Tuesday 26 November 2013
- Bible Book:
- Isaiah
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." (v.28)
Background
Living and writing some 500 years before Christ, Isaiahrepresents a faith totally different from the other religionsaround him, most of which worshipped many different gods andgoddesses. The easiest thing in the world is to carve a figure outof wood and call it your god. But the prophets taught that the onetrue living God who had created everything could not be captured ordepicted by human art.
The world humanity inhabits can look very small to God. To God thevast galaxies of creation can seem tiny. The huge issues thatpreoccupy humankind can appear trivial from God's point of view.But this does not make humankind insignificant to God.
God is by far the best source of superhuman strength. This divinestrength is given to mortals so that they may fulfil God's purposesand reach their full potential. In the words of Saint Irenaeus(c130 - c200 AD): "The glory of God is a human being fullyalive".
To Ponder
- Every culture and faith suffers from the temptation and follyof creating God in its own image. What are the dangers ofthis?
- Take the opportunity to pray quietly while looking into alikeness of 'The Trinity', or 'The Christ', or 'Mother and Child'in a Greek or
Russian Christian icon.
- Charles Wesley celebrated the coming of Christ into the worldby singing, "The invisible appears in sight, and God is seen bymortal eye" (from
Author of faith, eternal word). Do you have afavourite hymn of celebration? What is it? And why does it mean somuch to you?