Deceptive Grandeur
We saw Buddha today. Of course it wasn’t the actual physical person, but an “incarnation” of him. In fact, a huge “incarnation” of him. We went to the Todaiji Temple, located in Nara which was the old capital of Japan. The temple itself is such a massive building and the Buddha statue fills it from top to bottom. It was an amazing sight that left me breathless. It reminded me of the Israelite nation in the Old Testament and how they worshiped idols similar to this statue during the times they fell away from God. When we read about it in the Bible, I think sometimes it is easy to think of Israel as silly for worshiping such things. However, when I walked into this temple and had my breath taken away from me at the sight of Buddha, to be very honest, I could see how a person could bow before it to pray. It was only when I walked behind it that I was brought back to reality. I noticed that there were two large beams holding it up from behind. Many years ago some cracks were noticed in the foundation and repairs had to be made. This was when they put the beams in the back to keep it from potentially falling down. As I am thinking about it now, it almost brings tears to my eyes to know that the God I serve does not need beams to hold him up. He is much larger than this statue or the temple it is in. As I stood in awe of the size of the Buddha statue, I am much more in awe of God, whose size I cannot fathom. I wanted to share this with you so that you would remember again how big and awesome our God is.