Feeling Full
As I've gotten older, I've noticed two things about 'feeling full' when I'm eating:
- It seems I can't eat as much as I used to before I feel full. Was my stomach larger when I was younger?
- I need to stop eating when I feel three-quarters full, otherwise I'll end up feeling overfull when I do end up finishing eating.
Its funny how being 'full' from eating is rather intangible in a mathematical context. Can I feel 100% full versus 95%? A full gas tank, similarly, is somewhat inexact in that you can potentially 'fill it' more today than you did last week, if you're careful, That said, the difference between the two full tanks isn't much. Scientifically though, if you're measuring a chemical into a beaker, 'full' means you can't put any more in - at all.
The Whole Earth is Full
Our church has been doing a sermon series called ‘Walk Through the Bible’. They've been sequentially preaching an overview on each of the books of the bible starting from Genesis. Six weeks ago or so, one of our community pastors did a sermon on Isaiah. In the middle of the sermon he read a passage from Isaiah 6 which included verse 3. I don't recall him specifically highlighting verse 3 as he read, but it resounded in my mind, and frankly it hasn't stopped echoing there since.
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
the whole earth is full of his glory."
I grew up in church, and there were some phrases from the bible that were just 'Christianese'. Lingo I heard in church that sounded spiritual, but didn't really have a lot of meaning to me. This verse was a perfect example of that.
Ever since that Sunday sermon six weeks ago though, this verse is starting to have new meaning for me. It seems every time I look out the window or go outside for a walk now, I'm thinking of that verse and asking myself, "Am I seeing it or do I miss God's glory? How could I be missing it, if the whole earth is FULL of God's glory?"
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| One of the first pics I thought of while writing this article. Taken January 2026 at Miracle Beach on Vancouver Island. |
Maybe There's a Reason....
Maybe there's a reason we're missing it? Maybe we miss God's glory displayed throughout the earth for a reason. Not much further down in the same chapter in Isaiah, God tells Isaiah to tell the people (vs 9-10):
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
OOooffff! I'm never seen a connection between these two sections in Isaiah chapter 6 before.
The Apostle Paul gives more explanation I think, in the first chapter of the book of Romans (vs. 18-23):
But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
A Prayer
Father God,
We're sorry for getting caught up in our own, small lives. Please forgive us.
Help us to have open eyes that see beyond what we can physically see.
Help us to pause and thoughtfully, thankfully consider your handiwork.
Help us to see your glory filling the earth and remember you today.
