HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

How big is your God? I am reading through the Old Testament book of Numbers now. (Well at least, it's not Leviticus, right!). Actually I like very much the stories in the Old Testament. I learn a lot about me and life today. I learn things that help me understand better the New Testament. We really have not changed much.

Today, in chapter 13, Moses sends out spies to explore the Promised Land. They were to survey the peoples and the land (much like a church planter or pastor looking at demographics of their area before and/or during the ministry there).

What were they to look for? (vv. 18 ff.) "See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land."

What did they find? (vv. 23, 27-29) They found great fruit ('indeed it is a land of milk and honey'--[as God had told them]).

"BUT"--and that is where the problem started. For us, it often begins with "but." Yes, it is good, but ... Yes, it is as God said, but ... Yes, God promised, but ...

There would be opposition from strong people with strong walls, and many of those people are bigger than we are--maybe even giants.

Caleb says, "Let's go in." Let's go, lets' take possession, for we can certainly do it. Ready to rush ahead--ready to pursue the dream--ready to listen to God, and yet, could it be that even Caleb was a little too trusting of the Isralites talent rather than trusting the God who was the real power?

Then it gets even worse by the ten spies who thought it could not be done. (vv. 31 ff.) What happened was that they went from what was true (great land, strong people live there, strong walls, large people) to falsifying what they saw. "We can't do it--the people are giants and we look like tiny grasshoppers to us and to them."

So often that happens with us. We assess the new situation or the place we find ourselves in. It is new and unfamiliar. It is full of problems, and our faith wanes. We begin to think that God has forgotten us. We think that we cannot do it (we are right about that one). We think that the problems are insurmountable. We look like grasshoppers in the sight of our problems.

I also see that so often our "thinking" and relying on our intelligence alone leads us to move away from faith and God's intended provision. They intellectually saw all these problems, which were insurmountable, and it led to them panicking and doubting God and His promise and provision. Is not God bigger than even what we think? (more than we ask or think)

At times, we think we can do it, but we think WE can do it, rather than the real power behind living life, living victorious, having provisions. It is dependent on ME. No, it is dependent on God!

At other times, we just give up--there is no way this can be changed, resolved; it can't be done. And we even make it worse by seeing problems that are not even there--even seeing things that are not true and making "a mountain out of a molehill."

I see myself quite often right here.

We can't--God can!

Who is bigger--the enemy or God? the giant or God? the problem or God? Paul said in Romans, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" And I would add, "If God is for us, WHAT can be against us or defeat us--actually what can defeat Him or His plan?" And the answer to his rhetorical question is, of course, nothing.

"I can't. God can." I see no way to the prize--the promise--the provision. God sees it all perfectly clear.

Is God big enough for the problems, the circumstances, the people (enemies) that I face? How big is my God? How big is yours?