How Big Is Your God?

Can your God move mountains? I’ll bet so. For Christians (and maybe even a few non-Christians), it is hard not to see God in everything that is majestic, massive and mighty. Think of sunrises and sunsets, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, mountains, oceans, planets, moons, stars, and galaxies. We don’t necessarily expect to see God physically moving mountains, but we have no problem believing that He can, if He wants to. Of course He can! He parted the Red Sea. He brought down the walls of Jericho. Shoot, He spoke literally everything into existence!

So, why is it so hard to grasp the idea that He cares about the small, seemingly inconsequential things, as well?

For a long time, wrapping my head around the concept of an almighty powerful God meant only seeing Him working in the enormity of life—world events, newsworthy accomplishments and tragedies, Billy Graham-sized crusades. I thought that God couldn’t be bothered with the trivial things in the world, and that included me. Oh, I believed that He created everything—from the galaxies, all the way down to tiny ants, and even microscopic particles. But I didn’t really believe that He involved Himself in the details of every single thing that He created.

With God out there keeping our world spinning on its axis, He certainly doesn’t have time to think about my migraine headache. Right? Right.
When a hurricane is brewing in the Atlantic Ocean, headed straight for a major metropolitan city, God isn’t even aware that a thousand miles away, a toddler just flushed his mom’s heirloom wedding ring into the city sewer system. Well, duh!
What difference could it possibly make in the grand scheme of things if a box turtle makes it from one pond to another without getting swooped up by a red-shouldered hawk? It’s just one turtle and one hawk. God has much more important things to be concerned with than that. Boom!

Oh, I thought I knew so much.

But, in viewing Him that way, rather than having a big-G God, I had a small-g god. By restricting God’s scope, power, and love to only major events, I was actually thinking of Him as limited, weak, and uncaring. I had to seriously up-size my understanding of who God really is.

When discussing anxiety over life’s basic needs in the book of Matthew, Jesus compares God’s care for us to His care for birds, lilies, and grass, which all have everything they need to thrive, without doing anything to earn it. Then he says, “your heavenly Father knows that you need them all [food and clothing]. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-34). In other words, God will provide for you just as He provides for the needs of the things of nature. And, even though we, as God’s children, are more important to Him than birds and plants, His attention to us does not require Him to neglect anything else. And, likewise, He won’t neglect you—even for a simultaneous world-changing event.

Similarly, over in Luke 12, when He is telling his disciples not to fear the hypocritical Pharisees, Jesus says, “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). It’s easy to see that Jesus is saying that the disciples are more valuable than birds, but don’t ignore that phrase, “more valuable.” Because, it is not saying that you are valuable and sparrows are not. “God does not forget a single” sparrow, so they are important to Him, too. God watches over you and sparrows at the same time, just as He watches over the universe and you at the same time.

But, those are theoretical examples. What about a real-world story? Do you know the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-42)? That particular woman was at the well at noon, the hottest time of day–a time when no one else would have been there. Due to her immoral lifestyle it is assumed that the other women in the town would have despised and ostracized her, so she couldn’t go to the well during cooler hours. I’m guessing she felt lonely and insignificant. Then, along comes Jesus, a Jewish man, who not only acknowledged her, a Samaritan woman, but He spoke to her respectfully and at length. And because of her subsequent testimony, her whole town came to believe in Him. But, what did she say to the townspeople? “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ” (John 4:29)? Jesus knew the intimate details of her life and He still cared for her, a woman considered the lowest of the low in her social sphere. And the fact that He was simply aware of her little life, ended up making a major difference in an entire town. No detail of your life is insignificant to God.

Omniscient. Omnipresent. Omnipotent. God knows everything for all time, is everywhere at once, and is all-powerful. So, He is actively involved with everything, from the largest star in the universe to a single atom on a fuzzy dandelion pappus, floating through the air—and that includes us, individually and personally.

God can keep the earth spinning, oversee hurricanes, and comfort you during a headache or a heartache, all at the same time. You can count on Him. He’s the ultimate multitasker!

And that, my friend, is a BIG-G God!