Looking at the vastness and the intimacy of God...but why?
Someone told me yesterday that they were enjoying this topic, but was wondering where I was going with it. Let me explain; as a pastor, I often deal with people in crisis, and last week there were many individuals and families dealing with severe illness, surgeries, and death of a loved one. It struck me that the church often focuses on the New Testament, but there are times when we need to see that Old Testament, universe creating, Red Sea parting, dry bones resurrecting, great, big, BIG God. A God that is so much bigger than any circumstance that we happen to be in. A God so vast that we cannot even begin to imagine His capabilities.
Yet at the same time...
...at the same we need to know that He is in the middle of our circumstances with us. He is also an intimate God, holding us, loving us as we hurt. Surely He is the towering pillar of fire that guides us, but He is also the same-size-as-us Man, Jesus.
How big?
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." He's a big star-breathing God! "The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? 2 Chronicles 2:5-6
He's a bigger than the heavens God!
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. From Isaiah 40
He's a bigger than our imagination God!
Yet at the same time...
From Psalm 139:
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. He's a God who knows you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. He's a God who created you as an individual and knows you as an individual.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. He's a God with a plan for your life!
[Luke 12:7]
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. He's a God that knows every detail about you.
[Revelation 3:20]
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. He's a God that desires a relationship with you.
[John 14:1-3]
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. He is a God who wants to spend eternity with you.
[John 3:16]
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He is a God who sent His Son because He loves you that much..
Bigger than any circumstance, lovingly in the midst of your circumstances. That's God.
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Questions:
1. What is your take on this perspective?
2. Do you find more comfort in the vastness or the intimacy of God?
3. How do you see God?
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May we know the enormity of His love for us. Jim
"If one starts with an impersonal beginning, the answer to morals eventually turns out to be the assertion that there are no morals." Francis Schaeffer
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