Tag Archives: Faith and Practice

Gobsmacked by God’s Glory

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Let me take you through a typical day for the Sayler household.  We don’t set an alarm these days for two reasons, 1) we don’t want to wake the baby; and 2) the baby wakes us up early enough.  Usually at 6:30 sharp, Isaiah is up and ready to go for the day.  Since he shares a room with Noah, Noah is up as well.  We then spend the next 30 to 45 minutes trying rouse, dress, and feed Hannah and Caleb so that they are ready to go to school by 8:00.  I take all the kids with me to drop off the oldest two, so that Christi can then get herself ready for the day.  When I get back home, I then get ready for work, fix the Thomas the Train tracks about 10 times, and rush out the door. 

I can usually hear one song on the radio, depending on how I hit the light at Willow and 2nd, and then I get right to business.  After a day of writing, praying, reading, studying, visiting, etc… I then rush home to help corral the kids while we get dinner on the table.  After dinner its bath-time, book-time, and bedtime, so that by 8:00, hopefully all the kids are in bed and Christi and I can finally crash.

I don’t tell you this to generate sympathy, but to let you know that I, too, know what it means to rush through life.  There are days when I get to the office and I can’t even tell you what the weather is outside because I never really stopped to pay attention.  Those of you with children, or whose children have grown, you know what busy means.  Sometimes it feels as if your just existing rather than really living.

But there are moments, few and far between, when we stop and are confronted with the glory of God.  For me, it’s usually when I’m taking the trash out at night (seriously).  I take my time walking back to the house, and look up into the night sky.  The stars are screaming to me from their silent posts, “There is more to this life…”  Sometimes we’re privileged to catch a beautiful sunrise or sunset, or to take in some great view of the fertile plains of Iowa, or maybe it’s just the rare occasion to sit back and relax on a sunny afternoon.  The Psalmist reminds us, “The heavens declare the glory of God…”  It’s no accident that moments like these cause us to stop and breathe deep the splendor of God’s wondrous work.  We were meant to enjoy His creation, to revel in His beauty, and to give glory to God for all that He has done and all the He is.

Sometimes I think we need to be a little shell-shocked by God’s glory to awaken us from the everyday rat-race that we have made of this life.  If we were to spend a little more time marveling at the glory of God each day, what would it look like?  One of my favorite songs is called “Intoxicating,” by the David Crowder Band.  (I’ve posted a copy of it here, it will help if you listen in.)  In the song, they sing about what the glorious presence of God has on us:

Intoxicating You are to me
Illuminating You are to see
Truly breathtaking You are to breathe
Sending my head spinning You are, You see

And I’ve lost my mind, I’m sure to find
Need to apologize for my
Lack of inhibition, for my belligerent condition
But with You this near I’m dizzy

Inebriating You are to me
Completely captivating You are you see
Sending my world spinning You are, You see

I wonder how a radical encounter with the majesty and glory of God would transform us?  Maybe we’d go through this life with our eyes open to the glory and beauty of God all around us.  Maybe we’d become more worshipful in everything we’d do.  Maybe the world would begin to look at us and see the glory of God shining through. 

How have you seen the glory of God this week?  How has His glory transformed you?  How will you, then, live for His glory?

Grace and peace,

SDG

Going Under

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Q. 12. Since, then, by the righteous judgment of God we have deserved temporal and eternal punishment, how may we escape this punishment, come again to grace, and be reconciled to God?

A. God wills that his righteousness be satisfied; therefore, payment in full must be made to his righteousness, either by ourselves or by another.

Q. 13. Can we make this payment ourselves?

A. By no means. On the contrary, we increase our debt each day.

Q. 14. Can any mere creature make the payment for us?

A. No. First of all, God does not want to punish any other creature for man’s debt. Moreover, no mere creature can bear the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and redeem others from it.

Q. 15. Then what kind of mediator and redeemer must we seek?

A. One who is a true and righteous man and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is at the same time true God.

There once was a group of believers who were meeting by a river when one of their group fell into the water.  It was obvious that the man couldn’t swim, as he thrashed about wildly.  One of the believers was a strong swimmer and was called on to rescue the drowning man.  Though he was able to save him, he just watched until the wild struggles subsided.  Then he dove into the water and pulled the man to safety.

When the rescue was over, the rescuer explained his slowness to act.  “If I had jumped in immediately, he would have been strong enough to drown us both.  Only by waiting until he was too exhausted to try to save himself, could I save him.”

It seems to be all too easy for us to be like that drowning man.  Our self efforts can actually prevent us from being saved!  Unfortunately some people must reach the point of being too exhausted to continue trying to save themselves (by dealing with their own sin) before they become willing to trust in the Savior and accept his gift of salvation.

We cannot save ourselves; the water is too deep, the debt is too great.  We need a savior who knows the danger (our sin), but is also stronger than the waves.  We need Jesus!

Prayer

Father God, we know our debt is too great to repay.  We thank you that in Christ, you have removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.  Help us to trust and rely in him alone for our salvation. 

For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.