I’m writing a paper on worship and have this little bit that just doesn’t seem to flow with the rest… I thought I’d post it here and clear it out of the article!!
He’s His Own God.
Now here’s where the last little tricky bit comes in. I think we get the picture of God being big and we get the excitement and the delight, but we miss that He’s His Own God.
What I mean is that we see God like the genie in the movie Aladin… He’s big and he’s powerful, which is all really cool and exciting, but the swirl of smoke sweeps down from him to the bottle we’re holding in our hands. The mindset is that he’s not just a big God, he’s my big God. It’s all very wonderful, but only if I’m ultimately in control of everything. He’s exciting, but only if the story revolves around me.
God is his own God… and my inability to delight in something unless I possess it is an immature hindrance.
I remember walking through the rose gardens at the Huntington Library in Pasadena and learning this. I couldn’t allow myself to enjoy the beauty because I wanted it all for myself. I wanted to own the estate and be able to stroll the gardens in the evening sun all by myself. I had to learn how to appreciate goodness and beauty for its own sake and not just because it was mine.
Until we are mature enough to praise God for his beauty without having to possess him, we won’t be satisfied.
One last little thought… if God were under my control then how could anyone else worship him? I’d be bigger than God.
The truth is, God is his own God; and, as such, he is worthy to be praised.
