A change of perspective!

Photo by Jerry Zhang on Unsplash

Photo by Nick Morales on Unsplash

Photo by Bethany Laird on Unsplash

I can remember on a flight I was looking out of the window at the white cotton clouds below, scattered over a mountain range. This is a perspective only seen maybe a few times each year. Looking down I could pick out villages & hamlets. I began to wonder where they were, who lived there, what did they do and what problems did they have. I glanced out of the window again, of course, the scene had changed. The cloud was more plentiful, I could make out a wooded area and in the distance a larger town. I did not know where it was, what size its population was and I certainly knew nothing of the very real problems that many people were facing that day.

In one sense I had a small taste of how God looks down upon us. I glanced through the tiny window again & this time all views were obscured by thick layers of cumulous clouds. I was powerless to see through them. I looked out to the horizon and was struck with the vastness of this earth and yet was thinking back to the view of the village, how tiny man is in comparison.

This earth is just a dot in God’s universe, yet man who is so small is not absent from the thoughts of God. Psalm 19 tells us about the heavens declaring the glory of God & expands this theme by saying “What is man?”

The psalmist directed by God, of course, reminds us that God is interested in man, that is each one as an individual. One of God’s characteristics is that He is all knowing. He knows our problems, our pain and hurt. He cares but often we run from Him.

I looked back towards the window, the cloud had parted, revealing the open ocean. I could just about make out a ship, thousands of feet below, bound for its destination. It reminded me of a hymn that describes God’s love. It begins with these words ‘Here is love, vast as an ocean!’

So little misguided man not only is in God’s thoughts, but has God’s love poured out on him too - and it is vast!  Just as we cannot comprehend the huge amount of water in the ocean, we cannot grasp the enormity of love that God has shown us.

How has He done this? Well the greatest problem that mankind has is that of sin. It affects us all, we are all tainted by it. It affects our lives and our relationships, and ultimately incurs the wrath of a sin-hating God. But He loves  us. The rest of Psalm 19 reminds us that God is mindful of us. In fact, in pouring His ocean full of love on us as He did something for us - that is so difficult to understand. He gave His Son to die on a cross taking our punishment so that we can know the forgiveness of God. 1 Peter 3 tells us that ‘Christ has suffered for sin, the just for we the unjust that He might bring us to God.’

It is amazing that each of us, as small, insignificant humans can know God’s love and forgiveness simply through repenting of our sin and turning in true belief in His Son Jesus Christ who died to save us.

Messages with Meaning (28/10/20) Written by Stuart Scammell for 542Day