At what point in our relationship with God did we begin to shrink Him down into a more manageable size? Remember when you first came to know Christ and recognized what a beautiful, awesome and powerful Creator He was? Remember when you prayed bold prayers and fully expected to see them come to fruition? There was a time when you cast all your worries and concerns on Him and left them there because you knew God was far greater than any of your problems. But somewhere along the way we stopped believing all of that. Oh, we still say that we believe He is all powerful and capable of anything because that’s what Christians are supposed to say. Deep down though, I wonder if you still believe it to be true.
When was the last time you prayed an impossible prayer and believed that God would bring it to pass? In Joshua 10:1-15, we read that Joshua prayed that the sun would stand still so he could have more time to pursue the enemies of God, and the sun stood still. In 2 Kings 6:1-7, a man lost an iron axe head in the river and Elisha threw a stick in the water and watched the axe head float to the surface. The sun stood still and time was suspended. Iron gently floated from the bottom of a river to the surface. God is not constrained by physical or scientific laws. If He is able to do things such as these, what problems do you have that He could not bring about a supernatural solution? Our problem is not that our issues are too big; it is that we have made God too small.
In Mark 2:1-12, we see Jesus heal a man who could not walk. The healing was instantaneous. One minute the man is lame, and the next minute he’s walking around. This wasn’t after months of therapy but after only a word from Jesus. Better still, in Luke 7:11-17 Jesus raised the only son of a widow from the dead. He simply opened the coffin, spoke to the man, and he came back to life. This is the power of our God. He is a King who can heal the sick and raise the dead, yet somehow we can’t even believe that He can provide for our basic needs. Why do we no longer believe that God can do great and miraculous things in our lives? We pray small prayers and get small results because we have come to believe in a small God.
Luke 15:11-32 tells the story of one who wandered far from God, eventually returned, and was welcomed with honor and rejoicing from his father. In Luke 15:3-7 we read how Jesus would leave all those who belong to Him to search for one who has wandered away. This is the God we serve. He is the same today as He was yesterday, and He will be exactly the same tomorrow. He longs and delights to rescue those who have wandered far from Him. Yet we have given up on family members and friends who do not serve Christ. We’ve spent years praying to no avail, so we give up. But God never gives up. He is capable of bringing complete transformation to the most wayward life. We simply have stopped believing in Him.
How small is God in your eyes? Have you shrunk Him down into a being that is barely worthy of worship? God is not limited in scope or power. He is infinitely great and beyond all comprehension. It’s time we realized anew how great and awesome is our God. It’s time we once again pray audacious prayers fully expecting God to do what He has promised to do. He is the God of miracles, the God of healing and the God of transformation. Our God is all capable and mighty. Our God is not small.