Jump Start # 953

Isaiah 40:22 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and it’s inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

I have more to write about parenting but will take a break from that this week. My good friend Zack, who is an amazing preacher, referred to this passage last evening and it got me thinking about how wonderful God is.

Three observations from this passage:

First, God sits. There is a footnote in my Bible that says, “Enthroned.” God is not just sitting, He is enthroned. God sits on His throne. The throne of Heaven is always occupied by God. In Isaiah 6, the prophet saw God sitting upon the throne. In Revelation 4, John saw God sitting on the throne. The throne is never empty. The throne is never occupied by one of us. It is God’s throne and He sits upon it. All is well because God is upon the throne. I like the great thought Zack shared last evening about this. God is not pacing back in forth, as if He is worried or not sure what to do. He is sitting. He is at the helm. All is ok, because God is on the throne. During wars, storms, fretful nights, emergencies, and scary times, God is upon the throne. When children are frightened during a storm, they craw into bed with mom and dad. The storm is still there. It is the presence of mom and dad that calms the child. The presence of God does that for us.

Secondly, God sits above the circle of the earth. The earth is a circle. Most get that. There was a time when most didn’t get that. It was thought flat. There wasn’t much knowledge of what was on the “other side” of earth. Some thought the earth was held by a god like Atlas. Others thought it was on the back of a giant turtle. Most thought that the sun revolved around the earth. Now, if the Bible wasn’t written by God, the only other conclusion was that it was written by man. Old passages, such as Isaiah, reveal thought that was not known. Few, if any, were floating the concept of a round earth that was not held up by something else. How could this be written when it wasn’t known? There are tons of passages like this. The Bible predates common scientific wisdom at the time. This is another piece of evidence for the inspiration of the Bible. Add to this the accuracy of the Bible in geography, history and other sciences, plus, the fulfillment of prophecy, the internal unity, and what the Bible itself claims—there is no other place this book could come from than God. It is He who sits above the circle of the earth.

Thirdly, “it’s inhabitants are like grasshoppers.” Interesting comparison. The inhabitants are us, the residents of earth. We are like grasshoppers. Think I would have suggested “ants.” God knows what He sees. We are busy hopping around, stopping once in a while and off we go. It must be amusing for God to see us. We think we are big stuff. We think we know everything and have everything figured out. The grasshopper can’t even see us watching it. The grasshopper has a small range of vision. His world is right before his eyes. If I had my choice of bugs or insects to be, I don’t think a grasshopper would make the list. I’d choose a cricket before a grasshopper and that would be low on my list. We too often think too much of ourselves. To God, we look like grasshoppers. That’s rather humbling.

There was a pop song several years ago that talked about God from a distance. “From a distance…” God is not so far away that He cannot see, hear or know each of us. He knows what you face. He knows what you are capable of. He knows what your day is like. He sits above the circle of the earth, yet He is right there for you.

God is amazing. He loves you. He wants you. He longs for you to spend forever with Him. Don’t give up on Him. Don’t think your problems are too great for Him. Don’t think that you’re too far gone for Him. He won’t give up on you, leave you or quit on you. However, He won’t do anything without our part. We pray and want God to take away all of our problems. Won’t happen. He will walk with you through your problems. He’s there.

Sitting above the circle of the earth is our God!

Roger