Demanding a larger view of God

There is something weird about our conception of God.

I always make it a point in my time of talking to God to thank Him for all that He has done for me and to praise Him for some of the stuff He has done outside of me. So I praise Him for the weather, praise Him for the beauty that surrounds me, the stars in the sky. And after awhile I feel stuck. I feel almost weird doing that. And I guess today i've kinda figured out why.



My conception of God, while it has grown bigger, is still a box compared to the magnitude of who God is. Think about this.... the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is approx 1 light year away. Meaning if we travel for 1 year at the speed of light we will reach alpha centauri. I don't know about you but sitting in a car for 1hr is enough to drive me freaking nuts. 1 year in a shuttle? And that’s the nearest star. What about traveling in an actual space shuttle? Well if my calculations aren’t off, it would take us 39,000 years to get there. Just for giggles what about a car? Say we travel about 100mph. Try 6.5 million years. Let’s say we want to travel across the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is about 80,000 to 100,000 light years in diameter. Now if we travel at the speed of light that would take us about 80,000 years. If we traveled by shuttle (and I don’t mean the Forty Acres one, it would take us 3,097 million years. To top that off and to get an idea of how vast this universe is our galaxy is like one of the 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe (OBSERVABLE!!!!!). I can’t even fathom the fact that there are 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy alone, let alone 100 billion galaxies X 200-400 billion stars in the universe.

So what’s really the point of all this. Well I’m just trying to say that honestly sometimes our perception of God really pushes the bounds of idolatry. Why do I say that? According to Merriam-Webster, idolatry is worshiping a physical object as a God. When you think about it though, idolatry isn’t really about just the physical stuff though. We commit idolatry on a regular basis when we worship money, fame, or sex. However, I would define idolatry more like having a perception of God that is inaccurate or not true to his nature. Of course now all my Christian brothers and sisters are going to throw their hands up, gnash their teeth and pick up their stones. But… this just means that all of us (especially me) need to strive everyday to see God for who he really is. Not only just the raw physical power of a person who spoke everything into being. But the full depths of God. His love. His ability to bless. His ability to do things in our lives that not even we can do. .

The next question which comes to a lot of our minds and probably hits closer to home, is not is he able? It’s is he willing? I am such a small being. Who am I that God would even think of me, much less bless or love me. God says in Psalms that he knew you before the day you were born and the thoughts that he has towards you outnumber the sand (Psa 139:18). That’s a lot of sand. Someone attributed the number of stars in the galaxy or the universe to about the number of grains of sand in the earth (someone correct me if I’m wrong). But that’s just to get into the same perspective. It also says in Jeremiah that God knows the plans that He has for you, plans of good and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. Yes he is big and powerful! But the cooler thing is despite the infinite amount of things in the universe. God is personally concerned with your life.