August 17, 2017 – Devotions
Your G-d is Too Small – A Distracted G-d

I do not think I need to spend a lot of time on whether we believe that G-d is humongous, enormous, or gi-normous. I hope we can all agree on the fact that G-d is beyond our ability to describe or even comprehend — G-d’s presence in the universe is all-encompassing. It is always fun to try to imagine how big G-d is, but I hope we can agree that this task is futile at best. But it is always good to try – because as often as we give G-d anthropomorphic features, it diminishes G-d and G-d’s presence.

Of course many people think that G-d simply resides in the church. For those who are not familiar with religion, it would make sense that they would conceive G-d as residing inside the building, just like G-d resided in the Tent of Meeting (the Holy of Holies) during the Exodus (not that any scriptural reference would make sense to the un-churched). And, since most people can only focus on the trees in front of them rather than the forest that makes up the vastness of time and space, then they could only imagine an unfocused or impersonal G-d – a G-d who is found only in one place. And if we go one step further, we might consider the people who see G-d as only residing in the church as the same people who see G-d as too distracted to care about those who do not go to church or too distracted with other business around the universe. But we limit our spiritual thinking if we believe that G-d only cares about those in the church — and besides, G-d is too busy focusing on the future of all things. My friends, G-d does not suffer from Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder – nor is G-d limited. But if this is your understanding of G-d, then “Your G-d Is Too Small”.

The bigger we think G-d is, the more it is possible to think of G-d as impersonal and an unfocused abstraction. But if we change our thinking about G-d, and consider that G-d is more “verb” than “noun”, more presence than thing, then it is possible to consider our divinity as capable of being up close and personal simultaneously with being in all things. In the face of the idea that G-d is “too busy or too big for us”, people can believe that they can never get to “Know” G-d. And since G-d is unknowable to them, they seek to trust science or progress more than trust G-d. This would mean then, if we follow this to its logical conclusion, that at some future time, a time we will never know, these people would see their end as annihilation rather than eternal life.

As President Trump might say, our G-d “Is Huge”, full of “fire and fury”, as well as up close and personal. As such our G-d is not distracted – our awesome G-d is everywhere and in everything. (Themes come from the book “Your God Is Too Small” by J. B. Phillips)

Pastor Dave