“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing … All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” (Isaiah 40:15,17)
We honor God when what matters to Him, matters to us. Where is our treasure? What do we value most? That is where our heart will be. If our chief concerns are earthly (i.e., what we shall eat and wear) our hearts will be consumed and our minds obsessed by the changing course of events which our eyes see and ears hear. But if our priority is the kingdom of God and His righteousness, no earthly event will distract or depress us. Hope abides. We seek a kingdom to come, and a better country, whose builder and maker is God.
Those that fear God don’t fear man and what man can do to them. The man of God puts His trust in God, not man, and has the confidence of a lion in the face of every adversary and adversity. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD” (Ps. 112:7). The things that fret others, do not affect him. The things that bend others out of shape, bend him more into God’s shape. He finds peace in the midst of every storm because He knows who rules the winds and the waves. Though the whole world is headed in a hellish direction, he knows where he’s going. And he knows what will follow him because he knows who he is following. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Ps. 23:6).
We care too much about the things of earth because we care too little about the things of God. What matters most to God? “Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17). The kingdom of God is not found in meat or drink; neither is it bound up in the shifting winds of the day. Let the hearts of those that don’t know God fail them as they fearfully survey the earthly horizon. God calls His saints to “be careful for nothing.”
Maintain your worship of God by honoring Him. Honor Him by letting what matters to Him, matter to you. Let His big deal be your big deal; and let all else be no big deal – “the small dust of the balance.”