Stand in awe
“… for all the earth is mine;”
(Exodus 19:5 ESV)
As I read these words God spoke to Moses to convey to the children of Israel, I had a picture of us as ants running around before God, pictured as the human being in this scenario. The difference between this scene which I imagined and reality is that we don’t make the ants, they are just much smaller than us and at our mercy (even the vicious ‘soldier ants).
I was amused as I thought of how we homo sapiens (human beings) think so highly of ourselves as a species. Granted we are special because God purposely made us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). He gave us the ability to feel and to reason, plus the gift of choice even though that meant we could choose to love and worship Him or choose not to.
Yet, despite our ‘specialness’, it would pay us to remember that the breath in our lungs is a gift from Him, too –
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Genesis 2:7 ESV)
What this means is that He is at liberty to withdraw this breath from our lungs – to call forth our spirits out of our bodies that are merely a container for our spirits – at any time He chooses. Just as we can squash an ant if we choose to. Every creature is subject to its Creator whether the creature acknowledges its Source or not.
This truth should cause us not to fear God in the sense of feeling terror or dread but ought to instill in us a reverential fear and awe of Him. He is Almighty God, Maker and Possessor of the heavens and the earth.
Let all the earth fear the Lord [revere and worship Him]; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
(Psalm 33:8 AMPC)