The Significance of Feeling Small

There’s something good about feeling small and insignificant! When I stand looking up at the 2,000 foot face of Capitol Peak, I do not find myself thinking, “Wow, how great I am.”  As a matter of fact, while I am focused on the majesty of the mountain, I’m not thinking of myself at all.  Instead, as I gawk at the mass of granite with its assorted shades of gray and white, sprinkled with green and mauve, framed by the deep blue skies with fluffy cumulus clouds, I find my heart refreshed and my lips speaking praise, “Oh Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

My praise echoes King David in Psalm 8.  He writes: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens…When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

Back in his day, David had no idea of the vastness of the heavens.  Even today, astronomers can’t fathom the extent of the universe.  But as David star-gazed, he recognized the universe with its innumerable stars to be the LORD’s handiwork – a piece of cake.  And when David considered the magnitude of the LORD’s craftsmanship, he realized his smallness and the relative insignificance of humanity.

I ran across a photograph of the Earth taken by the spacecraft Cassini as it explored the planet Saturn 870 million miles from Earth. If the NASA photographer hadn’t pointed out the Earth in the picture, I may have missed it.  Wow!  How small the Earth is relative to our solar system!  The Earth appears as a tiny pixel.  What does that say about my relative size in the solar system?  “When I look at the earth from the perspective of Cassini, who is Greg that You are mindful of me?”

One of my favorite photographs taken by the Hubble space telescope is the Ultra Deep Field.  For four months the telescope focused on a small area of the universe comparable to the space behind a nickel held at arm’s length.  The photograph reveals over 5,500 galaxies.  Imagine the number of stars contained in these galaxies?  OH MY!  “When I look at the Ultra Deep Field, the work of Your fingers, who is Greg that you are mindful of me?”   And the Ultra Deep Field is just a miniscule part of the universe.

But then I’m reminded of Psalm 113:5-6: “Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?”  WHOA!  “When I consider the majesty and transcendence of the LORD, what is the universe that You are mindful of it?

If all I had to go by to determine my significance was the glory and majesty of the universe, it would be reasonable for me to conclude that I’m negligibly insignificant.  But wonders of wonders, the One who humbles Himself to behold the heavens and earth, also humbled Himself to become the son of man to experience my smallness, struggles and suffering and to pay the death penalty for my cosmic treason against the holy God.  The Son of God’s humanity and substitute  death for me forever reminds me that in the eyes of the LORD, I am significant.

And wonder of wonders, He even thinks about me.  Psalm 139:17–18: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.”  Have you ever tried counting the grains of sand at a beach (let alone all the beaches along all the shores of the lakes and oceans)? Good grief! He’s thinking of me more than I can comprehend.  I wouldn’t believe it if He hadn’t revealed it.

I wouldn’t have good reason to believe that I’m significant if He hadn’t revealed it.

My tendency is to evaluate my significance by how I compare to… other things or people; my service to others; my position relative to others; or what others think of me.  A friend of ours died a few months ago after two years of fighting brain surgery.  During his celebration of life service one of his daughters (Lindsey) shared her painful, thoughtful, heartfelt, gut-wrenching, authentic experience of observing her dad “lose his mind” and wrestle with losing his significance. She thoughtfully and carefully articulated why he had value…regardless of what he could and could not do and regardless of what others thought of him.  (Read Article).  She concludes that regardless of what her dad thought and regardless of what others thought of her dad (including his loving family), the LORD regarded him significant.

What He thinks of me is what really matters!

It’s refreshing to be reminded of how small and insignificant I am compared to…  Because it reminds me of the grace of the LORD. The One who humbles Himself to look on the heavens and earth, thinks of me and loves me enough to have become a human like me and to pay for my sin.

So now when I look at the majesty and beauty of the mountains and the jaw-dropping vastness of the universe, I quickly go from “Who am I?” to “How majestic and merciful You are in all the earth!”