The Significance of Insignificance

Continue to ponder as you read and reflect on the scripture passage below.  Take enough time to allow the significance of what the passage says to sink in, and sink down, deeply.

Isaiah 40:12-31 (TNIV)

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

       or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

       Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

       or weighed the mountains on the scales

       and the hills in a balance?

    13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,

       or instruct the LORD as his counselor?

    14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,

       and who taught him the right way?

       Who was it that taught him knowledge,

       or showed him the path of understanding?

    15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

       they are regarded as dust on the scales;

       he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

    16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,

       nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

    17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;

       they are regarded by him as worthless

       and less than nothing.

    18 With whom, then, will you compare God?

       To what image will you liken him?

    19 As for an idol, a metal worker casts it,

       and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

       and fashions silver chains for it.

    20 People too poor to present such an offering

       select wood that will not rot.

       They look for a skilled worker

       to set up an idol that will not topple.

    21 Do you not know?

       Have you not heard?

       Has it not been told you from the beginning?

       Have you not understood since the earth             was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

       and its people are like grasshoppers.

       He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

       and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to naught

       and reduces the rulers of this world to               nothing.

There is nothing quite like standing outside on a clear night, away from the lights of the city, and gazing at the billions of points of light, knowing that each one is of a size and distance that goes beyond what we can grasp.  It is hard not to feel the overwhelming awe, the sense of our smallness in the midst of it all, and yet know that in the mind of the One from whom all this came, we are still quite significant.  Truly amazing!

25 "To whom will you compare me?

       Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

    26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

       Who created all these?

       He who brings out the starry host one by one,

       and calls them each by name.

       Because of his great power and mighty strength,

       not one of them is missing.

    27 Why do you complain, Jacob?

       Why do you say, Israel,

       "My way is hidden from the LORD;

       my cause is disregarded by my God"?

    28 Do you not know?

       Have you not heard?

       The LORD is the everlasting God,

       the Creator of the ends of the earth.

       He will not grow tired or weary,

       and his understanding no one can fathom.

    29 He gives strength to the weary

       and increases the power of the weak.

    30 Even youths grow tired and weary,

       and young men stumble and fall;

    31 but those who hope in the LORD

       will renew their strength.

       They will soar on wings like eagles;

       they will run and not grow weary,

       they will walk and not be faint.

Pausing to consider what all of that means is part of what Pastor Dustin shares with us this week in his sermon entitled, "The Significance of Insignificance."

If you would like to listen to the sermon again (or perhaps for the first time) click here!

To see the Louie Gigglio Videos on the greatness of God, click here.