A Big, Big God

 

Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:1-13 ESV)

 

According to the scientific evidence we presently have, there are an estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. This estimate was derived using data from the Hubble Space Telescope combined with sophisticated mathematical models that accounted for the vast number of fainter, smaller galaxies that were previously undetectable. While previous estimates were in the range of 100–200 billion galaxies, more recent data suggested that about 90% of galaxies are too faint and distant to be seen with current technology, significantly increasing the total count. As you can see from the picture I‘ve attached the earth is miniscule in comparison to our galaxy. So, the question of how big is God, who spoke everything into existence is almost laughable.

 

Our reading today (Psalm 96) reminds us that we serve the God of the universe. As followers of Christ, we are brought into a life-giving relationship with our big and marvelous God who not only rules the heavens and the earth but also knows every detail of our lives. This makes us part of a story that is much bigger than we are. Remembering that we are part of a global church living out God’s mission in every corner of the world should cause us to “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples” (v. 3).

 

In the coming days we are going to explore what it means to be part of this story. And we will use four key words to get at what it means to declare with our lives the greatness of God's marvelous deeds: gospel, witness, holistic, and intercultural. As we reflect on these key words together, I pray that God will make us into people who increasingly declare his glory through our lives.