The Grandeur of God

I just finished Matt Chandler's book The Explicit Gospel and there will be much to come on this blog about that book as it was amazing.  However, there was one point in particular that has been blowing me up a little bit the past few days.  It is a point that I have made on this blog before, but which has been hit home yet again since reading Chandler's book, and that is the immense glory and magnificence of God.  Consider this: man is by nature a creature that creates.  We like to build things.  We like to take raw material and make things that are unique and special.  Whether it is taking wood and making a cabinet or arranging a house in such a way that people say, "Wow," we like to create.  Yet we are limited in our creativity by the material we have present.  For instance.  I like to make things out of wood.  Despite the fact that I am limited by my lack of expertise, I am limited by the material I have at hand.  The same is true for "expert" wood workers.  They too are limited by the amount of raw material they have on hand.  Yet consider this (and this is the point Chandler made): God has no such limitation.  God created everything out of nothing (the technical term is ex nihilo).  This fact has been pounded home because my wife and I are currently on a vacation.  Today we took a drive along the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" and then hiked (a legit, 2000 ft vertical in 3 miles hike) to the Napali Coast.  Cliffs soar out of the ocean and the pictures do not do justice.  For instance, find the helicopter in one of these three pictures... in fact, I'll even tell you it is in the picture that look looks like the Grand Canyon... good luck).  But everything I saw today was created by God out of nothing!!  It's not like He had rocks and said, "Hmmm, let's make a planet and then make a canyon." No, he created the rock itself, and then everything else that makes it look so amazing from nothing. Let that sink in a little and blow you up.  And then let this sink in.... everything I saw today (in the pictures below).... is broken because of our sin.  More to come on that later.