By Jessica Brodie
Have you ever been in the midst of everyday life and experienced something that stopped you spellbound, reminding you of the biggest and most important truth there is—that God alone is the mightiest, most important force in all the universe? That nothing you can say or do or possibly conceive will ever come remotely close to his glory?
It’s happened to me, and often in nature. God’s majesty is written all over the sunset and sunrise, particularly those that seem to paint the sky with shades so vivid they take your breath away. The moon has transfixed me at times, as well as a stunning mountain vista or an early-summer hike through a sun-dappled forest. You just stop and stare, mouth agape. How are we this blessed, this fortunate, to get to live and breathe and simply exist alongside such splendor? It’s immensely humbling.
Yet recently, I came across a line in the Bible that was just as powerful, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The verse comes toward the end of the Book of Zechariah, which was written by the prophet to urge God’s people to rebuild God’s temple after their long exile in Babylonia. Before going on to reveal a prophecy from God, Zechariah begins chapter 12 with words that say, in essence: This word is from the Lord, and make no mistake about who it is I’m speaking about.
Zechariah says, “A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares” (Zechariah 12:1 NIV).
Pause for a moment and consider … truly consider … these words:
The Lord, who stretches out the heavens. The heavens! We can’t even grasp the heavens, can’t travel high enough even to feel them kiss our shoulders. Yet God not only can do this but can also stretch out this unreachable space. The Hebrew word for heavens, šāmayim, translates also to place of the stars, sky, air, the region above the earth, the invisible realm of God. Consider this in all our broken human humility.
The Lord, who lays the foundation of the earth. Again, what power and might! The Hebrew words used here, yāsad ’ereṣ, refers to the establishment of the very soil beneath our feet. We serve the God who made, through his own divine ability and control, the land, the earth, the very world upon which we go about our lives. Wow! Again—consider this.
The Lord, who forms the human spirit within a person. As if these two above are not enough to prompt immediate awe, here we are asked to consider that these words come from the one who created and shaped our very souls. He established breath in our lungs, the steady spark that causes our hearts to beat, the perfect essence of each and every one of us! Once more, consider this.
This God, this very one who did all of this and far more, actually thought enough of mere human creatures that he chose to gift his intentions for his people—his prophecy—through his Spirit-filled servant, a holy man named Zechariah, because God loves us and wants us to know what’s ahead. He wants us to turn from wrongful, sinful ways and embrace the hope that comes from living righteously with him, which at the time that book was written involved rebuilding his place of worship on earth and walking in glorious alignment with him.
What a gift!
Sometimes, we humans get so caught up in our own narrow vision—the everyday lives we live, our families and friends, our jobs and health issues, our small-picture concerns and responsibilities and joys and fears—that we forget for a time to remember who it is we serve.
Who it is who—regardless of our belief, of whether or not we choose to follow him—holds the entire scope and foundation of the world within his hands.
Consider and pause today, and every day. We serve the one and the only, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. Now and forevermore.
Amen. Thanks be to God!
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