He is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.
–Job 37:23-24
I recently was in London to visit our radio and TV stations in the UK, and I found myself staring at and admiring the great 95 story skyscraper, called “the Shard.” So called because it, the tallest skyscraper in the UK, resembles a shard of glass. It is huge and powerful, and loomed over me as I stood beneath it on the sidewalk.
But when I flew over it in a plane, I got an entirely different view. Although it towered over me and made me feel small when I was standing next to it, it looked tiny when I saw it from the air.
God views all human efforts to impress Him as tiny grains of sand…even though we may think that we are pretty great. A good example is the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. It may have impressed its builders in their vain attempt to reach up to God, but it was just a tiny speck to Him.
Our wisdom is considered pretty foolish to God. God is never impressed with even our best efforts to please Him in our own strength.
Instead, God wants us to put our faith in Him, not ourselves or our own works. We need to take a “God’s eye” view when it comes to our efforts to reach up to Him, because anything we do on our own falls short of His standards.
If you are living your life trying to impress God, stop. Make it your purpose instead to submit to His great power, justice and righteousness.
God is never impressed with even our best efforts to please Him
in our own strength.
