Big God versus little God

Discussion

January 16, 2012

Anonymous Suwannee Democrat The Suwannee Democrat Mon Jan 16, 2012, 12:37 PM EST

Live Oak — By Pastor John Whittington

Lighthouse Christian Center

How great is God--beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. -Job 36:26 (NIV®)

The God of the Bible is a Big God! Reading the Old Testament, we find that people often traded Big-God for a little-god. After the Exodus, I used to think that when the Israelites bowed down to the golden calf they were worshiping the calf as their god. But according to Exodus 32 they were worshiping God as the calf. There is a difference.

The Israelites said, “we're going to hold a festival to the LORD.” Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” They weren’t saying, "Let's worship this little-god instead of the LORD," but rather, “Let’s worship this little-god as the LORD.” “This little idol that we can decorate and manipulate, let's just call this the LORD; reducing the true God to a golden calf.”

The sin of idolatry isn’t limited to calling a statue our god and bowing down to it. It’s any attempt to shrink the true and living God down to a size we can handle; a god we can predict, manage and even control; a god we conceive in our own mind. Taking our small view of god and calling it "God," is as idolatrous as worshiping the calf.

Look at the true characteristics of God, to keep from substituting Him with "little-god" attributes.

Big-God is Almighty (Omnipotent)

Job 42:2, Jeremiah 32:27, Jeremiah 32:17, Mark 10:27

Big-God is all-knowing (Omniscient)

Psalm 147:4-5, Isaiah 46:9-10, Matthew 10:29-30, 1John 3:20

Big-God is everywhere (Omnipresent)

1Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-10, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24

These three Big-God attributes are not His only ones, but they should be enough for now. Remember, if you're serving someone who doesn't meet these three characteristics, you're serving little-god! Taste and see that the (Real, and Big) Lord is good!

Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

-Job 11:7 (NIV®)

Pastor John Whittington

Lighthouse Christian Center

www.lccmayo.com