How much do you weigh? That is a question that I avoid answering and asking myself, especially as of late with me being six months pregnant, so, sorry to ask such a personal question. But, before you get all red-faced and your veins start popping out of your neck for my rudeness, let me clarify.
Recently, I listened to a podcast from a pastor in the Dallas, TX area. In that sermon, he beautifully described the glory of God using one simple word, weight. Think about it. The word glory in and of itself is a somewhat ambiguous term in the Christian life. We use it all of the time to talk about the awesomeness of God, but what does it mean? Dictionary.com says, “very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown.”
In Exodus Chapter 33, Moses boldly asks the Lord to see His glory; to which the Lord replies, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” God’s glory, His very presence, is too much for us to handle. Our physical bodies cannot withstand the force of God’s glory. In that same moment with Moses, God states that He will let His name be known in Moses’s presence; He would sheild Moses with His hand and hide him in the cleft of the rock, so that, after the Lord’s glory passed by, Moses could see the Lord’s back.Moses leaves this meeting with the Lord, his face radiantly glowing, bringing fear to all the people of Israel who gazed upon him. Our God is powerful, His name awe inspiring, His face magnificient, His mercy unending, His will definite, and His soveriegnty unfathomable. Thus, there is none like the Lord. In the grand scheme of things, He weighs more than all of us. His purpose matters millions of times more than our own intentions.
In my mind, most of the time, I weigh more than anyone else around me. What is going on in my life simply matters too much to me, and I struggle to see anything outside of my own experiences. If something is going wrong in my world like family finances, physical ailments, or emotional hurts, I tend to dwell on those things. The problem begins to weigh on me and it becomes so much greater in my impaired vision than my God. Yet, the truth is that He weighs so much more than all of that. God is the one orchestrating my universe, making everything fall in line with what He desires. Ultimately, the outcome of our lives is for one beautiful thing…His glory. We get to be a part of the intricate tapestry that displays His beauty to the nations. Being a follower of Jesus Christ makes us children of God through His awesome grace and mercy.
Let me encourage you to continually ask yourself how much you weigh in your own mind. The answer may be a bit more humbling than what you originally thought. Dig deeply, Lakeside, and find truth.