“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” (Nahum 1:3 ESV)
When I read a verse like the one above it occurs to me that we tend to be far too casual in referring to our Almighty Father. More and more we’re seeing in our world today evidences of His great power in the storms and tremendous displays of His authority through cataclysmic events.
In the Bible’s account of the life of Noah we learn that while he was building the Ark he was declaring the warning of God’s impending judgment, but to no obvious avail until the rain began falling. We take so lightly His warnings until it seems, it’s too late. How many thousands of people die every day who have heard over and over the declarations of God’s coming judgment?
Every day we hear of accidents and incidents of violence and terrorism all over the world taking people’s lives without warning. Can it be we’ve grossly underestimated the power and authority of our God? Can it be our view of ourselves is much too great? Our insistence on holding fast to our own opinions is costing us the wellbeing of our eternal soul? Imagine the power, size and might of our Holy God who considers the vastness of the clouds as “the dust of His feet.”
My first flight took me through the dense clouds and as we broke through into the bright sunlight, all I could see in any direction were huge, puffy clouds. Our minds aren’t capable of imagining the size of our God, yet, we casually refer to Him as “the man upstairs,” and in other ways demean Him and seek to bring Him down to our level.
Ray Majoran’s words encourage me when he prays: “Teach us to trust You when we cannot see clearly. When the clouds stay longer than we expect, remind us that You are still working. When our hearts feel restless, steady us with the truth that You are present, even in the storm (Psalm 46:10).
By the power of Your Spirit, help us to pay attention to Your quiet work — the help that comes at the right time and the grace that meets us in the middle of confusion. You are the same God in the calm and in the storm. Let the clouds that pass before us remind us that even the dust of Your feet declares Your glory (Habakkuk 3:3-4).”
Doesn’t it seem unbelievable that an awesome, enormous, all-powerful God would even take notice of us? That must have crossed the Psalmist’s mind as he wrote in Psalm 8:3-4 NLT: “When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers – the moon and the stars You set in place – what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them?”
May we join with Paul in Romans 12:3 as he cautions us to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, “measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” We can only begin to see the vastness of our Heavenly Father as we see Him with our eye of faith. The more clearly He comes into view, the more clearly we’ll see ourselves in comparison.
Only as we see the Lord as He is can we help our loved ones, friends, and those in our spheres of influence see how great He is and how lost they are.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 