I recently viewed "All Is Lost" along with my wife and one of my daughters. If you're looking for a movie with stirring dialogue, this isn't the one for you. There are a few moments of voice over at the very beginning, and aside from an unintelligible outburst of frustration at one point in the movie, that's it for any speaking. And, following in the pattern of "Gravity" which featured predominately only two actors, "All Is Lost" boasts one; Robert Redford.
**SPOILER ALERT**
It's the story of a man on a boat, which soon sinks forcing him onto a life raft, which soon catches fire and burns, setting him adrift in the ocean with nothing except his ability to tread water!
While I didn't find the movie "spectacular," it was certainly captivating; if for no other reason than my continual anxiety on his behalf! Will he ever get rescued? How likely is it in this huge expanse of ocean that anyone will ever see him?
That anxiety grew even greater when he finds a sextant and a map and soon realizes that he is in the middle of a shipping channel. Not long after that realization, as he's floating in his "soon to be melted" raft, a massive shipping vessel passes right next to him. However, in spite of his waving, he isn't seen by the crew of the tanker. A similar ship passes later, this time at night. Even armed with flares, he's not able to flag down the ship's crew.
Try as he might, he was simply too small to be noticed!
Sound familiar? Have you ever sensed that in your life? Do you ever feel adrift in this incredible sea we call life wondering if (a) there is a God, and (b) does he know you're out there? Have you had the experience of shooting off flares and jumping and waving, only to bob in the wake of the ship as it passes you by?
David asked something very similar of God. In the 8th Psalm:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
In other words, in the great scheme of things, God, given our relative unimportance, why do you even care?
It's rhetorical. David answers his own question:
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet...
Your value is intrinsic because of the identity of the One who formed you!
Hardly inconsequential, I'd say.
You do matter! You are valued in God's eyes! You were created by the same hands that created the heavens, the moon, and the stars. The very same hands that positioned them all in a specified location, giving them a certain path in which to orbit, those very hands also made you! And while our circumstances can cause us to feel dwarfed and adrift with no hope of rescue, your immense value in the sight of the One who formed you hasn't dropped a bit.
Unfortunately, what many of us do, is use our surroundings to quantify us.
We play an endless comparison game whether it's with what others possess, what others look like, how popular they seem to be, etc. all the while missing that fact that our value isn't earned or purchased or acquired, it's intrinsic because of the identity of the One who formed us! Your "size" in His eyes is immense. And, when compared to him, you SHOULD seem small! After all, He's God. But how great is it that even as huge as he is, he's still mindful of you! You're big to Him!
You're valued because you were formed and crowned by the only One who's able!
So the next time life tries to dwarf you and your circumstances break over the top of your raft, remember that the same hands that formed the heavens will settle that raft and can tow you to still waters. Cry out to him for that!
