We lived in southwest Missouri for about 20 years. The original store of a large outdoor retail chain was less than a 2 hour drive from our house. Being outdoor enthusiasts, we went there many times. It is not just a store where you can purchase fishing lures, it’s a tourist attraction full of large aquariums, over-the-top décor, weaponry collections, restaurants, etc. When they opened their wildlife conservation center and aquarium (much bigger than the ones they have inside the main store) we decided to take the kids up and check it out.
I was basically in a state of general unhappiness as we wandered through the conservation center, and I didn’t get any relief from this heaviness until we entered the aquarium. The problem…everything in the conservation center is dead. They are big, beautiful, stuffed, dead animals that were once alive and roaming free upon the earth.
Wild.
As they should be.
I’m not knocking the taxidermy trade, or hunters, or anything like that. I fully support conservation and responsible hunting. I was raised around all kinds of animal mounts, including a zebra, and I was fascinated by them. However, I prefer animals to be in their natural state of being…alive & wild.
You’re probably thinking I should have gone to the zoo. Well…I do feel slightly better at the zoo, but not much. I just begin to feel sorry for the animals because they’re trapped in a zoo.
Okay, so I have a lot of issues. I know.
How Big is Your God?
Isn’t this how we prefer to think of God though? In control, ordered, having somewhat predictable behavior. Tame.
Don’t we want God to fit in the cage of our mind? Doesn’t this make us feel more comfortable, secure, protected & protective? We want a God we can see; a God we can manage. A God who is all-loving and all-comforting and is tame.
Well…that’s not the God of the Bible. He is loving, comforting, and compassionate. But oh…He is so much more. The description in the preceding paragraph fits a god that is too small, yet it unfortunately matches the identity many people prescribe to God today. Even among the Christian community it seems we don’t really know who He is at all.
Could it be that we are afraid to acknowledge parts of Him we consider too wild? Preferring instead to think God was more fierce and scary in the Old Testament. He’s not like that in the New Testament. Oh yeah…cause He really mellows out in Revelation!¹
Let me give you an example: when God sent Moses to free the Hebrew slaves from Egypt, God openly showed the people His power, authority, and fury. The plagues, the whirlwind of fire, the parting of the Red Sea…He was wild, completely wild. In spite of all His might and knowing full well what He was capable of, they desired a golden calf to worship. A golden calf. Something they could see, touch, control. Something they absolutely knew was made by their own hands.
Ridiculous, right?
Why? Then why did they do it?
Because they simply could not fathom that God is not like them. He is not like anything they had any understanding of. They didn’t know how to relate to the God who can never be fully comprehended and they couldn’t control. So, they cut Him down to more manageable terms and gave Him restrictions they felt safer with. They tried to tame Him. David addressed this type of behavior in Psalm 115:4-8:
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
We all know how it worked out for the people who worshipped the golden calf. God proved once again just how wild He is.
Are we not making the same mistake today believing God is some cross between Santa Claus and a cosmic cop?
I believe you owe it to yourself, as a Christian, to get to know the real God. The God of the Bible. In your hunt for Him, you will get to know Him better every day, and you will love Him more and more. All parts of God are to be revered, loved, and worshipped. You will understand that better as you get to know Him on a deeper level.
The Show-Me State
Chip Ingram put it in a really simple, straight-forward way to understand. There are two categories the entire universe and all life, history, and future fall into. Here they are:
Category 1 = GOD
Category 2 = All things on earth & in the universe, including heavenly beings
As you can see, God is in a category all by Himself. He is all together different from everything else.
What puts God in a completely different category than everything else – even the angels? The answer to that question is found in His state of holiness. To be holy means to be separate – to be MORE than we are, BETTER than we are, existing in a higher state. Every person who has ever encountered God in Scripture has fallen flat on their face. Literally, they are face down, as low as they can get, in utter reverence to Him because His holiness is overwhelming – a wild roaring lion. Isaiah describes in chapter 6 what it was like when he was given a glimpse inside the throne room of Heaven:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;
his glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies, (verses 1-5).
The Lord’s holiness is so great that angels fly around Him with their faces covered and sing praises to Him. Isaiah, understanding what he’s seeing, believes he’s going to die. He is aware of his unworthiness, and that he is standing there in the presence of God in a sinful state. He cannot survive this experience. An angel intervenes and Isaiah is saved by God’s grace.
Let’s go back to Moses. Remember how desperately he wanted to see God? He asked for God to show him His glory. God showed Moses part of His glory. He placed Moses in the cleft of a rock and shielded him for protection. As He passed by, God allowed Moses to see His back. Humans cannot see the face of God and live. We cannot endure the power of His holiness in our current state, (Exodus 33:18-23).
John describes in Revelation 4 the brilliance shining forth from God on His throne as if it were a diamond. Paul tells us in Acts 26 that God is brighter than the sun. He is an all consuming fire, and His holiness is unapproachable, (Exodus 24:18; Hebrews 12:29). The most wild of all wild things.
Universal Laws
I realize I’m not like most people.
I am drawn to the unhinged wildness of God.
I deeply love Him and this part of Him. He changed me so much. The passion I have for Him is the driving force in my life. I hunt Him more every day and strive to live my life as close to Him as I can. He put that desire in me.
But just how close can you get to a lion? Will the thunder silence its roar on your behalf? Did you name the stars? Does the universe have laws because you wrote them? I can’t even comprehend them all, much less anything else. I simply live to serve the Creator of it all. I have learned through experience the only way to serve Him is with reverence and awe, (Hebrews 12:29).
God doesn’t need me to defend Him. He doesn’t need me to build monuments to Him. He doesn’t need me to do anything except spread His Gospel. Charles Spurgeon says it better than I ever could:
A great many learned men are defending the gospel; no doubt it is a very proper and right thing to do, yet I always notice that, when there are most books of that kind, it is because the gospel itself is not being preached. Suppose a number of persons were to take it into their heads that they had to defend a lion, a full-grown king of beasts! There he is in the cage, and here come all the soldiers of the army to fight for him. Well, I should suggest to them, if they would not object, and feel that it was humbling to them, that they should kindly stand back, and open the door, and let the lion out! I believe that would be the best way of defending him, for he would take care of himself; and the best “apology” for the gospel is to let the gospel out. Never mind about defending Deuteronomy or the whole of the Pentateuch; preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let the Lion out, and see who will dare to approach him. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will soon drive away all his adversaries.²
You see my friends…God is a wild thing. He is alive and He is ferocious. I dare you not to keep Him in a cage. Let the Lion out!
May God bless you on your journey to know who He really is, and may you grow in grace and knowledge. I pray you have the courage to hunt His holiness. Now that…THAT…is where the wild things are.
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- Chan, Francis. Audio recording of a conference where he talks about this idea.
- Spurgeon, Charles. Sermon #2467, Christ and His Co-Workers. June 10, 1886.
- Photo by Mark Cataldo on Unsplash
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