How Big is God?

Years ago, when I first saw the mountains in Austria (the Alps), I can remember thinking, “Wow, God. You are so big!” My limited perspective of God was challenged as I stood awestruck, with my neck craned, trying to take in the magnitude of the view that was before me. My God grew suddenly massive in my eyes.

We rightfully acknowledge God as King of the universe, but the universe is not the limit of Him or His rule and reign. God holds the universe in the palm of His hand. What perspective! ‘For You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being’ (Revelation 4:11).

The universe is about the biggest physical thing that mankind has attempted to understand and yet, despite man’s greatest efforts in technology, the universe remains an unfathomable and vast mystery. ‘Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know?’ (Job 11:7-9).

The question, “How big is God?” seems very childlike and yet at the same time incredibly profound, so where can we turn for an answer? If you search Google, it will direct your attention to a song written by Stuart Hamblen, and sung by the Gaithers, that includes this line, ‘He's big enough to rule His mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart’. Although there is nothing small about God, the reminder here is that He is a God who wants to be known personally and intimately.

I believe God has intentionally placed this question on my heart because He knows that my search will bring me right to Him. A good Father is always creatively drawing His children’s hearts. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). What a beautiful invitation!

Despite knowing that I cannot, in my limited thinking, grasp the fullness of the answer to this profound question, I am excited and delighted to try. If God is prompting the asking of the question, then I trust that He will have answers which will once again cause my perception of Him to grow larger than life.

I don’t know about you, but when I look around at the world that we are living in, I really need the faith to see and know God as the absolute biggest. I began this Seed with my feet securely planted on the ground and I am finishing it at an altitude of thirty-eight thousand feet, high above the clouds, trusting in faith that He will safely hold me in the palm of His hand just as surely as He does the universe.