Lentil Salad and Lofty Thoughts at 3:00 AM

It was 3:00 AM, and time for my lunch break. I went to my own particular corner of the hallway, pulled my particular bench up to my particular heater, and hunkered down to eat my curried lentil salad (anyone who knows me knows that I DO eat strange things!). As I usually do, I took out my Bible to read a bit while I ate. Somehow, sitting all alone there in the quiet hospital, looking out into the starry night, God seems more close to His tired, worn child. He’s the only Friend Who’s still awake at that time of morning, the only One to Whom I can talk and Who will understand the ramblings of my weary mind.

I don’t remember what Psalm I was reading, but one phrase jumped out at me, “The Lord of the whole earth.” The Lord of the whole earth! I think the most powerful person, in terms of governing power, that I’ve met, was probably the first selectman of our town, as he stood in the campaign line while we filed by to place our vote. Thousands of people crowd together for a glimpse of the president of the United States. Some of them even shake his hand, and feel that they will never forget that moment for the rest of their lives. If there should be a single ruler of North America, think what honor should be paid to him! How people would vie for the opportunity to meet him (or her), or even to touch such an important person.

Yet God is the Lord of the whole earth! Every person, from the indigenous tribespeople of the Amazon jungle, to the New York City executives, is under His dominion. The land and resources of every country belong to Him; He knows where every diamond is hidden, the source of every stream, the contour of every unexplored mountain and valley.

But that’s not all! For the earth is only a speck of dust in the galaxy, a small point on one arm of that gigantic rotating collection of stars and planets. And God is the Lord of that galaxy, too! He knows the exact number and even the names (Psalm 147:4) of every single star. But more than that, He is the God of the entire universe, however far that universe lies beyond the discovery of mankind. All of it is within His hand, His power spoke all that grandeur and glory and immensity and beauty into existence.



But that is not the limit of God. For the Bible shows Him not only as Lord of all creation, but also as the Baby Who was born in a manger. He is God Who took upon Himself a human body, with all its physical limitations. He is the Man Who rode on a donkey through dusty streets. Whose tired feet traversed mile after mile of rejection and scorn and misunderstanding. The One Who touched and healed lepers, who wept at the grave of a dead friend, Who sought the outcasts of society to speak grace to them, is no less than the Lord of the whole universe. And it was He who gave His life, dying on a cross made of wood, for the sake of men and women who had refused to be in subjection to the Lord of the whole earth. His justice and righteousness demanded that all sin be paid for by death, and rather than exact that gruesome price from us, the Lord Jesus paid it Himself. He provided forgiveness as a gift to anyone who would take it by faith, simply believing in Christ Jesus and His work on the cross, to take away their sins.

And so, as I lay down on the bench by the window for a short rest, I pillowed my head on the knowledge that the Lord of the whole earth, the Lord of the galaxy, the Lord of the whole universe, knew where I was, and in fact was with me. No longer His enemy, fighting a one-sided battle against a God of love, I am now His joyful subject, His intimate friend, His beloved child. What better thought to be able to enjoy at 3:00 AM?