This past week I began reading a book by one of my favorite Bible scholars; J.B. Phillips. Many of you may have read his translation of the New Testament (The New Testament in Modern English for Schools). Jim, my dear brother in the Lord who led me in the sinner’s prayer all so many years ago, gave me a copy of and I have kept it with Jim’s very precious inscription in the front of my library ever since. So it was with some interest when I picked up Phillips book Your God Is Too Small.
His thoughts definitely gave me a lot to think about, especially about how we Christians often view our God. And in one of the chapters he addresses something that each one of us have to deal with from time-to-time. No matter how strong our faith is or how much time we spend in the Word, the enemy knows how to use this weapon, and how it affects each one of us individually.
The Worrier’s God Is Too Small!
It’s a fact that worry is a common problem, but in reality it’s a useless activity. I have quoted one of my favorites on worry many times, Corrie Ten Boom: Worry is like a rocking chair; it will give you something to do but it won’t get you anywhere! My mom always looked me straight in the eye when I was all wrapped up in worry about something and reminded me that: Worry is the interest paid on borrowed trouble (seems I was always borrowing trouble in those days).
How often we forget that the God we believe in and belong to created the universe, and since He did that He certainly is capable of taking care of us.
Rom 8:32 He who did not hesitate to spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all– can we not trust such a God to give us, with Him, everything else that we can need? Phillips
I was also reminded of one of my mother’s favorite hymns, one that we sang often in that little Methodist Church: Oh,what peace we often forfeit; Oh what needless pain we bear; All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Why? Is it because we think that Our God Is Too Small?
I am in the very early stages of writing my next book. God is leading me to write the book that is designed to precede my two other series: Wake Up and Rest and The Way of Enoch. Those 13 books are the keys to answering the challenge that Wake Up To Darkness is going to present. A very serious challenge that will not be overcome by the bride of Christ if her God Is Too Small!
A very key element in that book concerns a critical truth that God spent a long time establishing in my spirit. He kept talking to me for a solid 18 months through a key part of His Sermon on the Mount; Matt 6:24-34 (especially verses 34 and 35). He instilled in me the fact that it is virtually impossible to achieve victory over the enemy every day unless we learn to trust Him on a day-by-day basis… unless we learn to live one day at a time; focused on His kingdom and His righteousness. It is only then that we will not only discover that He is there for every challenge we face, but that He is not too small to ensure that we overcome each one of them.
Matt 6:33-34 Set your heart on His kingdom and His goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course. Don’t worry at all then about tomorrow. Tomorrow can take care of itself! One day’s trouble is enough for one day. Phillips
And all these things are what He had been talking about in verses 24-32; all those things that we keep wanting to worry about. Yes… we are all guilty of viewing our God as being Too Small from time-to-time. But there is a sure fire cure for the problem!
Luke 6:46 And what is the point of calling me, Lord, Lord, without doing what I tell you to do! Phillips
Therefore… Matt 6:33-34!
God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Don’t you think that makes Him Big Enough to take care of all our worries? And He is certainly Big Enough to keep all our worries from turning into the anxiety that leads to fear. No, our God Is Not Too Small! In fact He is bigger than we can even get our minds around.
So, I suggest that we believe Him when He tells us that we are not to fear. And that means that we are not to fear “anything.” There is no qualifier in that statement. He didn’t tell us not to fear everything except certain things. No, quite the contrary, He told us that if we will just do what He requires… Set your heart on His kingdom and His goodness… then “all” the rest becomes a non issue. Why? Because it’s “all” under His control.
No… Our God is Not too Small! In fact, He is bigger than the universe He created, a universe that we can’t even see the end of. It’s true, we can’t even begin to fully comprehend God. But we can fully believe in Him and trust that He is big enough to take care of our worries.