Clues of the Giant’s Awesomeness
Do you remember the old science fiction movies, especially ones which featured gigantic, terrifying creatures? I’m thinking about movies like King Kong, Godzilla, The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, Tarantula, and many, many more. There is a strategy used in these films to build suspense before revealing the monster’s massive size. This strategy consists of giving the audience a series of clues to the giant’s awesomeness long before allowing us to see it face to face.
Think of the 1933 movie, King Kong. Long before we actually see the monster, the film makers give us clues to his terrifying appearance. First, we hear of the heavy ordnance Carl Denham is bringing to capture the beast on Skull Island. Then, there’s mention of terrifying legends of “Kong.” Next, there’s Denham instructing Ann Darrow to scream frightfully before the movie camera as if she sees a horrific monster. As she blasts out a blood curdling scream, her love interest, Jack Driscoll, says to himself, “What does he think she’s really gonna see?” Then there is the giant wall built to protect the inhabitants of Skull Island, from the fearsome “Kong.” Finally, just before Kong is revealed to us, we hear his roaring from a distance. We see trees being flattened by him in the darkness. Then we see his terrifying image as Ann Darrow screams in terror. Each clue was more troubling than the one before it and builds our anticipation of Kong’s first appearance.
Sometimes these clues take the form of a trail of devastation that the giant monster leaves behind – e.g. sunken ships, destroyed lighthouses, floating corpses. This is the pattern for movies like Godzilla, War of the Colossal Beast, and Tarantula. Another clue of the giant’s immensity and awesomeness are the terrorized people who’ve seen him before we’re allowed to.
But one very common clue that movie makers use – clues to the staggering size of the monster – are his giant footprints. Godzilla, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, and other Sci-Fi movies use this “footprint strategy.” Giant footprints leave the audience wondering, “Man, just how big is this monster?”
Think for a minute. This universe – stretching 93 billion light years from end to end – is one of God’s footprints. And, as our knowledge of the universe increases so that we’re realizing it’s much bigger than we ever imagined, so the clues to God’s immensity and greatness just keep getting bigger and bigger.
There was once a time when we believed the earth was the center of the universe. That was Ptolemy’s (AD 100-170) idea and we stuck with it for centuries. Then Copernicus (1473-1543) discovered that the sun is the center of the “universe.” Of course, we still believed that the universe only consisted of our solar system. Eventually, it began to dawn on us that the sun is just one star among many thousands, perhaps millions. At that time, we equated the Milky Way as the totality of our universe. Finally, in the 1920s Edwin Hubbell (1889-1953), realized that the Milky Way is just one galaxy among many billions.
The universe just kept getting bigger and bigger. Thus, the clues of God’s greatness, eternity, and power have gotten increasingly awesome. The more we learn about God’s footprint, the more mind-blowing God’s immensity becomes to us.
But God’s left us with many of His footprints and they all tell us of different aspects of His deity and person. God’s footprint is displayed in the nurturing love of beasts for their offspring. A nursing mother’s love for her child is most certainly a clue to God’s love for us (Isaiah 49:15). God’s footprint is displayed in the mind-boggling order and complexity of the smallest living organisms to the greatest. These footprints all give us a clue to the amazing wisdom and creative genius of God. The footprint of this rare oasis called earth – in which we enjoy a safe and pleasant habitation in a vast and hostile universe – is a clue to God’s relentless and watchful care over us.
Clue after clue is given to us, to provide us a hint of God’s majesty, power, wisdom, and love – before we actually see Him face to face. These clues are given to us that we might “seek Him and grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any of us, for in Him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:27). These clues leave us without any excuse for ignoring Him and abandoning His commandments (Romans 1:19-20). God’s footprints are everywhere, evidenced in the whole of creation. God has not left us a trail of devastation, like the monsters did. God’s trail of wondrous deeds is recorded in His Holy Scriptures and in the lives of those who follow Him. The purpose of these clues is not to build up suspense, but to convince our minds and convict our souls of God’s reality. He wants to reconcile us to Himself – before we stand face to face with Him, either as our Savior or as our Judge.
PRAYER: Dear Father in Heaven, please open my eyes and my mind to see the evidence of Your existence and the clues of Your immensity, power, and love. Through all the fog and noise of our media and our popular culture, let me behold Your glory and prepare for my inevitable encounter with You. Save me, O God, for Jesus’ sake, so that my appearance before Your judgment seat will not be terrifying, but joyful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
