Point of Reference

From Hillsong United comes a popular worship tune, So Will I. The basic idea is "If nature follows Your will, God, so will I." Creative enough. But that first verse really gets me upset.

God of creation
There at the start
Before the beginning of time
With no point of reference
You spoke to the dark
And fleshed out the wonder of light

Yes, God was at the start before the beginning of time (which, by the way, seems contradictory, since "before" suggests "time", but, hey, it's all confusing, so I won't push it). Yes, He spoke to the nothing and light came into existence. It's this one phrase that frosts me: "With no point of reference."

The phrase simply suggests human perception as the critical one, because I would contend that God did have a point of reference -- Himself. He was it. He was the center. He was the point of reference from which all creation sprang. But we like to think that "point of reference" is something in the created universe, so God couldn't have one. Right?

When we make something, we (if we have any intelligence) will lay it out first. We'll plan. "This will go here and that will go there" and "here" and "there" are relative to a starting point -- a point of reference. We have to know where we're measuring from before we can determine how far away something is. We figure God had no such possibility in creation. I say He did -- Himself.

I suppose it just goes back to a critical issue in my mind. Where is the center? What is the point of reference for creation? We always tend to think it's us and in reality it is always God. Everything God does is with Himself as the point of reference.

Now, that may sound self-centered. No, in fact, it is. But the difference between our self-centered thinking and His is that ours is inaccurate and His is truth. God is the center of all things, so if He was not self-centered, He'd be lying, while if we are self-centered, it's false. Further, as God is good, all that He does is good. So even in His self-centered truth, what He does, with Himself as the point of reference, benefits us. Well, let's say that a different way. "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28)

We fool ourselves -- on a daily basis, I suspect -- when we think of ourselves and our perceptions as God's point of reference. We seek to be like the Most High. And we ascribe to Him our own majesty, meager as that is. God is His own point of reference. It is a perfect point of reference and orients all things, as they should be, to Him. The trick for us is getting ourselves oriented that way, too.