of self, in which people become our focus of attention, causing us to use people and love them poorly.
The second aspect of elevating our view of God is contained in our comparison of Him with the powers and forces which we regard as great. Chapter 40 of Isaiah is very helpful here.
Compare Him in the tasks that He has done (verse 12):
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?
Compare Him in relation to the nations in which we stand in awe and fear (verse 15ff):
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
Compare Him in relation to the vastness of the world (verse 22):
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
Compare Him to the great men of the world (verse 23):
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
Compare Him to the vast array of the starry world (verse 26):
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the one who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.
Consider Him as the everlasting One, who never wearies, whose understanding is inscrutable. He is the one who ever gives vitality to the humble and meek ones who seek and wait on Him (verses 28-21):
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.
Notice that He:
Rebukes wrong thoughts about Himself (v. 25)
"To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?"says the Holy One.
Corrects our understanding of ourselves (v. 27)
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God "?
Rebukes our slowness to believe in Him (v. 28)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not becomeweary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
Yet He is a transcendent, majestic God who condescends to those who are humble, broken, and contrite:
For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "Idwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive thespirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)
When we have a large view of God in His power, perfection, and infinite greatness, our sense of His worth (which is ultimate!) grows. Daily experiences begin to take on new meaning when we see that this great God, who rules and reigns and no one stays His power, loves and delights in us as His chosen children. Rather than forsaking us in our sinful, wretched condition, He took on our sin in Himself, in Jesus. Rather than seeking to please people and grasp the temporary pleasures of this world, we begin to revere God, trust Him, worship Him, commune with Him, and love Him.
How does this look? Moses in one of his five sermons to Israel before they went in to possess the land, said:
"Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I amcommanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)
"So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe."He executes justice for the orphan and thewidow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. "So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name” (vv. 16-20)
God is not a sloppy, sentimental, capricious God. Nor is He is distant, aloof, disengaged. He is the God of covenant, involvement, loving His people and disciplining them for their good and His glory. He is faithful to Israel, as He is to us. He is big . . . really big! And He is for us in Christ. And yet He does not tolerate unbelief and disobedience, because He is a loving Father who knows the cancerous effects of sin. And yet He is tender, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. What a great God is He!
Therefore, let us not fear man nor put our trust in him. But rather let us have a large view of God, fearing Him rightly, and trusting Him implicitly. He has chosen us to bless us with Himself, not a soft, limited, buddy-like relationship, but rather a God of power and might, wisdom and justice, all aimed at our good in Christ for His glory.
At this point I am reminded of the words of Paul in Romans 11:
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ForWHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him andthrough Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
I don’t know about you, but I am very thankful that He is a God who doesn’t need me! Praise be to His name that He is completely self-sufficient. And praise to His name that all His power, justice, and wisdom is, in Christ, meant for our good!
Let me encourage us to all daily ponder the majesty of God. Memorize verses that remind you often of His greatness. Then remember the Cross, where our frailty, inability, and deserved punishment was nailed there and taken away (Colossians 2). It is there that God demonstrates His love most vividly, and it is there that the greatest cue is given that He is for us both now and for eternity. Cease focusing on man as the means of your satisfaction and the end of your need. Instead see God, in the face of Christ, in His glory (2 Corinthians 4:6) and be enamored, inciting a worshipful heart. Trust Him today in light of what He has revealed about Himself. Ask Him for more faith to believe all that He reveals. Seek Him diligently to know Him more. And then rest.