Living Water by Kyle Sullivan

Various stories exist about the origin of the well-known hand symbol called the Shaka. There is even an emoji created for it! Some say it should be thrown with folded fingers out toward the recipient, verses thrown with back of the hand facing out. Either way a person throws one, it is recognized around the world as a symbol of stoke and a greeting by friends intended to send along positive vibes.

Reading the prophet Isaiah’s many great passages, we find a unique reference to God measuring things. It is a poetic display of the greatness of Jehovah as the sovereign God over everything. Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?”

Have we ever tried to cup the whole ocean in our hand? Not a chance! We can’t even contain dust in our living room! Not a scale has ever been built that could weigh even the smallest of mountains. Yet here Isaiah writes that God does. How so? Because of the reference to Him measuring all “the heavens with a span.”

The span was a method of measuring things back in the day. It is the distance from the tip of one’s pinky to the tip of their thumb. See where this is going? God was the first one to throw a Shaka, and He did it to show His greatness over everything.

As we ponder this truth, consider that this same great and sovereign God invites us into a relationship. What God did in Jesus’s death for our sin and resurrection for our salvation, brings a joy beyond words - an eternal stoke. The God of the universe loves us and invites each of us into that relationship with Him. Let the old familiar John 3:16 sit in your mind for a minute.

So, the next time you throw a Shaka or see one thrown your way, let it remind you of God’s greatness as seen in the goodness and kindness of Jesus!