Don't just take my word for it, you need to listen to these two talks in first person for the full experience of awe and wonder! I recent;ly heard a podcast where Louie mentions the Indescribable talk from over 15 years ago and I decided to watch it because I know the song Indescribable by Chris Tomlin.
I'm talking about Indescribable and How Great is our God by Louie Giglio
Ok, I'm now third time through both these talks and I'm still left speechless. Left with a greater space for God and a dimished space for my worry and fear.
Here are a couple thoughts I've taken away, thoughts which have changed my perspective and in turn are changing my life!
(Psalm 12vs1-2)
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
The God we serve is so wonderful, there aren’t enough words to articulate His greateness. No words big enough to describe all that He is, all He has made and all He has done. As David articulates in the Psalms, all you have to do is look up, He is far bigger than your wildest dreams. There must’ve been a mighty bang when God spoke Genesis 1 into being. He said “Let there be light,” and light shot out of His mouth at 300,000 km a second straight into the universe.
The whole universe is declaring the Glory of God!
Scientists say that this universe is way oversized just to be our home! And that's becuase it is! But it's certainly the perfect size to proclaim His glory and majesty.
In fact, our own Solar System is so large that were it to be the size of a small coin, the Milky Way Galaxy that we sit in would be the size of North America!!
Were we to count each star in the Galaxy, we'd be counting for 2500 years!
And God knows each of them by name becasue He BREATHED life into each one of them
(Psalm 33vs6 MSG)
" He breathed the word and the stars popped out."
(Isaiah 40vs12)
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?”
Since the fall, mankind has blown himself and his concerns was out of context.
No, we're really really really really small!
We need to right size our God again.
When Neil Armstrong reflected on flying away from Earth, he said; “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
We're small, in context to the galaxies, we're insignificant
Yet, we are significantly insignificant. Because as small as we are, we are prized by the majesty of God.
(Psalm 8vs4-8)
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.”
This God that breathed our FEROCIOUS sun into existence is MIGHTY, yet He cares for us!
Here's our Sun
The sun is 100 times the diameter of the Earth yet it is just one of the BILLION stars in our subdivision called the Milky Way, which is just one subdivision amoung hundreds of billions of subdivisions in the known universe that God has made!
He’s Big.
In the book of Job, God even talks about the greatness of His creation
(Job 38vs31-33)
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?"
In Louie's words; "He’s big he’s really, really big, he’s a whole lot bigger than you think he is. He’s really, really big this God we worship. He’s really, really big and a whole lot bigger than you think he is!"
This star is the The Velar Pulsar
It's a star that doesn't even want to miss out on worship, it didn’t want to stay silent when all of creation was glorifying God. So it sets off this constant drumbeat that the Hubble telescope has been able to record and send back to us.
Even the stars are worshipping!
Just like the Sambrero Galaxy
What’s it doing up there you ask… oh, just glorifying God!
Just showing off the greatness and the majesty of God. Just hanging out in the universe that he made reflecting back to Him His glory tonight and how amazing He is.
Like our lives should be doing each day
But let's go even further out, let's go all the way out.
Let's go toThe Darling of Astronomy, The Whirlpool Galaxy.
Here are 300 to 500 BILLION stars.
And every second, stars as big as our sun and bigger are being born.
The thing is that the maker of this whole wide universe came down to our small blue dot, made Himself nothing and was found on our cross.
(Philippians 2vs6-8)
“Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
And you are not exempt from this saviours touch, because it is written in His book:
(Psalm 145vs8-11)
“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might.”
And you know what? We don’t even KNOW how hight the heavens are above the earth!
Long long before you made a mess out of your life, God made a mess out of Jesus’ life. Guilt and shame are over, wiped away. His cross stands over us, in astronomical grace.
(Romans 8vs1-2)
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
As you go deeper into the middle of The Whilpool Galaxy, (only about 31 million lights years away!)
We have this incredible sight that comes back to us.
The x-structure in the middle of the Darling of Astronomy
We see clearly, through this image from the Hubble Telescope, His grace made permanent in this x-structure which makes visual the words from Revelations...
(Revelations 13vs8)
“The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”
Long before you put a box on God, God made a plan with the life of Jesus that includes a story which you are a part of.
We have seen enough of His glory to trust Him for the rest of our lives. There is nothing that can be thrown at you that can take you from the palm of His hand.
This is the Love so amazing, the love so divine that should get back our life, our souls and our all.
(Hebrews 1vs1-4)
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”
How about we look at a few more right sizing God perspectives... all through the lense of 'if the Earth were the size of a golf ball.'
You need to leave this, and all talks with a greater confidence of the GREATNESS of God! You need to leave with a greater CONFIDENCE that He truly IS holding you together!
We look at creation and we see the imprint of God is ALL of it.
There are four wonders of astromony that Louie walks us through in the video about Laminin.
Beginning with our sun
Let's take another look at our great star in our solar system. Burning at 5,538 ‘ celcius, it only take sheat 8 minutes to reach your skim on earth.
It’s not just firey hot, it’s HUGE. We wouldn’t want to get any closer than the distance that Earth already is but then we learn that God breathed the Sun into existence!
And it’s size...
If the earth were a golf ball, the sun would be 4.5 meters in diameter. You can fit 960 000 inside the sun! That’s enough Golf balls to fill a school bus!
Here's another star, Betelgeuse
This star isn't twice the size of the sun... it is twice the times the Earth’s orbit around the SUN!
If the Earth were the size of a golf ball.... Betelguese would be the size of 6 Empire state buildings on top of each other!
Now, here is Mu Cephei
This star is big enough to fit 2.7 quadrillion earths inside of it.
Do you know what a quadrillion is?
Well a million seconds ago, 12 days ago
A billion seconds ago, 32 years ago
A trillion seconds ago, 29, 679 BC… You grasp the point!
If the earth were a golf ball, this star would be the length of two golden gate bridges!
Here's the last star we'll look at…. Canis Majoris.
Now, If the earth were a golf ball, Canis Majoris would be the size of Mt. Everest.
Just one glance into this universe that God has made resizes everything.
But our sin has this way of shrinking God all the way down and puffing us up.
Just one look at the marvel of creation and you'll soon realise that there is NOTHING that could articulate His greatness. There is no ws that our sin could stand in your view of God.
This is all a miracle.
BUT THE BIGGEST MIRACLE IS YOU! Because though you are as a vapour, you were fearfully and wonderfully made.
(James 4vs14 NLT)
“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.”
(Psalm 139vs14)
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
You are tiny and you are frail, but you were crafted by the majestic God who put every single star into place!
You are NO mistake. When the one cell from your mom and one cell from your dad met, they joined to create your unique DNA that would take 86 years to read were we to read each one… 3 billion characters!
Augustine said it best : “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”
You are a MIRACLE. You sit with the most technologiclally sound instrument in your body – your eye – the organ that allow you to SEE all of God’s wondeful creation.
The God of all this creation fashioned you together.
He knows YOU by name.
And He has made a promise to be close.
(Nahum 1vs7 NLT)
“The LORD is good,
a strong refuge when trouble comes.
He is close to those who trust in him.”
The promise of God is that He holds you.
(Psalm 33vs13-15)
“From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
from His dwelling place He watches
all who live on earth -
He who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do."
But how do you know for sure that God is close? How can you believe that this God is really there, and that He really sees me?
Well you see, the cell that literally HOLDS you together! You skin, you hair, your body. This cell called Laminin is formed perfectly in the shape of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Laminin – the cell adhesion molecule that holds you TOGETHER
In Jesus everything holds together
(Colossians 1vs15-17)
“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
You can know that the God who made you WILL hold you together. Because there is a cross over you all your life, a cross where the star breather became sin bearer, a cross in creation, a cross over creation and a cross in the creation of YOU!
The circumstances don’t always change. They didn’t change for Jesus on that hill on Calvary, but the cross is Perfect truth that he has always had a plan in every and any circumstances and that His plan WILL prevail.
(Isaiah 40vs21-31)
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
When you can’t take one moment more.
When you wonder is God is aware of your breaking point.
Remember, that God give strength to the weary.
Hope in the Lord.
There are millions and millions and millions of microscopic crosses holding you together right now.
There is a cross opposite us in the galaxies looking over us.
He will never not be holding us together.
For the glory of His majesty, He is above all things
All that I've written about here was taken from these two talks by Louie Giglio. With my own emphasis added.
Images are not my own, but they're included for awe and wonder!
~ X ~
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