Angelo Siciliano, aka Charles Atlas, was a bodybuilder who developed a method for building a muscular physic. His exercise program spawned a landmark advertising campaign featuring his name, along with extreme cartoons. This campaign became one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all time. I remember daydreaming with some of those impressive cartoons and fantasizing about having super muscles.
A person can impress others, but can man impress God? If so, what would impress the Bible God? What impresses Him is not what impresses humans. However, it offers great hope when you examine His value system.
Ps. 147 is a thrilling statement of hope for people who enjoy God being the God He is. It says, The Bible says the eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9, NLT2). That means I don’t have to be tall, dark and handsome. It doesn’t matter if I have an abundance of talent, charisma, wealth, or power. God loves the child, the poor, the handicapped, and the nobody who never gets chosen. I often have felt like David when he wrote what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:4, NIV).
This God who determines the number of the stars, he gives to all of them their names (Psalms 147:4, RSV). The earth, where we live, is a small planet revolving around a star called the sun, which has a volume 1.3 million times that of the earth. There are stars a million times brighter than the sun. There are about a hundred billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, which is one hundred thousand light years across. God is in an entire class of His own.
The economy in God’s heaven takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the LORD’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love (Psalm 147:10-11, NLT2). ANYONE is capable of meeting that qualification. You do not have to live by the economy of our world whose value system is so skewed. Do you fear Him or put your hope in Him? If not, you certainly could do so and know God takes pleasure in you.
It would seem Abraham, Elijah, David, or Mary, the mother of Jesus, impressed Him because He used them in such incredible ways. But God was not impressed with any part of their humanity. What caught His attention was their internal, humble, child-like faith in Him. He called Abraham His friend. Imagine that! Which highly esteemed earthly leader or celebrity would proudly call me their friend? The good news for those who enjoy God being God is that He enjoys them. He delights in those who hope in His immeasurable power. It is therefore no literary coincidence that the verses on either side of God’s greatness (Ps. 147:4-5) show him caring for the weak (RSV Ps. 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden).
I pray that the truth in this blog grips each reader that God is God and He works omnipotently for those who wait for Him (Isa 64:4), hope in Him (Ps. 147:11) and love Him (Ro 8:28). If you meet those qualifications, you are a VERY BLESSED human being. He loves to be God for the weak and childlike who look to Him for all they need.