How Big is Your God?

My momma always told me that during times in my life when things were going sideways that I should look to the examples in the Bible when people trusted God in the midst of their fears. Mom would ask me, "How big is Your God, dear? Isn't He big enough to take care of this? Isn't He big enough to take care of you?"

One of those examples that I often turn to is Jochebed. Now you may be asking Jochebed, whose that? Well, you may know her better as Moses's birth mother. She lived at a time when Pharoah had ordered all Israelite baby boys to be killed at birth. Now the sneaky midwives (their names were Shiphrah and Puah, by the way) feared the Lord and showed trust in their "Big God" by not killing them at birth, but then Pharaoh issued an edict to throw all baby boys into the Nile.

But Jochebed defied Pharaoh’s second edict, too, and instead hid Moses as long as she possibly could. When it came to the point that she can no longer hide him, she took drastic measures that showed her reliance on God and her trust in His greatness to care for her child better than she could. She nestled Moses in a basket and placed him the reeds along the banks of the Nile.

Realize the magnitude of her actions. This isn’t just a children’s fairy tale. She didn't know what would happen to Moses. To release her child into the Nile River must have been terrifying for her, but she knew there was no way she could continue to keep her baby safe. So she released any control she had from her hands and placed her son in the hands of God. That is faith. Big Faith in a Big God.

And then there was Miriam, Moses's sister and a child herself, sent to be watchful. Sent to wait and see what God would do. So Miriam waited on her Big God to do something great. And He didn't disappoint.

And in a twist, the compassion of the princess protected Moses from the cruelty of Pharaoh. That compassion opened up a whole new life to Moses, a life that would provide him with the education and skills he would need to lead God’s beloved nation to freedom 80 years down the road.

Jochebed released her little baby boy from the care of her own hands and placed Him in God’s hands because she knew there was no safer place for Him to be. And God honored her faith in the face of fear, didn’t He? He not only protected Moses, but He made a way that she didn’t have to lose him forever.

An application for us is to ask ourselves if there is any area of our own life which we need to place in God’s hands.

What precious area of your own life do you need to place in a pitch-coated basket along the banks of the Nile? Is there an area, a person, a thing that you need to admit that you cannot control, and so surrender your limited control and place solidly in the control of God’s Capable and Mighty hands? Figuratively speaking, can you trust Him with whatever your "baby" is. just as Jochebed trusted Him with her baby?

Consider this clip from a sermon by David McChesney, he asks,

"How big is your God? How big is Christ in your life? The way you answer that question will determine how you live as a Christian. The way you live will be a direct consequence of the size of your God. The problem with most of us is that our God is too small. We are not absolutely confident that our lives in are in the hands of a perfectly competent and capable God... When human beings shrink God, they offer prayers without faith, worship without awe, service without joy and experience suffering without hope. It results in fear, retreat, loss of vision and a failure to persevere. The little God syndrome is misery and tragedy. If you live a Christian life with a small God, you live a small life. If you have a big God, you live a life of risky faith, fearless obedience, awestruck worship, passionate evangelism."

I don’t want to suffer from Little God Syndrome, do you? I want my view of a Big God to fuel a big, big faith. A faith that is bigger than my fears.