Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand? (Job 26:14)
Splash! Launching himself from the diving board into the water, a young boy swam with all his might. He was determined to make it all the way to the bottom of the deep end, before reemerging to the surface. Pretending to be a deep sea diver exploring the ocean the depths, he looked for loose change, or other “treasures,” that had sunk all the way to the floor of the swimming pool. To a child, a distance of ten or twelve feet seems like a long ways down, but this is nothing compared to the true depth of the Earth’s oceans. They say the average ocean depth is 2.65 miles (or 14,000 feet). That is much, much further than anyone could ever swim. It is difficult, even for adults, to wrap our minds around that distance. And just think, that’s only the average; there are underwater trenches descending much further than this.
How much greater are the depths of God! Everything in this universe can be charted, measured, and plotted out but not the Creator of all things. Only the Lord is infinite.
In the passage above, Job was pondering the incomparable depths of God’s glory. It was the Lord who stretched out the skies, like an artist spreads a canvas. God is the one who set the boundary lines between night and day, hanging each star in its proper place in the heavens. He poured water into the clouds, somehow keeping them from bursting open all at once. He calms ocean waves with the command of His voice, and before His awesome presence even the mighty mountains quake. As awesome as all of this is, the passage reminds us, these are merely the fringes of God’s ways. Our thoughts about the Lord are often far too small, but God’s Word stretches our understanding. Truly, the Lord is boundless. There are no limitations to what His hands can do. A pastor could preach a million sermons on this subject, and still there would be more to say. A person could read every book ever written, by the greatest theologians in church history, and we would only be scratching the surface. Every time we open the Bible, there is always more for us to learn. That should be an exciting concept for God’s children, because we will get to explore the vastness of God, our Creator and Redeemer, forever. The Lord is greater than we will ever be able to comprehend, but that should not discourage us from venturing into this exciting endeavor of growing in our knowledge of Him. God wants us to know Him. We could know a lot of things about Him, but the Lord desires each of us to come to a personal knowledge of Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Trent Boedicker, Grace Gospel Church – Ada, OH
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