The Earth Is The Lord’s
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”
—Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
Do you believe God is above all things? Most believers will intellectually claim that idea based on what they’ve been taught about God through their Christian community. Yet even today, as I write this, supposedly convinced enough about this truth to share it in a post, I’m confronted with unbelief. It’s not that I would doubt that this is true, but that perhaps my life would look like I’m not overly concerned with the majesty of God’s rule over the world. Upon more careful consideration, would I find my view of God too small?
I use words like “rule” and “reign” to describe God because they are the closest thing in our language I can think of to express God’s preeminence and power, but I don’t want to make it seem like God’s position is up for grabs. His nature as divine demands sovereign authority. Everything is his.
I don’t claim to understand the spiritual realm, but I know there is a landscape of activity behind the veil of our physical reality. There are powers, forces, rulers, and even kingdoms of spiritual nature that intersect our world in various ways—some for God’s purposes of life and others for death and destruction.
In light of this, how do we view God? Surely even the most powerful angelic beings cannot claim that the world's fullness is theirs! The darkest enemy of the light can try to rule and opposes the people of the world, but the people of the world do not belong to that spiritual entity.
Only God is attributed this glory.
Forgive me for perhaps being too mystical today, but I’m sure that if we view God as anything but already having dominion and ownership of all things, we see him as too small. If we see God as operating on the playing field of the spiritual realm, hand to hand with the devil, we are downplaying his divinity.
Again, I don’t claim to know how the spiritual realm works, but God is no foot soldier. He’s not a messenger or a special ops agent. He’s not a “ruler” or a “political leader” the way we would think of it—competing for the highest office.
He’s the only true king. The embodiment of majesty. The rightful overseer of all creation. So think of God bigger today. Pray the opening of Psalm 24 today with awe and mystery. Let your heart ponder a God that is greater than you had previously considered.
Who is this King of Glory?
