Augustine, a first-century leader in the Christian church, experienced something that got him thinking about how big God must be. He was walking along the seashore one day when he saw a little boy digging a trench in the sand. Augustine asked the boy what he was doing.
The little fellow replied, “I’m making a trench.” “Why are you doing that?” asked Augustine.
The boy replied, “I am going to empty the sea into my trench.”
As Augustine continued walking down the shore, he thought to himself: “So he thinks that he is going to empty the sea into the little trench he has made in the sand.” As Augustine reflected about that little boy’s trench, he concluded that we are all like that sometimes. We tend to think that we can contain or understand an unlimited God with our very limited minds. That is a mistake. We will never really know God until we begin to understand how big and how powerful He really is.
In fact, knowing that God is powerful and glorious can impact our everyday living. Understanding how big He is will change your life forever. This is because only God has the power to really solve any problem you may be facing right now. “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God. . .” (Deuteronomy 10:17).
What do we know about God? Jesus told us that “… with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Clearly, God has no limits. His power is unlimited–which means He will never run low on power. His knowledge is also unlimited. The Bible says, “His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). That means that God has never learned anything, because He has always known everything. God’s existence is also unlimited. He exists apart from time. He has no beginning, and He will never cease to be. That’s why God said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). In other words, He is eternally self-existent. God is “. . . the high and exalted One Who lives forever” (Isaiah 57:15).
God is not only without limits. He is also totally unique. God cannot be compared to any other being. “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens. . . ‛I am the Lord, and there is none else’” (Isaiah 45:18). We cannot compare God to anyone else. All of this is simply mind-boggling!
There is also another amazing side to God’s awesome greatness. In spite of His great power, He is also gentle and loving toward those who trust Him. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7). “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Anthony Collins was a well-known English skeptic of the seventeenth century. One day he met a poor man on the street. “Where are you going?” asked Collins.
“To church, sir.”
“What are you going to do there?”
“To worship God, sir.”
“Is your God a great God or a little God?” asked Collins.
“He is both, sir.”
“How can He be both?”
“He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; and He is so little that He can dwell in my heart.”
Collins admitted later that this simple answer affected him more than all the fancy books he had ever read about God, and more than all the speeches about God he had ever heard.
If you would like God to change you and make you new inside, God’s amazing power is available to do just that. It will happen when you decide to fully trust in Him and what He has done for you. I think A.W. Tozer, an American pastor said it best: “How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. Eternal years lie in His heart. For Him time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work.”
God offers to share His awesome power with you. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). You can learn more about God’s power when you read the Bible. If you need a copy, I’ll be glad to send you one for free.
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