Day 17: The Hugeness of God’s Glory

“…there are places where Scripture attempts to define the hugeness of the glory of God with the smallness of human language so we can get a glimpse of what it’s like. For example: the prophet Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, stretches human language to its furthest point of elasticity in order to give us a little glimpse of God’s glory. He writes, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” (Isaiah 40:12).

I’ve actually done this, and it would be a good word picture for you to attempt. Go to your sink, turn it on, and see how much water you can cup in the palm of your hand before it starts spilling out. Then, consider that your God can hold all of the liquid in the universe and not spill a single drop!

Paul David Tripp

Our Hope

Psalm 96:1-9

96 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;[a]
    tremble before him, all the earth!

Our Insight

I would like you to consider for a moment what we are contemplating when we seek to grasp the nature of God’s glory. The Hebrew word for glory (kavod) describes that which is heavy or weighty. Used figuratively of God, it speaks of God “weightiness”—we might say God’s significance, importance or the immense gravity and profundity of His presence and power.

Think of the “weightiness” we assign to people of influence such as a politician, a business or religious leader, an athlete or celebrity. There is a measure of “glory” their position, power and possessions bring, or, we accord them.

Let’s just take the “possessions of God” as a measure of the glory due His name. He owns everything. Everything.

Using “weight” in a literal sense, how much does everything God owns weigh? I know, just stick with me and use your imagination. Start with yourself. He owns you so how much do you weigh? You will want to add all of the contents of your house—yes, the old sofa bed and the piano. Go ahead and throw in the house, and car(s), every house in your neighborhood, the ground they sit on, every tree on the planet, every mountain and lake and ocean… you can see where this is going.

Using mathematical equations and the laws of gravity, our best estimate is that the whole earth weighs about 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds.

I don’t even have language for that.

Abraham was a man of great wealth (kavod) in his day, But if you weighed Abrahams kavod with God’s, it would not even tip the scale.

The immensity of God’s glory produces a sense of awe, wonder…and ultimately worship. There is nothing and no one who compares. And therefore, nothing and no one but God deserves our worship.

By the way, if we want to truly begin to grasp the weightiness of God’s possessions we need to throw in every planet and asteroid and meteor in the heavens. Oh yeah—don’t forget the stars.

Our Prayer

Let’s use the helpful “ACTS” acrostic to guide our prayer today:

  1. Adoration – ascribe to God the glory due His name, tell Him that you recognize His ownership of all things and the weightiness of all that He is.
  2. Confession – ask the Spirit to show you where you have failed to acknowledge the magnitude of God’s glory, and thank Him for His patience and His forgiveness in Christ
  3. Thanksgiving – Thank God for sharing His glory, for entrusting to you all that is His for your joy and satisfaction.
  4. Supplication – pray for someone you know who desperately needs to see and experience the glory of God in their life.

Our Gratitude

Before closing this devotion, take a moment and bring to mind one thing—at this moment—that you are thankful for. And thank God for it.