Pray
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.
AMEN
Have you ever tried to figure out how big God is?
Country singer Ray Price wrote a song about it.
“Though man may strive to go beyond the reach of space
To crawl beyond the distant shim'ring stars
This world's a room so small within my Master's house
The open sky's but a portion of His yard
How big is God? How big and wide His vast domain
To try and tell, these lips can only start
He's big enough to rule His mighty universe
Yet small enough to live within my heart”
Have you ever really considered just how big our God is?
God really is a mystery, but we can know about Him and we can know how big He is.
God has revealed everything about Himself through His written word.
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11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
12 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?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
Isaiah 40:11-15
God is the creator of the universe, the almighty ruler of the nations. And the nations are like a drop in a bucket.
With one phrase, everything that was created was created. All God had to say was “Let there be…” and there it was!
And yet His Word tells us, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
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And His Word tells us, 1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:1-16 NIV
God, the creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, still knows each one of us better than we know ourselves.
How awesome is our God!
How big is our God?
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Sometimes us humans have a tendency to view ourselves as the center of the universe.
As we view ourselves this way we always run into problems and sometimes those problems can feel like they are overwhelming.
The simple truth is that our minds can’t fully grasp the vastness of the universe and if we can’t grasp the vastness of the universe then how can we grasp how big our God is?
If the purpose of this universe was to be a home for you and me, it is grossly oversized. But that isn’t its purpose is it.
Scripture tells us in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the glory of God.
In order to know how big God is we need to know how big the universe is.
Remember God spoke all of this into existence. He simply said “Let there be…” and there it was!
Our earth is big, but consider how big it is compared to the other planets or even to the sun.
It would take 1.3 million earths to fit inside the sun. Look how tiny the earth is compared to the sun. In comparison, it really is a small world.
Can you imagine a ball of fire the size of our sun, coming forth, out of nothing, just from the commands of His lips?
On earth, we have our measurements – a foot, a yard, if we want to get big, we count in miles. God’s measuring stick is in light years. At 186,000 miles per second, one light year is 5.88 trillion miles.
Our beautiful blue planet has a diameter of about 8000 miles, according to God’s measurements, light could circle the earth about seven times in one second. Do that sixty times in a minute, then do that sixty more times for an hour, then 24 times for the hours in a day, then 365 times for each day in a year. The number becomes mind-boggling within seconds.
Imagine that going on for thousands of years.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is estimated to be 100,000 light years from one end to the other, and our sun is just one of billions of stars in it. If we were to count one star per second, 24 hours a day, it would take 2,500 years to count all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
To show the size of our solar system, our sun and its planets, compared to the size of our entire galaxy, imagine our solar system as the size of a quarter.
Now throw the quarter on the floor – how many of those could you line up side by side to cover every square inch of your house? How many more to cover every square inch of your yard and driveway? Now imagine this: the size of our solar system is roughly equal to the size of a quarter compared to the size of the entire North American continent.
Scientists believe that there are at least several Billion galaxies in the universe. Galaxies often group together by gravitational pull in what is known as a super cluster of galaxies. Within the super cluster are located smaller clusters.
The Milky Way isn’t even the biggest galaxy in our “local” cluster.
Our earth holds seven continents. If our solar system is the size of a quarter to one of those continents, then imagine our size compared to a planet big enough to have billions of continents. It is far more than our humans minds can comprehend.
We don’t know how big the universe is.
Scientists have been able to see stars that are 14 billion light years away, so they know that the universe is at least 28 billion light years in diameter. And they say it is getting bigger. Scientists estimate that a new star is “being born” every second.
So how big is God?
We are told in Psalm 147:4 that He numbers the stars and calls them by name.
We are less than a speck of dust on a planet that is less than a speck of dust, yet he knows the number of hairs on each one of our heads.
God is much bigger than we have ever thought!
The people of Israel though they knew something about how big God was.
They used the names of God to show how big He was.
The name they used for God in the Old Testament was Yahweh. It occurs 6519 times. It is the promised name of God.
According to Jewish tradition it is a name that it too holy to say out loud and some have said that this name was only spoken once a year and only in the Temple.
This name of God means Lord and Master and denotes the omnipotence of God as the absolute ruler of all things. Another translation of the name means, “He who is at one with the limitless, unbounded universe because He created it.”
Another name used for God in the Old Testament was El Shaddai, and even though it only occurs 7 times it is thought by many to be the most beautiful name of God.
The name has two parts El which is translated God and Shaddai which means the Almighty.
Another name that is used 28 times in the Old Testament is El Elyone which means The God Most High.
Adonai is another beautiful name for God the Hebrews used. This one is found 434 times in the Old Testament and also means Lord and Master.
Of course there are the Jehovah names for God.
Jehovah Nissi – The Lord is my Refuge.
Jehovah Raah – The Lord Shepherds me.
Jehovah Rapha – The Lord that Heals.
Jehovah Samma – The Lord is There.
Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord is our Righteousness.
Jehovah Mekoddishkem – The Lord who makes you Holy.
Jehovah Sabaoth – The Lord of Powers.
Jehovah Shalom – The Lord is Peace.
Jehovah Jireh – The Lord my Provider.
I would imagine that every person in the Old Testament who had an encounter with God thought they were in the presence of a mighty big God! God did some mighty big things with people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and Isaiah watching.
But I dare say that God clearly showed how big He is through two very important events.
The first event would have to be the birth of Jesus Christ.
To the natural eye, the baby Jesus who was born in a stable and was lying in a manger might have looked like any other baby.
But He was no ordinary baby. He was the Son of God who left heaven to come to this earth and give His life as a ransom for a lost and dying world.
That baby who was laid in a manger represented to the fullest, everything that is contained in every one of the names that Israel used to speak of God.
God showed us how big He truly is when the virgin gave birth to the Savior.
The second event that showed how big God happened 33 years after Jesus was born.
Jesus was crucified for our sins and He was placed in a grave but our God is bigger than the grave and bigger than death because three days after Jesus was killed on the cross He rose from the grave, death could not hold Him down.
Why? Because we serve a great big God!
There is no doubt that God is big. He is Huge.
He is so big that it is almost impossible to conceive. But it is something that we need to conceive. We need to understand how big our God really is.
That’s why I want to ask you, “How big is God to you?”
How big is your God?
The answer to that question lies in the role God plays in your life each minute, each hour, and each day.
How big is your God?
If you can see God as big enough to make the universe and everything that is in it, then you should see Him as big enough to be worth offering your life as a living sacrifice to Him.
How big is your God?
If you can see God as big enough to put the stars in place, then you should see Him as big enough to save those which are lost.
How big is your God?
If you can see God as big enough to rescue the Israelites from Egypt and take them to the Promised Land, then you can see Him as big enough to lead you to victory over everything that binds you.
How big is your God?
If you can see God as big enough to fill 120 men and women with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost then you should be able to see God fill you with the Holy Spirit and fill you with all sorts of spiritual gifts that you can use to bless others and spread the Good News.
How big is your God?
If you can see God as big enough to give us His only Son for our salvation then you should see God as big enough to give Him 100 percent of your commitment and 100 percent of your praise and worship. He is worthy of all it all.
How big is your God?
Maybe you haven’t discovered yet how big God is.
Let me tell you, He is big enough to save your soul.
God is just as big as you think He is.
His size will never change, He is always going to be big.
What your thinking will change is you.
It will change your life.
It will change the way you view Him and the way you view Him will determine how you will respond to Him.
How big is your God?
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