“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” -Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)
Have you put God in a box? Have you been viewing Him as too big (read: unconcerned) or too small (read: weak) to meet your needs whatever they may be?
That might be because we tend to focus so much on ourselves. We aren’t thinking about what God can do in our lives. Instead, we tend to shrink Him down depending how inwardly focused we are at any given time. And how trapped we feel by our problems. He starts to look a little more human, a little more like us. Just a friend who would help if only he could, or is too busy, or too tired, or…
But that’s NOT who God is! He’s God, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth. The Uncreated, Limitless One. He’s the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. His power — and yes, His love — know no bounds.
Being too SELF-focused relegates God to a much smaller space in our lives, since we are busy occupying the center of it all. And it dwarfs and diminishes our faith. Focus inward is what common “wisdom” tends to say. But that’s not what the Bible instructs us to do.
So, let’s go to the source, the authoritative Word of God for insight about the Size of Us versus the Size of God. Through scripture we can discern if OUR view aligns with what the Bible declares. Here we go:
- “I am the LORD! I stretched out the heavens; I put the earth on its foundations and gave breath to humans.” -Zechariah 12:1 CEV
- “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Does not become tired or grow weary; There is no searching of His understanding.” -Isaiah 40:28 AMP
- “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb…I said, ‘This far and not farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?” -Job 38:4-12 NLT
- Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” -Exodus 3:13-14 NIV
That scripture in Zechariah says, “He stretches out the heavens.” Wow okay, I guess all limits are off then! When was the last time YOU or I came close to doing anything like stretching out the heavens? That’s what I thought. And…I’m a bit of a space nerd so ANYTHING having to do with God creating the heavens really gets me going. He created the vastness of space!!! Like wow! God is SO big.
And I love how He describes Himself in Exodus. God said ‘I AM.’ And that was a full and complete thought of Him telling us who He is. ‘I AM’ is a pretty big mic drop.
I could keep going…but you get the idea. God is ALWAYS going to be bigger than whatever idea you have of Him. I think in part because we lack the ability to imagine the size of God, we don’t fully understand how God is, was, and always will be. What does that even mean?! How can somebody always have existed?!? These are the things that trip me out and amaze and astound me as well!
If we really understood the magnificence of God, even had the tiniest concept of it, we’d re-arrange and change our focus to allow God to be at the very heart and center of our lives. And then when life throws us a curve ball or hits us with the unexpected or the very difficult, we can rest in the fact that a really BIG God can handle yours and my BIG life circumstances. If God is BIGGER than our problems then we will know God can carry us in and through whatever we are facing.
On a Friday 11 years ago, my husband, who has glaucoma, ended up getting an infection in his eye (as a complication to glaucoma). It had only been a few days since he had the infection, but by the time we rushed him to the eye specialist, we found out he had such a bad infection that the doctor had to do emergency surgery so that he didn’t lose his eye! Like that same day! ASAP. Pronto. You get what I’m saying? I didn’t even know an eye infection could do that to a person (or an eyeball). How scary! And finding out that he had to have surgery in a matter of hours was frightening. The trouble for me was I didn’t have the kind of faith I have now, or know God to be as big as I would need. We requested prayers from every Christian we could think of and thank God, my husband’s eye was spared, but that situation caught me off guard.
I don’t want a situation like that to catch you off guard too! I want to know when I get a bad diagnosis, or a pink slip at work or a concerning text that I’m not solely believing in MYself, MY abilities and MY strength. God wants you to do your part, but we have to not allow ourselves to sideline Him. Given my growth through difficult seasons — my baseline is that I’m believing in a marvelously magnificent, beyond-our-2comprehension-sized God who stands ready to help and tells us to ask for what we need (Hebrews 4:16).
This is a journey, a process, and involves introspection and changes to how we act, pray, worship, and live our lives. It will likely not happen overnight, or in an instant (I’m thinking of you, Saul/Paul!), but will realistically take root in your lives as you learn to switch your focus from what you can do to that your God has done, is doing, and will do in your life.
Don’t you think it’s time you started really looking at and questioning what kind of God you serve, and what manner of God is this? Is the I AM first and foremost in your thoughts, and heart, and life? How much space are you allowing Him? Are you asking, Who are you Lord? And are you waiting for Him to show you and grow your faith a bit more?
If you were one of the thousands of people who saw the recent KP9 Aurora Borealis event back on May 10/11th in the Northern Hemisphere, I think you may have an idea. Just amazing! God bless you as you explore the size of God more.
Scripture references:
-Hebrews 4:16 NLT
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will
find grace to help us when we need it most.”
#GodIsAlwaysBigger #GodFocused #BigGod.
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