An Imaginative God

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” Revelation 21:21

Everyone talks about the streets of gold, but how often do you hear about a gate made from a single pearl?  This has to be one huge pearl.  This chapter is talking about the New Jerusalem and says it is about 1400 miles by 1400 miles in area.  The walls are 200 feet thick.  There are only twelve ways into this city and each way in is through a gate made of one pearl.  I don’t know how much traffic is going in and out of the city, but since there are only 12 ways in and out there has to be a lot going through each gate.  So these gates have to be huge and the pearls just as big.

I think seeing those gates will be impressive, but what I really want to see are the oysters that grew those pearls.  I want to go diving into the crystal sea and hunt out those oysters and marvel at how huge they are.  If the pearls are just 200 feet in diameter (the thickness of the walls) than the oysters have to be at least a couple thousand feet across.

This picture is a small version of what must live in the crystal sea, in Heaven.

I look around at what God has created in this world and how imaginative He must be. It helps make you realize how awesome our God really is.  When we get to heaven I believe there will be even greater sights, and even then we will only begin to understand how imaginative He really is.  He can create such huge oysters just for building gates.  There is nothing beyond His imagination or His ability. 

When I look at problems here in this world, personal situations or worldwide  problems, I see huge obstacles standing in the way of what I believe is a good resolution.  Health issues, financial problems, marriage conflicts, and any other problems we might have in our lives are infinitesimal situations to God.  He is all powerful, all knowing and has an imagination that has created a universe of trillions of galaxies with billions of different wonders in each one.  Never doubt his imagination to find the right solution for your problem.

Are you a Samson?

Samson was one of the most renowned judges of Israel.  His long hair, immense strength and his encounters with the Philistines are legendary.  He was also infamous for his lustful desire of foreign women.  In the end, that desire for a woman brought him down.  God did, however, bless him in spite of his short comings.

Have you noticed anything strange about pictures of Samson?  Take a look at the picture below and think about what he would have looked like.  If you had been in Israel during his day, what would you have seen?  Would this be a good representation of the person you would expect to see?

Nope, that is not the person I would expect to see as Samson.  Look at him!  This guy has muscles.  He has a lifetime pass to the Gold’s Jerusalem Gym.  You would find him everyday in the weight room pumping iron.  This guy is has enough muscle to make two of me.  Ok so that wouldn’t be hard to do, but still, he has huge muscles.

“Well duh!” You say. “Samson was strong!  He carried the city gates, and their two post, on his back up to the top of a mountain.  He killed 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.  He knocked down the temple of Dagon and killed 3000 Philistines.  This guy has some muscle.”

I don’t think so.  Samson was not strong.  Not saying he was a weakling, but I doubt that he possessed a lot of muscle.  He probably looked pretty much like anyone else.  He didn’t walk around bare chested and flex his muscles for the women to oooh and aaah over.  If he did look so muscular why did everyone wonder about where he got his strength?

Judges 16:4-5 “⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

Would you be asking where Samson’s strength comes from if you could see huge muscles bulging out everywhere?  Of course not.  It would be obvious where he got his strength from then.  He must have looked pretty normal but still exhibited great strength.

Has God called upon you to exhibit great strength?  Maybe He called you  to tell a neighbor about him or to lead a Bible study.  Did God call on you to do something which you did not have the talent, knowledge or experience to do?  You heard the call but answered, “Oh Lord, you know I would love to do that for you but ….” and you gave him a list of why you were too weak to fulfill his call upon you.

Samson could not perform any acts of strength on his own.  His power was manifested in him because God was his strength.  There was nothing physically special about Samson.  NOTHING!!!  What was special was that God used him.  God was the power within him, who gave him that great strength.

God is the power within you that gives you the great strength to fulfill the plan He has for you.  If He calls on you to be a preacher of the Gospel then rest on His strength.  He will make you strong enough to fulfill His work of you becoming that preacher.  He will lead you in the training, the wisdom, and the power to be what He calls you to be.  There is nothing too big that His power cannot overcome. 

Be a Samson.  Let people wonder how someone so ordinary can do such extraordinary things.