Welcome to my blog...

Green trees, cool water, a gentle breeze...the perfect place to sit at the feet of the Master and learn. Jesus taught so often on the shoreline, and He's still speaking today.

This is where I share the lessons He teaches me, often during the time I spend on the shores of a local lake. I don't have all the answers...and some days I don't have any. But I go here when I need to draw near to Him in a tangible way. Come with me...

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

How big is your God?

How big is your God?  After several recent conversations, I feel the need to ask that question.  Some seem to assume because they can't see or imagine the immensity of God, He must only fit into the little box they've envisioned in their finite mind.

These people say I'm crazy to think God can hear and address the prayers of every person on this planet. That it's actually pompous of me to believe He would care about me and my silly little needs. 

If they want to believe that for themselves, that's fine.  Well, actually, it's not fine, it's very sad that some would believe God exists, but not believe He cares about them.  Or worse, as one put it, that they were created to be "messed with".  But why do they feel the need to talk me out of my firm belief in a supreme, loving, caring being?  Why do they think I'm being naive?

I recount story after story of how God has answered my prayers in big and small ways over the years.  This is the 'abridged' version of one of my favorites from a few years ago...after crying out to Him in the privacy of my car, defeated and desperate about a number of things going on in my life, God sent a woman I'd never met, speaking a language I didn't understand, to pray over me minutes later.  As her words were translated by another who had no idea about my circumstances,  it was as if she'd been given a checklist from God.  The way she worded things, the issues she prayed for...the exact same things in the same way I'd laid them before His feet moments before.  I've walked with God a long time, but the experience gave me goosebumps and I feel it's a powerful, convincing argument that God truly hears prayer.

Others don't believe at all.  They are unmoved by my accounts.  They drag out their rationale.  They want to talk about coincidence, energy, spirituality, and myriad other "forces" to explain away the things that my Big God has done and is doing.  To me, it's far easier to believe in an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent GOD than some energy force bumping around in the dark impacting the whys and wherefores of my existence. 

So how big is YOUR God?  Can He part the sea to allow 2 million people to cross on dry land?  Can He shut the mouth of a hungry lion in it's den with a man?  Can He walk around in a furnace with three others to keep them from being consumed?  Mine can.  And because He's a God that's the same yesterday, today and forever, His power isn't just ancient history.  He does miracles in the here and now.  He provides jobs, heals sicknesses, and restores marriages.

My God is a big God but He's also a caring God.  His word tells me He knows me by name and that name is written on the palm of His hand.  He knows how many hairs are on my head.  He formed me in my mother's womb.  It tells me that He withholds no good thing from me. Can "energy" do that for you?

He's a big God, but He's a God of details.  He put the stars and planets in their places, but He also clothes the lilies of the fields.  And He knows when one of His children are hurting, so He sends just the right person to pray so she knows her requests have been heard.  This is not coincidence...it is Godincidence.

My God is the one of whom it is said gives me exceedingly, abundantly more than I can ask or imagine.  How big can you imagine?  Can you picture your town?  Your state?  Your country?  How about your world?  Your solar system?  Your galaxy?  Well, then, you can imagine quite a bit!  But He goes beyond that.  He has not created us to mess with us or abandon us.  He created us in His image.  He loved us first, so we in turn love Him. 

I don't want a God so small I can wrap my mind around him and define him.  That would make him all too human, and not God.

So think about it...how big IS your God?  I'd love to know what big things He's done for you...







2 comments:

  1. This really HAS to be ONE of my most favorite posts of yours. I love it. I can 'hear' the utter frustration, as well as the sadness, in your words over those who insist that we are all just some floating, random science experiment, chalking everything up to coincidence and 'energy.' People are so quick to believe in creepy, malnourished-looking alien beings commandeering enormous spaceships to come and take them away, a la` "Close Encounters;" yet they can't...or WON'T...believe in a loving, awesome, compassionate God who desires to have a loving, personal relationship with them. A God Who hears every cry, sees every tear, feels our pain along with us.

    I'm so with you on this, Toni. Thanks for putting it into words -- well done, my friend! <3

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    1. I haven't written in a while - there will be posts coming about the current outreach, count on it...but this...I just had to get this down on 'paper'. It simply poured out of me. You are so right about my utter frustration Pam. Why do people want to give up something so wonderful so easily?

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