Big God

HI saw the Lord . . . and the train of his robe

filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

 

How big is your God? Isaiah’s God was enormous! When he writes about his vision of the Holy One, the thing that seems to impress him the most is that the hem of his robe took up all the space in the temple. Just the hem! Think about it. The dimensions of Solomon’s Temple are known to us: it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high (I Kings 6:2). Do the math. That works out to 121,500 cubic feet that were filled with the lower edges of God’s robe. If the hem of his garment is this big, then the One wearing the robe must tower into the clouds. Big God!

Perhaps this explains why Isaiah is considered by most scholars to be the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets. He had the grandest vision of God! No one grasped the magnitude of God’s grace, the infinity of his holiness, and the vast extent of redemptive plan for the world quite like Isaiah, because no one had ever seen a God so big!

The problem with so many in the church today is not that they are worshipping the wrong God; rather, they are worshipping a down-sized, miniature version of the true God:

,. His glory fills the room perhaps . . . but not “the whole earth.” (Isaiah 6:3)

,. He is holy . . . but not “holy, holy, holy.” (Isaiah 6:3)

,. His love may reach to the ceiling . . . but not “to the heavens.” (Psalm 36:5)

,. His faithfulness may last until the benediction . . . but not “through all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)

Is your God big enough? Is he adequate for the trials and disappointments in life? Have you reduced God so that he fits your doctrinal formulas, cultural norms and self-serving agenda? No wonder, then, when you face the giants of this evil world, you feel like a “grasshopper” (Numbers 13:33).

Here’s the rub. If your God is small, then you will be small too. If your God is petty and vindictive, well, you will be petty and vindictive too. But if the God you worship is holy, holy, holy, if he is love, if he light . . . well, by definition, you will become like him. This is why true worship of the true God is so important. We become like the One we worship. Even a man like Ralph Waldo Emerson under- stood how it works.

The Gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that. And a man will worship something. . . . That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

Friend, this morning if you are feeling small and insignificant, if your life is characterized by doubt, discouragement, and recurring defeat, I think I know the problem. Your God is too small! Open your eyes. God wants to reveal himself to you through the Word and worship. Stop worshipping your tiny concept of God and worship him as he is! Give God the courtesy of allowing him to define him- self. This morning, if you could just get a glimpse of the hem of his garment, you would never be the same again.

 

If your conception of God is radically false, then the more devout

you are the worse it will be for you.— attributed to William Temple

 

point to ponder • You will inevitably become like the God you worship.

prayer focus • That God would be magnified in your life today.