God is Bigger Than He Looks!

My great-niece, Brylie, was recently singing songs which she made up, and brought some thinking to the minds of us grown-ups about the size of God. Brylie's song had mentioned that God was bigger than the ocean. Her verses were sporadic and most cannot be remembered, but she got to the point of divulging to theologians and Bible scholars of all generations, "God is a lot bigger than he looks!"

Brylie's observation of God really got me to thinking and wondering how I would describe how big God is. I surfed through several pages of Google articles, most of which were attempting to  answer our question by comparing it to the size of the universe. I read statistic after statistic and came away with some mind boggling information about space and galaxies and solar systems. 

I liked what one researcher, David F. Coppedge,  of the Institute for Creation Research, had to say. He went into great detail about our galaxy and its size, and then told how some recent discoveries had concluded there were over 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe. To give you an idea of the size of our galaxy, Coppedge says if our galaxy were the size of North America, then our entire solar system would fit in a coffee cup somewhere in Idaho. (I warned you it was mind boggling.)

So if there are 100 billion galaxies that we know about to date, and each galaxy, like ours, contains over 100 billion stars, my view of God changes to one of awe when I read in Psalm 147:4 that he calls each star by name.  

I also get to wondering if seminary studies were elaborate enough in telling us of God's omnipresence, meaning that he is everywhere.  While still multiplying 100 billion stars times 100 billion galaxies reaches the limits of my hand held calculator, I do admit that I momentarily visualized God spreading himself thin across such  a mass of space.  How could he hear the prayers of those who inhabit this tiny speck called earth? How can he show his love and concern for what seems to be such a small segment of the universe? 

Another verse, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork," comes to mind. If all those stars in all those galaxies are declaring the glory of God, the things I do in my Christian life to bring him glory must seem so insignificant to him.

The work of David Coppedge brought me to realize something else. Omnipresence of God, God being everywhere, doesn't mean that he is spread thin to reach out to all of those galaxies. Omnipresence means that all of God is present in all locations at all times.

All the science, all the scripture and all the study brings me to the point of just saying, "Wow! He really is a big God."  Perhaps the matter is equally summed up in the gospel song, "He's big enough to rule the mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart."

Brylie.....you keep on singing and making up songs. You are onto something in the song,  "God is Bigger Than He Looks." It's already a #1 hit for me. 

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