“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world[Psalm 19:1-4]."
I cannot count the number of times I’ve been driving right before sunset, and the sky is bursting with hues of orange, pink, purple and blue. When I take time to see my surroundings in the flat lands of Texas, I am blown away by the Glory of God.
Recently, my sister and I drove from Seattle to Dallas, Texas. We drove in a silver Honda Civic halfway across the U.S. (and we hardly fought! Sorry, I had to mention it because that’s an accomplishment for a 3-day road trip.) Mountains formed a natural wall around the highways we drove; puffy clouds casted shadows on bright green fields; and at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, we saw rock formation that boggled our minds. How they still stand and were created is beyond me!
As we drove through eight states, I quieted my thoughts and soaked up the earth and sky around me. This God-sparked thought came to me, it said, “Look at the world I created. It is grand. You are smaller than the rock at the bottom of these mountains, yet I am mindful of you.” It was a really paraphrased scripture for Psalm 8:3-5, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”
When I compare myself with the majesty of nature, it can be quite a humbling experience. The world no longer revolves around my daily activity. Suddenly, the fragility and pixel-likeness of my existence becomes a reality I have to stare in the face. I like how God made us quite a bit smaller than our surroundings. We’re already prone to being self-focused. I think if we were a somewhat larger breed of human beings, then our egos might be the same – which can’t be good. This is why I love our smallness compared to God’s grand work: his expansive sky, his great plains, and his massive mountains and oceans.
It’s been a few weeks since the trip, and how quickly my “schedule” has taken over and thoughts of my humble existence and God’s mindfulness toward mankind are on the back burner of my thought life. To say the least, my egocentric world consumes my day. The mountains that once made me feel tiny are replaced with projects, homework, traffic and a long list of to-dos.
I may live in a flat Dallas suburb, but the sky is still here. And, those Texas sunsets remind me of God’s glory, and so does Scripture. The hues in the Bible are breath taking much like the sunsets. Both of them are works of His hand and heart. Thank you for caring about me, Lord, thank you so very much for being mindful of man. It is real in nature and in your Word to man.
Written by: Michelle Parenteau; copyright virtuousreality.com
