Too Big Even For God?

If someone were to stop you on the street and ask you just how powerful you suppose God really is, how would you answer?

It’s hard to wrap your mind around such an infinite concept, isn’t it? I mean, how do you even begin to try to calculate – let alone describe and define – that which is unlimited? How do you take what is completely without boundaries and confine to the limitations of language, words, and human comprehension? No matter how far you take it, or how deeply you’re able to imagine it, or how well you describe it, God’s power and ability would still be endlessly beyond our greatest measurement or explanation, right?

Still, you’ve been challenged. You want to give the best answer you can. You might point to the vastness of space and the cosmos, or describe the intricate detail and balance of the microscopic world as proof of His power and ability. You could try to describe the might of the most powerful force in the known universe, a black hole (so powerful that not even light can escape from it), and explain that God’s power is immeasurably beyond even that.

Could be that you’d even use some Scripture to support your answer. Maybe you’d start with Jeremiah’s declaration…

“O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth
by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you!”
Jeremiah 32:17 (NLT)

Perhaps you’d want to add the testimony of an archangel…

“…nothing is impossible with God."
Luke 1:37 (NIV)

You might even use Jesus’ own words…

"What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Luke 18:27 (NIV)

Or you could even choose to let God simply speak for Himself…

“I am the LORD God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!”
Jeremiah 32:27 (CEV)

Regardless of how you approached the challenge, I would imagine that the bottom line idea you would want to get across to your questioner is that there is nothing God cannot do. No limits. No boundaries. No constraints. Nothing is outside of His ability. Nothing is beyond His power.

So if that’s the way we see God, why is it that when it comes to the possibility of a Christian living a holy life – having a truly purified heart – many believers dismiss the idea as impossible? We’ll shout loud and proud from the rooftops that our God has the power to do everything ranging from the creation of galaxies and solar systems to raising Jesus from the dead. But somehow this same God is completely stumped when it comes to knowing how – or having the ability – to make the human heart holy in this present life…. That’s an order too tall even for Him.

If this were really the case, why would God frustrate and tease His people by requiring something of them that He could never provide and they, in turn, could never achieve?

Let’s let Oswald Chambers weigh in on this matter:

"If Jesus ever commanded us to do something that He was unable to equip us to accomplish, He would be a liar. And if we make our own inability a stumbling block or an excuse not to be obedient, it means that we are telling God that there is something which He has not yet taken into account."

Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest

If Chambers is right, then tell me….

• …what is the “something” in your life “…which He has not yet taken into account” ?

"I am the LORD God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!”
Jeremiah 32:27 (CEV)

• …what obstacle do you see that He somehow doesn’t?

“I am the LORD God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!”
Jeremiah 32:27 (CEV)

• …what conditions do you face that, in your opinion, puts heart holiness completely out of reach?

“I am the LORD God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!”
Jeremiah 32:27 (CEV)

The majority of those I’ve spoken to who question the possibility of holiness, generally look at the matter from a purely human standpoint:

• "There’s just no way I can be free from sin."
• "I’m bound to sin in some way each day. "
• "I could never overcome this-or-that temptation. "

It seems to me that this viewpoint is alot like looking through the wrong end of the telescope – everything seems impossibly far away.

Turn the whole proposition around, and suddenly it all looks different! You see, it’s not what we can or can’t do; it’s what the infinitely powerful God of the universe can do in us and for us. That’s how we get the pure heart that God expects and we dream of!

All He waits for is your invitation. You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t come barging in to a heart uninvited. He waits to be asked in. A clean heart is only a prayer away from you.

So here’s a thought… Why not spend a little knee-time with Him about this and give holiness a try today?

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot…!

Willis