“The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The Tetons
The skies display his craftsmanship.”
Psalm 19:1-6, NLT
The glory of God was evident as we traveled in the Tetons and Yellowstone two weeks ago. There is such beauty and power in the mountains, and the erupting geysers are amazing in person. But the highlights for us were watching the animals in the wild: a mama black bear and her cubs who ate only a few feet from our safe truck and hundreds of bison as they gathered in the river valley.
Bison in Yellowstone
I love visiting great cities, too. To cross the Golden Gate Bridge, eat where George Washington dined, ascend the Eiffel Tower, or see the ruins of the Colosseum are amazing experiences.
But there’s something about God’s creation—the stars, ocean, mountains, and life in all its varieties—that our manmade structures can’t touch. No human achievements come close to what God has done.
Grand Teton
And so it is with our work. People are able to achieve great things on their own because God has made all of us in his image. Even as we work for God’s kingdom as volunteers or ministers, we can contribute a lot using our own creativity, experience, and wisdom. But God can do so much more.
Why do I feel like the results are up to me when I know that only as God works through me doing powerful things will he receive the glory? When will I learn to stop and make sure that I’m hearing his voice rather than going with what seems to work in church and ministry circles?
Sometimes God stops and reminds me that I’m not really depending on him but my own good sense and experience.
I was scheduled to teach the lesson in our church’s women’s Bible study recently. Because I had been traveling, I never felt ready. I didn’t like my lesson, my words, my illustrations, or really any of it. But with little time to revise what I had written before I left, I finally left it with God. I had to trust that he could use what his Word says and my feeble attempts to explain it, and the result would be his glory and not mine.
I can’t really say what he did in the women’s hearts, but a lot of them thanked me for a “great lesson.”
But I know as surely as I know I am writing this that it was God. My lesson wasn’t great. But he built something bigger and better than anything I could create because he is the Almighty God who moves in the hearts of people.
Whether our work is ministry, business, or raising kids, let’s allow it to proclaim the glory of God by listening to his voice as he leads and entrusting the results to him. He can and will do a mighty work and receive all the glory.
