ALL SHOOK UP

A few years ago, we were blessed to behold one of God’s more unusual creations on our back deck -- a varmint that carries the official scientific name of “Nutria.” That sounds like a faux sweetener to me. Said Nutria looks like a combination of a beaver and a Jurassic rat, and it belongs in Louisiana marshes, so what it’s doing in the Midwest, I dunno. We're accustomed to seeing foxes, skunks, and raccoons, but this varmint was totally unexpected. It’s good to get shook up occasionally, especially as a retired person. It keeps the blood pumping.

I'm a big fan of dainty wee ladybugs, delicate butterflies, and sweet green inchworms. But the rare sight of a jungle-sized spider weaving its trap on my deck causes shock and awe, and a desire to move to Antarctica, where there are only frozen spiders.

It’s far too easy to take for granted the daily sun-sets, and moon-rises. I’ll never forget the day when my “laissez-faire” attitude towards the created universe was immediately changed. We were driving home on our hilly road, and there was a harvest moon so huge, blazingly orange, and low on the horizon that I swore it had landed ON the street in front of us. My heart almost stopped for the extreme beauty, and yes, even fear of God’s creation!  And now that a very rare solar eclipse is upon us, I prepare to be amazed once again at His handiwork.

This causes me to realize that, in daily Bible readings, it can be easy, through repetition, to fail to appreciate the sovereignty of God, and the eternality and dominion of Christ. It’s important for me to stop occasionally, and meditate on the instances where people in the Bible actually fell on their faces when confronted with the majesty and holiness of God (Genesis 17:3), and of the preincarnate and risen Christ (Ezekiel 1:28, Revelation 1:17). There will come a day when “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10).

Lord Jesus, may I never become a spiritual sluggard, taking You and Your sovereign authority for granted.  I praise You when I read Your thundering perspective to Job, "where were you when I ..... [created] ..." (Job 38-41).  How blessed I feel when You get me “shook up,” renewing the proper perspective of humility before You, and to keep my “spiritual blood” pumping.