Expanse

When I first beheld a snowcapped mountain ridge rising from the ground like the the jagged teeth of an masticating giant about to swallow me, I fell silent. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. Was it the stark difference in dimension between us, or the undeniable indifference I imagined the mountains to have for me, or perhaps this looming juggernaut had obtruded even into my mind, filling it, spilling out the casual cynicism and aloof arrogance in a manner that would make Archimedes proud, rendering me quiet?

Much can be said about the various awe-inpiring characteristics of a mountain. But I am prinicpally concerned with size. The sheer immensity dwarfs my suddenly dimunitive concerns and recalibrates my gauge of importance. Further, I cannot help but to hear what such impressive shapes whisper to my soul: infinity.

Silence.

Perhaps it is because we don't know how to define any of God's dimensions that we fail to treat Him as real. I love to read in Isaiah how God weighed the mountains in a balance, how He measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. These events illustrate a point of reference with which to behold God. What other response can there be but to worship Him in self-unconscious silence?

There is another dimension other than length, width, and height that also staggers the soul when considered: Time. God existing outside of time, able to move in and out of it as deftly as Barry Sanders moved through 3-D space, God touching the past, present, and future all at once, yes, this, too delivers quietness in which the Spirit of God can allow us to worship Him.

Beyond these four, we rarely give pause to consider. Indeed, they give us enough to deal with themselves. But I've discovered another dimension unheralded in it's ability to uncloak the size of God.

Now, I'm no expert on multi-dimensionality. I've read that currently string-theory pushes most astro-physicists' buttons, and with it come guesses of 11 dimensions in our reality. Hugh Ross wrote a book with a fascinating premise, that the 11 dimensions, if found to be true, provide elegant suppositions about the working of God's sovereignty, His omnipresence, Jesus walking through walls, the spiritual realm, etc. It's called The Creator and the Cosmos

I do believe that one of the dimensions is
unseen, but not unknown;
untouched, but not unfelt;
and was
unsought, but not unseeking;
unheard, but not unspeaking.

At one end of this dimension is HOLINESS. It belongs to God alone.
It's so otherworldy that in this present form, a naked encounter with it would destroy me.
It's so close that, try as I might to ignore it, still it fills me with a knowledge of righteousness.

At the other far lonely end is the PROFANE. It's foul, abusive, deceitful, selfish and foolish. I know this place.

The gulf between is immeasurably great, but I have a sense of it when I think of the joy of birth and the sorrow from infanticide that takes place in the same breath.

The same bud of wonder from looking upon a mountain blooms gloriously into worship when I consider that God spanned the chasm between these two extremes. This perception can only occur after facing the murder within and also beholding the Life in God.

Paul of Tarsus said:
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD,
OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?
Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.