God is Overwhelming

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.” (Isa 6:1-3 AV)

Isaiah’s response to the vision of the glory of God was to fall on his face and see himself as he is.  A completely unclean thing.  God did not condemn Isaiah.  Isaiah condemned himself.  In comparison to the perfect holiness of Almighty God, man is less than nothing.  I can understand a bit of this.  We need this humility.  We need this self-loathing.  Job said as much when God finally spoke to him.  He saw himself as he truly was.  I imagine when we graduate to glory, we may do the same thing.  When seeing Jesus face to face and the glory of God filling the eternal heavens, it will finally hit us that we tremendously underestimated the glory of God.  When the brightness of His glory is vastly brighter than the heavens He created, it will finally hit us with all the truth that abounds that our God is greater than our minds can comprehend.  When the angels and the elders sing so loud that thunder seems but a whisper, it will overwhelm us that we are in the presence of a God infinitely greater than all of our eternal understanding can take in.  If only a sliver of this truth would affect us in our temporal lives, it would make all the difference.

There are powerful things in our world that intimidate the normal person.  A tornado, hurricane, or typhoon come to mind.  A tsunami is not an interesting weather occurrence.  An earthquake is frightening.  Walking among lions must be terrifying.  Swimming with sharks has to be a bit unnerving.  Jumping from a plane cannot be a comfortable feeling.  Being in a submarine while submerged thousands of feet cannot be an easy experience.  Not too far from where I lived was the world's highest concentration of poisonous cottonmouth snakes.  It was populated with an average of 700 snakes per acre.  Not too many people ventured there.  There are things that give us the whillies.  There are things that are simply too much for most to handle.  There are things that demand our utmost respect.  Those who work in medical imagining need protective clothing so regular exposure to radiation does not get them sick.  There are strict protocols when working with pathogens.  The electrician is sure to cut all power before he installs or makes a repair.  The baker wears protective gloves.  The policeman wears a vest.  And firemen wear fireproof gear.  This shows respect for something that can do great harm.  We use hearing protection against loud noises that can cause damage.  The list goes on and on.  We are conditioned to respect things greater than ourselves.  For our own survival we order choices that acknowledge there are things we cannot control and we need to adapt in order to function.

Of all the things that God has created which can undo man, non is greater than our God.  But what Isaiah saw was not threatening.  The glory of God was not something he saw as a terror to men no matter his condition or response to it.  Rather, what Isaiah responded to was the entire nature of God.  His holiness.  Himself.  Isaiah responded to the person of God because God is infinitely great and holy.  There is no measure to Him.  To say that God is overwhelming is a tremendous understatement.  If only we had the same attitude.  If only we saw God in this way.  If only, but for a brief moment, we could experience the greatness of God.  I wonder how different we would be.  I wonder how different our prayer lives would be.  I wonder how much it would affect our choices.  I wonder how much the glory of God would change the person that we are.  We trifle with Him.  We approach Him in immature arrogance as if He is our parent whom we can manipulate or charge foolishly.  Not so.  Our God is so overwhelmingly holy and great that when we finally meet Him, we will fall flat on our faces completely and wholly undone.