The Size Difference

A number of years ago, without losing any weight at all, I was suddenly 2 sizes smaller.  Shockingly, I could no longer find anything that fit me in certain clothing departments.  Because I have a tendency to believe that size is basically a fixed matter (unless an object is altered), I found the suggestion that my body size had changed to be very suspicious.  Actually, size can be fixed and also flexible, as with balloons or tires, that depend on the amount and elasticity of material.  Additionally, size is often relative, as when two similar items are compared and specific dimensions don’t matter.

But the most fascinating aspect of size happens in the spiritual realm.  Christ-followers are fond of saying we serve a big God.  We’re not referring to His physical size, but to His Nature which is complex beyond our understanding.  Even so, an interesting thing occurs when our lives are invaded by trials.  The more personal and threatening the hardship or crisis, the smaller God seems to be.  Although the Bible testifies to God’s great exploits on behalf of His people in difficulty, our present circumstances seem to point to His absence.  That begins the process of circling the drain in despair where the next thought is that we are not included in the aid God brings to others.  Does God still rescue and deliver today? We feel abandoned to the quagmire of our circumstances and circling dangerously close to the drain.  God seemingly has become very small.

Surely biblical heroes like David and Jehoshaphat were challenged in the same way.  Their positions in perilous situations were actually verbalized succinctly by Peter when Jesus questioned his disciples about whether they would abandon Him after He gave a particularly difficult teaching.  “Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:68-69)  David’s and Jehoshaphat’s responses to dire circumstances spoke to their confidence that God was bigger than any obstacle they faced, including death.  If we also can look full into the face of our mighty God and His unchanging ways (Hebrews 13:8), our crises start to shrink and the unshakable reality that nothing is impossible for God (Matthew 19:26) eclipses all threats.

But if I’m honest, an unspoken question still lurks in the shadows of my doubt: will God do it for me?  Here we must circle back to His Nature.  He is all-wise beyond our ability to see or grasp (1 Timothy 1:17).  He is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13).  His unfathomable love was expressed before time in determining to create the universe, and specifically Earth, as the perfect environment to sustain mankind, the apple of His eye and object of His love.  That same love determined that Jesus would leave Glory to become a man who would be Savior, Deliverer, and Healer; paying the price for our bad choices that thrust us into sin and rebellion (not to mention dinky faith).  Why would He do all of that and leave us to wallow in crises?   God knows that it is usually only after we have exhausted all other possibilities and come to the end of ourselves that we can give ourselves fully to the only One Who has our backs and loves us unconditionally.  We have nowhere else to go and our need for Him is exposed.

The size difference between big crisis/small God, or BIG God/small crisis is HUGE.  The mind-boggling part is that God lets us choose His size.