The heathen hunches over a block of wood. He whittles out a grotesque figure about two feet tall. Then he falls down and worships it. We call that an idol, and spell his god with a small “g.”
Small gods are easily controlled. On special occasions they can be dressed up and carried about the streets on floats. Their worshipers may burn incense and sing to them. Some gods are quite cruel and demanding at times. But the handy thing about small gods is that they can be carried back into their temples and forgotten for long spells of time.
But our God Jehovah is great. “Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him” (2 Chronicles 6:18). “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain … Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand . .. and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales … the nations are as a drop of a bucket… as the small dust of the balance” (Isaiah 40:22, 12, 15). No one controls Jehovah. It is He that controls. “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3).
Which God do you worship? One you can control? Does he stay where you set him? Or is your God big enough to set you straight?
Modern concepts of God make Him more like an idol than the Lord God. If you can worship him on Sunday and live your life your own way the rest of the week; if he stays meekly at church while you decide whom to date, what car to drive, how to make a living, what home to own, and how to dress, all by yourself, then you are worshiping a very small god. But God will not be whittled down to our size. And only those whom He controls are truly worshiping Him.
A big God is not one to be scared of. Christ invites us to learn of Him, that He is meek and lowly (Matthew 11:29). Isaiah 40:11 describes not only the great God but the personal God: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
It might seem convenient to have a god we can control while we think we can take care of ourselves. But when it comes time to die, I’m sure we will all want one big enough to see us safely through to the home He has promised to those that serve Him. To have a big God then, we must serve the Great God now.
-by Dallas Witmer