What is the picture you think of when I say God?
Is the picture of some big invisible being somewhere who is waiting for you to mess up so he can hit you with a lightning bolt?
I want to think of God as bigger than everything and more powerful than I can imagine. But I usually end up thinking that God is like a giant grandfather. You know, about ten feet tall, and someone who does not understand modern things.
When I used to talk to my grandfather, I couldn’t really talk to him about new technology. He didn’t understand it. Even when I tried to simplify it for him he didn’t get it. He couldn’t understand the idea of email. He thought I was trying to send a paper letter and envelope through the computer. I would try and explain how just the words went and not the paper. He would give me a puzzled look then change the subject.
All to often we think that God is smaller than our problems. We also think that he only hears us when we talk in big words like older preachers usually do. We don’t do this on purpose. It just sort of happens.
I realized this one night when I was praying with my son. He was about two years old and earlier that day he had scraped his knee. So that night I knelt down to his bed and he told me that his boo-boo hurt. I told him that we could pray about it. So we closed our eyes and I started praying.
I said, “Dear Lord, we know you are the Great…”
That was as far as I got. I almost said Physician. But then I realized that my son had no idea what a physician was. He knew what a doctor was though. Then it dawned on me. God knows what a doctor is too. He doesn’t need us to pray in old English. With all of the Thous, Therefores, and the Withersoevers. So I continued
“Doctor. And Alex has a…”
This is where I stopped again. I was going to say something like: scrape on his left knee. But again it dawned on me. God knows what a boo-boo is. He knows where it is. He knew this was going to happen before Alex born, before I was born. So I kept going.
“boo-boo on his knee. Please help make it all better.”
That day I changed the way I talk to God. It really opened up my prayer life.
God wants us to talk to him. I have told him about excitement in my life as well as disappointments. I have told him that I was frustrated with what he was doing, as well as praised him for the victories he has given me.
Some things we need to constantly remember about God is that:
He is omnipresent. (om-nee-present)
That means he is everywhere at the same time.
Psalm 139:7-10
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
As humans we can’t really understand how God can be everywhere at once. I am sure when you were a kid, someone told you: “Well I can’t be in two places at once!” And that’s true. We can’t.
But God can.
He is omniscient. (om-ni-shent)
That means he knows everything. I mean everything!
Psalm 139:2-6
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising , thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high , I cannot attain unto it.
He knows everything. This is something else we as humans can’t get. Because there are things we just cannot understand. Every once in a while my wife will try to talk to me about insurance and deductibles. I just put my good listener face on and let my mind run like a box of hamsters. I don’t understand it. It will not sink in. You might be saying, “You can’t understand insurance? That is so easy!” But I guarantee there is something you don’t understand.
For instance:
Why do they call them apartments when they are all so close together?
When we send something across land it is called a shipment, but when it is by boat it is cargo. Why?
Why does Wal-Mart have 47 check-out lanes but only 3 of them open at one time?
God knows everything. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. He knows your secret hopes and dreams that you have never told anyone else. He knows what you are thinking about right now. He knows about your problems, and when you will face them. He knows about all the disappointments and hurts in your life and the best way to deal with them. He knows all the answers. Some of the answers we won't know this side of Heaven, but others we will.
Often when a solution doesn't turn out the way we want, or when he doesn't take away the problem, we start thinking (unconsciously) that He isn't able to take care of it. But that isn't true. He lets us go through tough times so we will come out wiser, stronger, more humble, etc.. He also lets us go through something tough so we can minister to someone else later.
Often when a solution doesn't turn out the way we want, or when he doesn't take away the problem, we start thinking (unconsciously) that He isn't able to take care of it. But that isn't true. He lets us go through tough times so we will come out wiser, stronger, more humble, etc.. He also lets us go through something tough so we can minister to someone else later.
The third thing we need to remember about God is that:
He is omnipotent (om-ni-po-tent)
That means he is all powerful!
Genesis 18:14a
14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
Luke 18:27
27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
God created the universe by speaking. Stop and think for a second about how big space is.
It is big. Really big. We can’t think about how big because it never ends. God created it. And he is far bigger than the universe and more powerful than anything we can think of. And he cares about you. We are just a speck of dust on a speck of dust and the mighty Creator of all things cared so much for you that he sent his own son to die for you. Wow.
Now some people might say they don’t believe that God spoke and the universe was created.
Well let’s take the word: Universe, and break it down.
Uni - means one or a single.
Verse – A spoken sentence.
So together universe means “A single spoken sentence.”
He said “Let there be…” and there was.
God is truly all powerful. The power of God is amazing and it has always been a wonder for me. I often look at the clouds and the sky, and the veins in a leaf or dragonfly’s wings and am just amazed by God’s power.
He is far bigger and more powerful than that problem in your life. He is just waiting for us to ask him for help.
Just ask.
