Who Art in Heaven
Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few. — Ecclesiastes 5:2
He who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen. — 1 Timothy 6:16
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: God is our merciful and loving Father, intimately involved with his creation, but he is also in heaven: he is holy, wholly Other, and exalted above us. Therefore, our relationship with him must unite absolute trust with absolute reverence. We may approach his throne with confidence and acknowledge that he dwells in us through his Spirit, without forgetting the infinite distance between the Creator and his creatures. Our words, actions, and conduct must reflect fear, awe, and worship before his majesty. We must not reduce God to someone who merely meets our needs; we exist to submit to his unquestionable lordship, obey his will, and give glory to him alone.
Interestingly, the same Jesus who encourages us in the Lord’s Prayer to see God as a merciful and loving Father also reminds us that God is “in heaven.” That is, although God is intimately involved in his creation and wants to have intimacy with us, we must always remember that there is a sense of healthy distance and difference that we must retain in our understanding of God.
He is not like us! He is wholly Other. Indeed, his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).
The Bible calls us to a paradoxical relationship of absolute trust and absolute reverence toward God. We must love and fear him simultaneously. We must approach his throne confidently, but also with fear and trembling. We must understand that he is always with us and dwells in us through his Holy Spirit, but that he also dwells “in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16), beyond any imperfection or base sentiment.
The writer of Ecclesiastes wisely reminds us that “God is in heaven and we are on earth,” and that therefore our words should be few. That is, as we remember the infinite distance between us and the heavenly Father, we must be careful about how we approach him. Our words and actions, our life and conduct, must reflect that sense of reverence and awe before the majesty of the Creator.
God is Holy, three times Holy. He deserves our worship and reverent submission. His Lordship is unquestionable. Our surrender and obedience to his will must be absolute.
We must never play games with God. We must not underestimate his holiness or lordship. God does not exist merely to please us or meet our needs. Rather, we exist to obey him, worship him, and give glory to him alone!