How Big is Your God?
Trusting God
Every week I find myself saying, “well, this was a rough week,” thinking it can’t get any worse. Yet here we are with another challenging week. There are more coronavirus fears and frustration as schools start up, and loss and clean up from fires, hurricanes, storms, violence, and divisiveness. As I sit in prayer, the thought that keeps entering my mind is, “we need to find a bigger God.”
These overwhelming moments bring us to our knees. As a result - maybe without realizing it or naming it - we yearn for a bigger container to hold all of our worries. When life is full of uncertainty, we need to know that a living God is present and active in the middle of the turmoil. When life feels unstable, we need to trust in a God that sees the wider view and larger plan of life.
We make God small when we compartmentalize our experience of God (I am present to God only when I am at church or watching a streaming service on TV). We make God small when we keep God within the boundaries of our expectations (If I pray or act a certain way, God will answer my prayers the way I want). We make God small when we think God resides within one political party or only one side of an issue. When we do this and circumstances continue to worsen, we are left feeling scared, hopeless, or bitter. In our darkest hour, we are left to choose between giving up on a god that doesn’t perform according to our wishes or opening up to a bigger God.
Trusting God in the Middle of Questions
There are a lot of unanswered questions right now. How can there be so much suffering and loss? How can there be so much injustice? Why can’t there be peaceful resolutions and selfless leaders we can trust? Where is the mercy when there is crisis on top of crisis? This time of unanswered questions serves as an invitation to be open to God of mystery. A God that is bigger than anything temporary happening on earth. Our God that is - as the Nicene Creed states - “one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen.”
When we are sitting in our unknowing and disbelief of a world that feels unstable, we can draw comfort and strength remembering that God is bigger than anything happening on earth, yet still very present in the middle of our very human experience. We are walking on holy ground.
How do you open up to the God that has wide enough hands to hold all of your fears and anxiety? It helps to explore new experiences of God. Find new spiritual authors to read. Read and sit with scripture that makes you uncomfortable. Move beyond your comfort zone and allow for some vulnerability as you share your thoughts with a trusted friend.
New Prayer Practices
Discover ways to move your experience of faith into new practices. You may want to reflect on your definition of prayer and create new ways to pray. If you are praying and practicing the same way you have for the past twenty, thirty, or forty years, your image of God has not adjusted for your life experiences. God hasn’t changed but you have. Allow your interaction with God to account for your growth and the way you see life differently now.
Give yourself some time to reflect on what a bigger God means to you. For me, I find myself opening up to a bigger God when I…
Stand on the beach, and look over the wide, open ocean.
Stand in the middle of a forest in awe of decades or centuries-old trees.
Look at a newborn baby.
Look into the resilient eyes of someone who has experienced tragedy.
Receive unconditional love from my dog.
Experience forgiveness and mercy.
Watch a sunset.
Close my eyes and allow for sacred silence.
Sitting in this place of unknowing is not easy, nor is it comfortable. The anxiety and sadness I have heard from so many of you is real. We are truly invited to the challenging space of being still and knowing that God is God and holds the larger plan for our lives in his loving and merciful hands. Taking comfort in a bigger God is the way through this moment in time.
Psalm 16
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
As for the holy ones in the land; they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Share
Please share your experience right now. How are you getting through this time of uncertainty and instability? What does believing in a bigger God mean to you? How would you like to expand your mind and heart into trusting in a God that is bigger than any of these problems on earth?
Sacred Circle
You are welcome to share your thoughts on these questions every month live on zoom. Our Sacred Circles are a safe place to reflect and share. Learn more.