Fear of Man, Fear of God, and the Volume of Nostrils

I believe that knowing the amount of air in a human nostril will greatly impact your life.  Indulge me for a geeky exercise that I think has deep spiritual consequences. Warning: this is definitely going to at first seem entirely irrelevant and probably very dull to most people except the likes of those that collect Lord of the Rings figurines[1].  But I'm guaranteeing a payoff at the end of this so hang in there!  Or, if you insist, you can skip down to the Relevant Part.

The Technical Geeky Part
Let's say that the shape of a nose approximates a cone, wider at the base, narrowing upward.  So the nostril volume (V)  = 1/3 pi*R^2*H.

R= radius
H= height

OK, so perhaps it's not exactly conical, but if you get technical on me then it will interrupt the flow of this blog post. If you really insist a nose cavity is more cylindrical then use V=pi*R^2*H, I won't argue too much. If you're a math teacher or somebody who casts their own LOTR lead figurines and wants to argue the nose is a truncated cone, then here's the formula, but I've got much better things to do, as you can see.

I measured my nostril opening from the outside[2] and found it to be .5" wide (the diameter), so the radius, R=0.25".

The height, measured from the opening along the outside[2], to where my nose bone[3] starts is 0.75", so
H= .75"

Plugging these into V = 1/3 pi*R^2*H

V= .049 cubic inches of air can fit into one nostril.

That is .000802 liter, or .000212 gallons, or .027 fl oz, or .000848 qt of air fitting in one nostril.

That's a pretty small amount of air that can fit in one nostril.  Or, to put it in a more tangible measure, about 2493.7 nostrils of air would fit into one 2 litter bottle of Mt. Dew.[4]

The Spiritual and Highly Relevant Part to Your Life
Congrats if you've waded through what seemed to be completely irrelevant and definitely very boring nostril geometry.  Because here is the spiritual implication:

The Bible says that man is just a disappearing vapor, a wisp, a breath:

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14; ESV)

And yet how much time, energy, attention is consumed by the fear of man?  How many decisions do we daily make because we're afraid of what somebody will think, afraid of what they might do, concerned of how they might react?  What percentage of our thought life is wasted in needless fear of others?  Too many times I've done something I shouldn't have because of a "fear of man" issue, or didn't do something I should have.

But Isaiah 2:22 sums it up so well and speaks to the heart (or nose!) of the issue:

      Stop regarding man
      in whose nostrils is breath,
      for of what account is he? (ESV)

A life governed by the fear of man is a small life, constricted, imprisoned.  In a sense you're allowing your god to be somebody with a nostril that only holds .000212 gallons of air.  But more to the point, the entire life of the man or woman who you are fearing is only fleeting like a vapor, a small puff of breath on a cold day.

For of what account is the co-worker that lords over you? The friend that mocks you?  The clique that shuns you?  The neighbor that spites you?  Not even a tenth of a cubic inch of air fills his or her nostrils!!  And yet so often we tremble in fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25 argues the case:

      The fear of man lays a snare,
      but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. (ESV) 

Now read Isaiah 2:10-22 and ask yourself who is the one we truly should fear, revere and hold in awe?  Whose opinion should we be entirely concerned with?  Who should cause us to tremble? Who should govern our lives? Shape our every decision? Give motive to guide our every step?

      10 Enter into the rock
      and hide in the dust
                  from before the terror of the LORD,
      and from the splendor of his majesty.
            11       The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
      and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
                  and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
            12       For the LORD of hosts has a day
      against all that is proud and lofty,
      against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
            13       against all the cedars of Lebanon,
      lofty and lifted up;
      and against all the oaks of Bashan;
            14       against all the lofty mountains,
      and against all the uplifted hills;
            15       against every high tower,
      and against every fortified wall;
            16       against all the ships of Tarshish,
      and against all the beautiful craft.
            17       And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
      and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
      and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
            18       And the idols shall utterly pass away.
            19       And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
      and the holes of the ground,
                  from before the terror of the LORD,
      and from the splendor of his majesty,
      when he rises to terrify the earth.
            20       In that day mankind will cast away
      their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
                  which they made for themselves to worship,

            21       to enter the caverns of the rocks

                  from before the terror of the LORD,
      and from the splendor of his majesty,
      when he rises to terrify the earth.
            22       Stop regarding man
      in whose nostrils is breath,
      for of what account is he? (ESV)

Don't let your life be ruled with fear by any man.  Rather, let every decision, every step, every thought be governed with reverent awe and fear of the Almighty God.  The splendor of His majesty that terrifies fallen man is matched by the depth of His love that redeems him.  God wants to redeem us that we might live our daily lives in humble worship and fear of Him alone.

The next time you find yourself trembling or motivated by fear of any person, look intently at their nose, then remember that they are just as fleeting as the .000848 quart of air exhaled from their nostril.


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Footnotes:
[1] OK, I don't have an actual collection of Lord of the Rings figurines, but I definitely have a mental shelf in my head with them all lined up, from the shortest hobbit to the tallest Ent.

[2]  Let me be clear on this point, lest I be accused of a pick.

[3] Not the nose bone of my birth.  I had a nose job in high school because of a deviated septum.  TMI?  Probably, but isn't this whole nostril exercise TMI?

[4] Kai, my son, had another clever solution to the nostril volume dilemma and suggested starting with a known volume of water in a cup, then pouring water into your nose until it filled up.  Sounds pretty good. Anybody want to give it a go?