A Big View of God
our view of God will never be big enough. Near the end of the book of Job we have a remarkable interaction between God and Job, a faithful man who has endured great suffering. In the midst of his suffering, Job questions God’s purpose in allowing this suffering to come upon him. God responds by demonstrating his overwhelming knowledge and meticulous providence over all of creation. But then God turns to defending his own character. He wants Job, and all of us, to understand that he is not merely all-powerful, but completely and perfectly good. The problem with Job’s questioning of God was that he allowed his circumstances to shrink his view of God. And God’s answer was not to condemn him, but rather to blow up his small view of God. Our view of God will never be big enough. Let me give you an example. Have you considered the eternality of God? God exists outside of time. You cannot measure his age because time itself is a construct of God. Everything that is, was, will be, or could be is viewed simultaneously by God. And because he exists outside of time, he is utterly unchanged by events within time. He is who is he is and will not change. He cannot change because he is who he is to the maximum. For example, God is love to the maximum at every moment. He cannot change because he cannot possibly be any more loving, or any more just, or any more good. And because of this, my exhortation to us this morning is: Continually fight for a bigger view of God because it leads us to worship and keeps us from sin.
Fighting for a bigger view of God requires that we lift our eyes from ourselves, and we place them on God. Seeing God as high and lifted up will bring us into worship. It will humble us and help us to see that we are not the center of the universe. It will also lead to a renewed fire to fight sin. How does it do this?
A big view of God will shrink your appetite for sin by replacing it with a greater affection. Think about the moments in your life when you have felt closest to God. Where his love and power are a comfort to your soul. In those moments, your desire for sin tastes like ash in your mouth. Your anxiety is calmed, your pride looks foolish, and your lust makes you nauseous. As humans we were made to worship God rightly. When we do this, it stirs our affections like sin never could.
A big view of God leads us to worship and keeps us from sin. Therefore, fight to grow your vision of God.
What are some practical ways that we can grow our vision of God this week?
Many of us are familiar with some of the famous passages in scripture when humans encounter God in a powerful way: Moses in Exodus 33, Isaiah in Isaiah 6, John in Revelation 1. These are amazing stories where each detail is loaded with meaning. This week, pick a passage like this and meditate on it. Read it slowly, deeply, and consider what it meant for a sinful human to stand in the presence of a holy God. Consider what it took for God to call you to himself despite your sin, and then pray.
But I don’t mean small prayers. One of the problems with a small view of God is that we pray small prayers. When was the last time your prayers went beyond simple requests for relief and blessing from the day’s trouble? God, help my friend, help my kids, and help me. Amen. But a BIG view of God will lift our eyes to the heavens, and we will pray BIG prayers to God.
What we pray demonstrates what we believe about God. When we pray big prayers worshipping God, declaring the amazing truths of who he is, we will recognize the great treasure it is to have his ear. When the King of the Universe, who stands above all the powers of earth and heaven, inclines his ear to listen to you, your heart should explode in humility and gratitude. If this is not your mindset when it comes to prayer, then your vision of God is too small.
If that is you this morning, the good news is that God hears our prayers of confession of sin.