"The Size of Wales"

As I write, I am enjoying one of my frequent visits to North Wales, a delightful part of the country that I never tire of visiting.

Welsh people must think their country has somehow become the universal point of comparison. Land areas are often described as being "as big as Wales", "half the size of Wales", "double the size of Wales" or whatever. The Welsh must surely puzzle over the reasons for this.

Like most countries with a long coastline, Wales does not have a clear overall shape, but it is easy enough to size up roughly the area it covers. With the arrival of major roads where you can drive (relatively) fast, it is a measurable size. You can comfortably cover the length of it - assuming you drive parallel to it up the west of England - and the breadth of it in one day. This done, the statement that the Holy Land is "roughly the size of Wales" becomes meaningful.

This sparks off a number of points to ponder. It was a revelation to me when I realised that the events of the biblical Book of Ruth took place within a small segment of this Wales-sized country, extending a little into foreign territory, Moab, a few miles to the east. The character Ruth looms large in salvation history. This vulnerable Moabite foreigner, who needed a helping hand to gain a foothold in Israel, became the ancestor not only of the great King David but also of the Messiah Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Massive spiritual beginnings - in such a small slice of land!

Then the Lord Jesus also limited His earthly work mostly to this small east Mediterranean country. How true it is that Jesus was

"Our God contracted to a span,
incomprehensibly made man"

as Charles Wesley put it! We see in the Gospel record the breathtaking energy that results from the universal might of God being focused on one individual in that small patch of land.

But to return to my talk of comparisons. How boldly we boost our image in this day and age when we have achieved so much! Of course, every age has produced its mighty works. The British Isles bear witness to the gigantic construction projects even of Stone Age man. The story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) is testament to a nation who presumed to create a city containing a structure that would end up as high as heaven. But God laughed at their puny efforts.

"Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech,” He resolved (Genesis 11:7, ESV). Then He "dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city."

The God of the universe bears no comparison.

"To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him?" says the Holy One.
"Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
'My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God'?"

Isaiah 40:25-27

We can never get the measure of God. It is a sobering thought that He has got the measure of us. But it is comforting that He notices those who call on Him, pleading the merits of Jesus whom He has sent into our little space.