As the Deer-Spiritual Hunger

Bigger Than We Think
“The Bigness of God”
Jeff Deyo

I started thinking recently about how amazing God must really be. I mean, really. How big do we
imagine he is? How big is big? Is he mighty? Is he majestic? Is he gargantuan? Even so, what do
these words me to us? Seriously, when you think of God, how big do you picture him? I guess, I’m
just the kind of person who wants to know, because, as a worship leader, I understand part of my
responsibility is to help point people to our amazing . . . uh . . . gigantic . . . uh . . . colossal God!!!
And I sit around thinking about ways to do just that. I search the Bible for examples that help me
grasp how real and huge God is, because my flesh constantly tries to fit him into a little box that I can
understand. I find there are many scriptures that help shatter the little box and keep me in touch with
the true bigness of God. They are the ones I like to highlight!
Like Psalm 50. This entire passage really helps me personally understand God better. Here God
dedicates himself to showing us part of himself that he truly desires for us to understand. Through
Asaph, he reveals that he has absolutely no personal NEED of our sacrifices of worship . . . which is
a huge statement. He’s wants us to understand we’ve completely misunderstood the purpose behind
them. He does desire for us to honor him by giving our first and best in worship—but for our sake,
not his! He also communicates that he is not after the physical act of worship as much as the heart
behind it!

So, how big is God? Let’s look. Psalm 50, Verse 12 says, “If I were hungry, I would not mention it to
you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the
blood of goats. What I want instead is your TRUE thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the
Most High. Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
(emphasis added)

To me there is endless bigness in these words. And this helps me have a clearer picture of who God
is . . . and what his character is like. Here is what I know. God has no need for food. And if by some
chance he did have a need, he wouldn’t find it necessary to tell me. I also know that if he ever did
have a problem, he wouldn’t require my help to solve it, because he knows there is nothing I could do
as a created being to help him, a non-created being, to overcome the difficult situation. I also learn
that the entire world is HIS . . . as well as everything in it. EVERYTHING! He owns it all! And no one
shares this ownership with him. He holds the title to the stars. He owns each individual wave in the
oceans. He claims each leaf on every tree on every continent on the earth. He breathed life into the
first animal and into every single one since. He even owns the earth . . . the sky, the water and even
the land—amazingly, we think we own the property our houses are on, but we don’t—he’s just
lending it to us for a time.

Have you ever uttered these words: “That’s mine!” Well, technically, you can’t say that, because you
and I don’t really own ANYTHING!! Not one thing. My skin isn’t mine. My thumbnail isn’t mine. My
phone isn’t mine. My car isn’t mine . . . even though it’s paid off! Psalm 95:4-5 says, “He OWNS the
depths of the earth, and even the mightiest mountains are his. The sea BELONGS to him, for he
made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.” (emphasis added) WHAT! While you and I squabble
over little things, God is talking about owning mountains and oceans.

I used to live in Colorado, and I visit there often because my parents still live there. My family loves to
go to the Rocky Mountains. There’s nothing like climbing to the top of a 14,000-footer, looking out at
the endless sea of snow-capped, pointy peaks, and breathing in the clear, crisp air (God’s air, that is).
I’ve never tried to count the peaks, but from where I’ve stood, I’m sure I wouldn’t even be counting
1% of all the mountains in the world. But if God were there beside me, he would point to the tall one
over there behind HIS lake and say, “Yeah, I own that one. And the one behind it . . . its mine, too.
And the one beside it . . .” You get the point.

Is it possible that we may have underestimated God?

Psalm 97:3 declares, “Fire goes forth before him and burns up all his foes. His lightning flashes out
across the world. The earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before him.” Jeremiah
10:14 asserts, “Compared to him, all people are foolish, and have no knowledge at all.” Psalm 33:7
says, “He gave the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.” Isaiah 40 verse 22
tells us that is it God who sits above the circle of the earth, and that all the people below must seem
like grasshoppers to him! In verse 25 God asks, “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?”
Isaiah continues saying, “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out
one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have
strayed away.”

Have you seen the stars recently? No, seriously. Have you gone outside and just stared at them?
There are billions of them within each galaxy and billions of galaxies within the universe! And the
Bible goes on to say that God measures the universe with his fingers. Stretch out your hand. Can
you even measure the diameter of a basketball? I mean, thinking of God in these terms, imagine if
he approached the earth in all his fullness. By the time he got billions of miles away, all we would see
are the pores in his skin!

Maybe we have grossly underestimated God! I know I have. In fact, I think there are times when I
imagine in my ignorance that God is only a little bit bigger than me. A little bit taller. A little bit
smarter – I mean, I know most things, right? Man, we are just grasshoppers. Our lives are just dust.
Every breath is a gift. Every beat of our hearts is allowed only by the BIG mercy of God! Man, in
Psalm 50:22, it even says that God will tear us apart if we ignore him . . . yikes, pretty intense!

No wonder the Bible said the Israelites trembled and quaked when God was coming down from the
mountain to speak to them. Exodus 19:16 records it: “On the morning of the third day, there was a
powerful thunder and lightning storm, and a dense cloud came down upon the mountain. There was
a long, loud blast from the ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the
camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All Mount Sinai was covered with
smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like
smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake.” Can you imagine?
Sounds mind blowing, doesn’t it? Or maybe we’ve seen too many movie special effects to truly be
astounded by something that is REAL and shocking.

So, what now. Well, for starters, we need to greatly increase our reverence, honor and admiration
toward God. We need to repent to him over how much we’ve underestimated him. Yes, repent! He
is greatly pleased when we respond in this way—by humbling ourselves. It might even be good to
tremble a little at his greatness and magnificence!! Its easy to let words like marvelous, wonderful,
splendor, majesty and holiness lose their power, because we’ve used them without really knowing
what we’re saying. Trust me. Its not that our words have lost their meaning, and it’s definitely not
that God’s glory has in any way diminished. It’s either that we have failed to seek him for who he
really is or that we have allowed ourselves to become numb and desensitized to his unequaled
greatness . . . and who we are in comparison!

We should also ask him to help us see him for who he really is . . . as he really is. When Jesus
healed the blind man in Mark 8:22-25 he touched him twice, because the first time he touched him
the man could only see in part . . . “men walking as trees.” After the second touch, the man’s sight
was completely restored. We understand from this that there are different levels of seeing and
understanding, and that asking God for another “touch” is an important thing if our spiritual “knowers”
are to be in full swing!

Spending time with God is, of course, one of the most effective ways for us to increase our capacity
to see him as he truly is. Reading the Word, worshiping him in private and communicating to him in
prayer all contribute greatly to removing different levels of the scales that cover our spiritual eyes.
And while this is true, the opposite is as well—the more time we spend “viewing” ungodly and worldly
things, the greater our disability to see becomes, the more clouded our perspective.

The good news is that in addition to being bigger and more powerful than we think, God is also more
kindhearted than we think. He is more merciful than we thought. His patience extends further than
we ever imagined. His tenderness reaches deeper than we know. His generosity is immeasurable.
His faithfulness is unbounded. He is overflowing with gentleness and exploding with gracefulness.
His friendship is without compromise and his amazing love is truly and absolutely unfailing and neverending!!!
Oh yeah, he’s a big God, and it is impossible to ever, ever overestimate his bigness! Even
if you try, you will absolutely fail! And that’s a good thing! So go for it. Try to overstate his enormity.
Try to over-exaggerate how faithful he is. Try to tell a “fish story” about how wonderful God is. Try to
make him sound bigger than he really is – I bet you can’t!