"WHEN I consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars which
You have ordained,
What is man that you are mindful of him,...?"
"THE Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
From the place of His dwelling
He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
He fashions their hearts individually;
He considers all their works."
"I know all your ways."
I am standing on the world. No really. I am standing on the world.
I have heard, as you have, that its a small world. A comedian quipped, "Its a small world, but I'd hate to have to paint it." My wife says, 'she wouldn't want to vacuum it.' Many have said, 'they're sittin on top of the world.
Well if its small and people are sittin on top of it, I can be standing on the world.
After all, what else would you be standing on? Even if your standing on a floor, or a patio deck, or a sidewalk, or the top of a car, all those things are standing on the world. Even if your standing on the floor of an airplane, that airplane by force of gravity and need for fuel is still anchored to the world. Even a boat is floating on water that's sitting on the world.
God has anchored us to the world. Of course He is not bound to the world, but we are tied to the world for our physical needs, the air that we breath. Even our sense of time is bound to the rotation of the world on its axis and its orbit round the sun.
Yep, we are earth bound. But God is not. He is outside all the creation we can see and outside all the creation we cannot see. And He sees all of the creation and knows everything that goes on in His creation. He even knows our ways and works and thoughts....God is really big.
God created all the stars. The billions and billions of stars. And God knows them all by name and has numbered them. And God knows all our ways and works and thoughts.
Can I say again that God is really big?
Back to where we began. I am standing on the world. Its what brought all this to mind. You see I have a relatively new pair of shoes, and the soles are maps sort of. They're stylized but clear maps. The right shoe sole is a map of the Northern Hemisphere of the world. The left shoe sole is a map of the Southern Hemisphere of the world. So you can see that when I'm standing in my relatively new shoes, I'm standing on the world.
I bought these shoes not knowing that they had these wondrous soles.
I put them on like you would put on any ole pair of shoes ( They were very new and cool but who looks at the soles of their shoes?) and started standing on the world in a new way, and I didn't even know it.
Shortly after purchasing these very special soles-sown-to-pretty-cool-uppers, I went on a much anticipated trip to Israel and Germany. I walked onto the airplane, not knowing that I brought the world with me, and settled (should I say squeezed) into my seat for the long flight to Tel Aviv. I put my right ankle upon my left knee (which is quite a trick in an airplane seat) and looked for the first time at the sole of my right shoe.
There it was, the Northern Hemisphere of the World. I slipped the shoe off, to better see what I'd been walking on, and then checked the other. I would have been happy with just half the world, but how wonderful to find the rest of the world upon my left sole. Wow, the whole world on my feet! I thought, 'So now, when I get out of this blasted airplane, I'll be standing on the world and carrying the whole world with me wherever I walk.
Of course, its only a couple of maps. Its not like I'm doing any illegal transport of nations. But what a thought. The ancient world view was one of the world being a burden. Atlas with the world on his shoulders. But God sees things differently; the world isn't a burden its a footstool. A resting place for His feet. A place of His creating to be observed and, most wonderously, a place to love.
He is outside (over all) of the world and observes it. He is through all (holding it all together in Christ) and in all of the world...inspiring, comforting, upholding, breathing life and breath and everything else. He is 'knowing' us completely and seeking His own, that we might turn and reach out for Him though He is not far from each of us for, 'In Him we live and move and have our being'...'We are His offspring'. (Acts17:28).
God loves the world. He doesn't love our sinful ways, our sinful thoughts or doings. He cannot love sin. But God loves the world. He is always observing us and is mindful of us. (How wonderful is that!) He gave His Son to die for this world that whosever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He still loves the world. He loves His adopted children, who have believed on Jesus and who have claimed by faith their right to become children of God. He loves the poor in spirit. He loves the merciful and the mourning. He loves those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and He loves the meek, and the pure in heart and those who are persecuted for His Names' sake, and He loves the peacemaker.
God loves the world so much that He has chosen to be here in the guise of the hungry and the naked and the homeless and the orphan and the widow and the alien and the abandoned and the abused and the poor and those who are in prison.... the least in the world.
As I stand upon the world, I have begun to see the world as my Heavenly Father sees it. I have begun to comprehend His point of view. The world isn't a burden its a place and, most importantly, its people to love. I have begun (I'm just beginning to learn) to love those whom He loves, because He's in me and He wants to love His world through me.
I am to love what He loves.
Every time I turn a child away, I turn Jesus away. I just close the door in His face.
Every time I harden my heart to the least and the needy in the world, I harden my heart to God. I am saying, 'I don't really care.'
Every time I mistreat a homeless person or an alien, I mistreat the One who loves me and gave His Son for me.
He knows all my ways.