A Great Big God

A Great Big God

I Kings 17:8-16

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there¡¦s nothing my God cannot do! Those are the words to a children¡¦s song but words that you and I should pay heed to. Let me ask you a question this morning ¡V How big is God? Have you ever given that any thought? One little boy did ¡V He was sitting at the table drawing one day ¡V His father came over and asked him ¡§Son what are you drawing? I¡¦m drawing a picture of God he responded. Well you can¡¦t draw God his father replied ¡V no one knows what God looks like. ¡§They will in a minute the boy said with a grin. How big is God?

We pick up the story this morning in I Kings 17:8-16 ¡V A famine has struck the land. A three year drought is on the land as a result of the peoples idolatry. For some time Elijah has been hanging out near the brook of Cherith being provided for by God. But because of the lack of rain the brook dries up and Elijah is called to move on. We pick up the story there as Elijah a man with a great big God meets with a widow in Zarephath who¡¦s God is about to get much bigger.

Read 17:8-16

1) When our God is Too Small ¡V AW Tozer wrote this ¡§I am positively sure after many years of observation and prayer that the basis of all of our trouble today, in religious circles, is that our God is too small.¡¨ The truth is that for most of us our God is really too small. Now understand that I don¡¦t mean that God is actually small ¡V what I mean is that we see Him as too small. Kind of like looking through the wrong end of the binoculars. Realize with me this morning that God is who God is ¡V nothing you or I can do will ever change Him. ¡§For I the Lord do not change¡¨ He says to us. The problem is that we see Him too small ¡V we don¡¦t really understand His greatness and power to help us. Here are a few things that happen when our God is too small.

„« We live in Fear and Anxiety ¡V Worry dominates the life who¡¦s God is too small. Because if your God is small ¡V then really it all depends on you. How bright you are, how good you are, how pretty you are, how effective you are, how strong you are. If your God is small then you have to take care of you. All over the world people are serving small gods ¡V they have to feed their gods, take care of their gods, and even defend their gods. Always worry, anxiety, and fear dominate the life of those whose God is too small. Our God says ¡§Be Still and Know that I am God.

„« We are defensive ¡V When our God is too small we are defensive ¡V feeling that any attack might overwhelm our logic. Any question, any doubt might break what I believe into tatters. The truth is that many if not most Christians today live in a Christian bubble that they are always fearful will shatter to pieces around them. That is the reason often that people do not witness to people of other faiths ¡V they are simply scared that they won¡¦t have all the answers and their God is not big enough to deal with unanswered questions.

„« We are stingy ¡V We cannot give generously if we believe that our financial security and our well being depends on us. We cannot give if we do not have an assurance of God¡¦s provision for us. That is the reason most people don¡¦t tithe. I wont have enough for me. The truth is that if you don¡¦t tithe there will never be enough for you.

„« We are demanding. We have to have it our own way ¡V You see if our God is too small we cannot see and appreciate that in Christ there is great diversity. Uniformity is the demand ¡V I know what I like and I like what I know. I am convinced that the majority of our arguments over worship style stem from this very place. Our God isn¡¦t big enough. We feel that there is only one way to approach Him that is valid ¡V Our way. Some hymns other Choruses. The truth is that I don¡¦t think God cares whether you are singing hymns or choruses as long as you are worshipping Him in the prosess. Sometimes our God gets small and we worship the method instead of God.

2) So the question this morning is ¡V How Big is God? For the answer to that question ¡V turn to Job chapter 38 ¡V I want to let the scripture do the talking on this point. The truth is folks that God is bigger than you can imagine and small enough to fit it all in your heart. He is big enough to answer your every need and small enough to hear your whispered prayer. He is big enough to encompass the universe in a thought ¡V and small enough to number the hairs on your head. How big is God? Paul said ¡§I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.¡¨ Friend He is bigger that you ever need Him to be.