“The God of the Bible cannot be contained” Max Lucado ~ Before Amen
How often do we put God in a box? We conveniently package Him as we currently see Him. Like He is our own personal genie in a lamp, we pray for one thing and immediately think He is going to grant our wish. God is not a genie. God is God.
I think one reason we put limits on our God is that in our human mind we cannot fathom a Being who has created this universe, our world, our home, us. And yet, everyone who acknowledges God has the same thought. The magnitude of God is confounding.
Often when my daughters were in high school, they would come to me with what was earth shattering to them. I would remind them that during that time in their lives the Lord was not sitting on His throne of grace wringing His hands. He was not worried about how He would work it all out for them. Their situations did not take Him by surprise. Then I would remind them that since He had it all under control, we could then believe that He would provide answers to the situations.
After such conversations with them, I would then leave their rooms reminding myself to listen to what I had just said.
Frequently, we see the problem before us and although we know we can turn to God, often we do not acknowledge the scope of His reach. Our God cannot be contained.
This all reminds me of one of my favorite book series, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. In the first book we are introduced to Aslan, an example of Jesus. The children in the book meet Aslan and are told that he will come and go, and that he is not a tame lion, that he cannot be tied down.
How often do we try to ‘tame’ and ‘tie down’ our God? We see limits to our God, because we are people with limits on us. We can see and feel what is in front of us, and can only speculate on what’s out of our sight.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
“So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:6 (NKJV)
I write this as a reminder to myself, to reinforce what I read in my devotions this morning. Our God cannot be contained. How awesome it would be if we could grasp that idea, have faith the size of a mustard seed, and watch what our God could do in our lives.
The Refreshing of a Wild Rose 