Our five year old has some bad speech habits we’re trying hard to break. One is that he says “for” instead of “when” (“For we get done eating, can I go downstairs and play?”). Another is that he says “I can’t know” instead of “I don’t know”. Sometimes it gets frustrating for both of us when I try to correct him.
“For you get done with that-“
“When I get done with this…?”
“WHEN…For…you get done…”
But I realized this morning that when it comes to God, maybe my little guy is more on target than I am with “I can’t know”.
My heart was captured this week by a verse in Job that blows my mind. When you stop and think about it, the amazing touch of our God is evident all around us. His creation shouts of His glory, and His miracles happen every day. There’s so much to see of Him that we can’t even begin to take it all in – we simply “can’t know” all there is to know of Him on this earth. And yet Job has this to say about it all: “And these are but the outer fringe of His works; how faint the whisper we hear of Him!” (Job 26:14)
Even if we could comprehend His presence around us, it would just be a faint whisper of His reality. Isn’t that amazing? There have been times when I have felt completely overwhelmed by the obvious hand of God in my life. When I think back to those times, it’s hard to believe that what I knew of Him in that moment was only a touch of what I’ll one day get to see in full.
My husband and I recently bought a surround sound system for our basement. We are so not the “gotta have the next big thing” kind of people, but trust me – this isn’t anywhere near the next big thing. It’s a $40 Wal-Mart deal that would make real surround sound owners probably say something like, “Oh look dear, isn’t that cute? They think they’ve arrived.” But on our little budget and in our meager no-cable, four-fuzzy-antenna-channel-havin’ lives, that little system is a big deal.
I have to admit, movie watching is a whole new experience now that we can hear every little cricket that hiccups on the screen. It’s so “real” feeling that we nearly had to buy a new cushion for the couch the other night when someone off camera knocked on a door and I thought for sure something huge was outside our house trying to get in (why I thought that when we were in the basement who knows, but it seemed logical in the split second it took me to lose my mind).
As real sounding as that little speaker system might seem, though, it’s still just a movie. The sounds we hear can’t hold a candle to what our ears would experience if we were in a real gun battle (heaven forbid), or standing in a real rain forest. Thanks to Job I’ve realized that even though we get to see and hear God in “surround sound” every day (at least when we take the time to notice, that is), we still aren’t experiencing the full effect of being in His presence. What we see of Him is definitely real and authentic, it’s just not all there is to the story – the volume isn’t anywhere close to being up all the way.
“For you get done with that-“
“When I get done with this…?”
“WHEN…For…you get done…”
But I realized this morning that when it comes to God, maybe my little guy is more on target than I am with “I can’t know”.
My heart was captured this week by a verse in Job that blows my mind. When you stop and think about it, the amazing touch of our God is evident all around us. His creation shouts of His glory, and His miracles happen every day. There’s so much to see of Him that we can’t even begin to take it all in – we simply “can’t know” all there is to know of Him on this earth. And yet Job has this to say about it all: “And these are but the outer fringe of His works; how faint the whisper we hear of Him!” (Job 26:14)
Even if we could comprehend His presence around us, it would just be a faint whisper of His reality. Isn’t that amazing? There have been times when I have felt completely overwhelmed by the obvious hand of God in my life. When I think back to those times, it’s hard to believe that what I knew of Him in that moment was only a touch of what I’ll one day get to see in full.
My husband and I recently bought a surround sound system for our basement. We are so not the “gotta have the next big thing” kind of people, but trust me – this isn’t anywhere near the next big thing. It’s a $40 Wal-Mart deal that would make real surround sound owners probably say something like, “Oh look dear, isn’t that cute? They think they’ve arrived.” But on our little budget and in our meager no-cable, four-fuzzy-antenna-channel-havin’ lives, that little system is a big deal.
I have to admit, movie watching is a whole new experience now that we can hear every little cricket that hiccups on the screen. It’s so “real” feeling that we nearly had to buy a new cushion for the couch the other night when someone off camera knocked on a door and I thought for sure something huge was outside our house trying to get in (why I thought that when we were in the basement who knows, but it seemed logical in the split second it took me to lose my mind).
As real sounding as that little speaker system might seem, though, it’s still just a movie. The sounds we hear can’t hold a candle to what our ears would experience if we were in a real gun battle (heaven forbid), or standing in a real rain forest. Thanks to Job I’ve realized that even though we get to see and hear God in “surround sound” every day (at least when we take the time to notice, that is), we still aren’t experiencing the full effect of being in His presence. What we see of Him is definitely real and authentic, it’s just not all there is to the story – the volume isn’t anywhere close to being up all the way.
I’m about to go get my kids dressed and step out into the world this morning, where God’s speakers are carefully hung at all the right levels and precisely pointed in our direction so we can hear all He has to say to us. I wonder if I’ll notice Him in all the little corners of my life today? I wonder if today will be one of those days where I’m overwhelmed by His presence. If it is, I hope I remember that all I’m hearing is just a faint whisper of the glorious things to come.
May you be blessed by your “surroundings” today, because He’s in every one of them.
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