Created on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 08:09

Do you ever wonder?

I was praying this morning, reflecting on Psalm 8:3 and looking up into the sky. I was struck afresh with how big it all was and my heart was moved with awe at the greatness of God. It is so easy for me to see myself as the biggest thing in the universe, yet with one considered look upwards and perspective is restored.

As I looked I wondered when it was that I last felt that sense of real awe at the creator God and humility in knowing my own smallness. How often do we lift ourselves out of the rush of the immediate pressures of life to reflect and contemplate the greatness of God which is so clearly evident around us? Or, perhaps more pertinently, how often do we turn from our digitised viewfinder and take things in directly with our God given 3d vision.

Technology can do many things extremely well. With Google streetview I can walk through a foreign town without going there. With HDTV I can watch a nature program with stunning scenery and close up detail. However, it doesn't convey the grandeur of things in the same way as actually being there. Everest through my 32 inch tv is always going to be smaller than me. Seeing Niagara Falls on my PC screen does not drive home the point of God's majesty nearly as powerfully as standing 5 meters away from the rushing and roaring water of that montrous waterfall. The night sky on an iphone makes nowhere near the impact as staring upwards at the canopy of the heavens.

In the book of Psalms, we often find the writer viewing the creation and using what he sees to fuel his praise of God. As he looks upwards to the heavens and around him in the world, he is conscious of the majesty of God and the humility he should know in the presence of such a God. These are encouragements to get out, open our eyes and use our minds and be moved with awe for our God.