It’s so crazy how many people are in our world. We all might think that from time to time but when you really get a visual sense of it, it’s kind of overwhelming.
I flew to Texas to visit my Grandma this past week and got an awesome aerial view of San Diego. Looking at the tiny homes and cars I thought to myself, I am so incredibly small. This is just San Diego, not even all of Southern California. I am one small person out of seven billion.
I felt very alone looking down at San Diego. The vastness of the world was overwhelming. I thought of Psalm 8 where David looks at the stars and heavens and says (paraphrased) “God, you created everything, who am I that you would care for me?” One thought I struggle with in those moments is, why do I matter amongst seven billion others?
God answers that question no matter how much I ask it through dispaying his individual love for me. He will orchestrate people and situations in my life in such profound ways. A perfectly timed phone call from a friend, a free drink from a kind barista at Starbucks or a kind comment in passing that restores my heart. The coolest reminders ones are the ones I had no control over. My Uncle called me from Texas saying that his Cowboy Church (God bless Texas) is interested in hearing more about the World Race. God orchestrates things even states away to remind me that he sees me amongst the seven billion. He knows how to make each of us feel specifically loved.
Why do we love romance so much? Because God is a romantic God. He is pursuing our hearts through being the most thoughtful person ever. What are the best parts of surprise parties or proposals? The actual surprise, yes, but then watching the person piece together all of the details that led up to the surprise and having them realize how much they were thought of. Then they get that look in their eyes that says “all this time?”
Moments like that with God are transformative. Looking back and seeing His hand at work in our lives is the most comforting feeling. Seeing His protection, His faithfulness, His encouragement down to a specific moment.
I missed the powerful message in Psalm 8. That scripture isn’t meant to highlight our depravity, but Gods majesty. David marvels at the wonder of God by being in awe of all that He has created. God, how great is Your love that You created all of this and You still care enough to intentionally pursue ME? My perspective shifted from feeling small and unknown to unique and loved.
How can God know and love seven billion people so individually? How much love does He possess? It makes sense why the Bible says that God is love. He doesn’t have it or express it, He IS it. Crazy. I still can’t fathom that idea. But there is something very WONDER-ful about it.
Matt Chandler said it best when he said:
“The Bible relentlessly teaches on God’s awareness of who you are. All the days of your life were mapped before you would live one of them. He knows the day of your birth. He knows the day of your death. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. Get out of this ambiguous us. You. He is aware of you. In light of the expanse of the universe and his governing of the expanse of the universe, God is aware of, knowledgeable of, and for you. He is majestic. That in the expanse of the universe God has set his affection on you in his all-knowing, ever-present power because he is holy.”
Whoa. Go Chandler.
Do I forget about Gods affection for me? Oh, you bet. Very often. Fear is disorienting and distracting. But I’ve realized, God loves to love us. He’s not up there getting frustrated thinking, haven’t I shown you this already? He loves to remind us of how much He loves us. He loves romance, He loves to pursue us.
So God, what are you orchestrating with the World Race? What are you coordinating right NOW in each country so that your love can be known? What is happening in the lives of the people RIGHT NOW that is preparing a way in their hearts to hear the message of the gospel from us? What are you doing in the lives of my teammates right now? How are you working so that when we are placed on teams we can grow together? God who are the people on our plane flights that you will surprise us with as people that you prepared for us to love? Who’s heart are you romancing right now to know your love? Those questions excite me. I can’t wait to watch God’s romantic love story for his people unfold and I am so excited to be a part of it. People need reminders of how God has been pursing them all along. They need to see that they are being romanced, they are worthy of that pursuit, they are treasured.
So God, send me! May I be that one completely random act of love toward someone, through whatever means, so that it is UNDENIABLE that YOU and YOUR great love have been after their heart all along!
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.”
Psalm 139:13-18
