To Encourage You

Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Typically, when I read the verse above, my mind goes to the Creation.  How can anyone look around them at the mountains of Pennsylvania in the fall of year and not see the glorious brush strokes of our awesome God.  The other night as I was driving home after dark, my wife called me to encourage me to turn all the outside lights off after I parked the car and look at the sky.  It was a magnificent display of the stars against the darkness. What a testament to the truth that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).  Everywhere we look, if we have eyes to see it, we can view the glory of God.  In fact, that’s the only reason any physical thing exists!  I love the language of the King James version for Revelation 4:11 which affirms this with these words: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” 

However, it’s not only “out there” that we can see this awesome glory.  As David said in Psalm 139 as he thought about his own body, “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

Yet, in spite of all this, it is man alone, the only being outside of those in the heavens that can actually appreciate the glory of God in His creation, that God has given the choice to either glorify his or her Maker (or not).  It is almost inconceivable that anyone, given this truth, would choose to neglect, or worse, refuse to give glory to God, but that is exactly what each and every one of us enters this world doing because we have been born in a condition that is spiritually dead. It is only as a person is given eternal life in Jesus that their eyes can truly be opened to the glory of God that surrounds them and give glory where glory is due.

And yet, while we remain in these physical bodies, even the Christian continues to fight against the tendencies of the sinful flesh.  But thanks be to God, He works in our lives throughout our lives to bring glory to Himself just as He does in the rest of His creation in which we live and move and have our being.  Praise be to God that “He Who began a good work in (us) will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). 

Isn’t it an awesome thing that the temple that was built in Jerusalem with the sole purpose of being a place of worship and a center for man to bring glory to God is likened to our physical bodies once we’ve put our faith in Christ?  That’s why we have been told, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Yes, the whole earth is full of God’s glory.  May it be our prayer that not only the earth around us, not just the wondrous design of our own body, but also our souls be continually transformed to more and more demonstrate the glory of God.  May the following glorious truth of God be true of us as daily we grow more and more into the glorious image of His perfect Son: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Praise His glorious name!