When your God becomes too small

Before we look at any scripture, let's start off by getting three images in our heads.

1) Think of the God in the Old Testament.

2) Next, think of God in the New Testament.

3) Lastly, picture God how you picture Him in your own life.

I would love to say that most of us have the same picture of God's power in these three images.  However, we probably don't.

When I think of the God of the old testament, I think of a kind of power that can be clearly seen.  For example, I think of God allowing His people to win great battles and be mighty warriors; power in the physical sense.

When I think of this same God in the New Testament, I also picture a great deal of power.  While there were not as many wars happening in the New Testament, God allowed His Son the power over DEATH itself!  Can anything get more powerful than that?

Unfortunately, I feel like we don't see this kind of power in the God of our own lives.

Why is that?  We KNOW He is the same God, so why don't we act like it?

I think our prayer life has a lot to do with this, and this can stem from many different reasons. 

First of all, what should we do when God says "no"?  Growing up, I was always taught that God answers every single prayer.  Sometimes He says yes, sometimes He says wait, and sometimes?  Sometimes God says no.  We just like to ignore that part.  

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."  (Matthew 17:20)

So what happens if we feel like we have a lot of faith, even bigger than a mustard seed?  Why do some things still not go our way?  I have prayed for many things that God has clearly said no to, and some of these things have been devastating. Why?

Let's look at the phrasing of the question I asked.  Why don't some things go OUR way even when we are praying with so much faith?  Do we not have enough faith?

Truthfully?  We don't.  We may have faith in God, but we don't have faith in His plan.  An important difference God has been teaching me is not to pray that God will change His will to match my heart, but change my heart to match His will. 

He says no sometimes.  Sometimes it feels awful and life-altering and terrible.  And many times we WON'T understand why we have to feel like this.  While this may be true, God will work something good out of it.  He doesn't promise our lives would be perfect.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21)

Okay, so God's plan will prevail.  So what's the point of praying?

If we find ourselves asking this, we are doing one of two things:

1) We are making our god too small.  We are doubting the power that He has.  

So let's say you lost a family member to cancer when you were younger.  You remember praying and praying that God would heal this family member, but God said no.  Your family member passed away, and even if you didn't consciously realize it, this changed your prayer life forever.  So a few years later, a friend is diagnosed with this same form of cancer.  Sure, you believe in God and you love your friend so you will pray about it.  But is it possible that you go into prayer already assuming that God can't heal your friend? 

A passed experience may have caused you to not necessarily lose faith in God, but you make Him small in your mind.  Passed hurts may cause you to subconsciously believe that God can't change or help the bad things.  While it's hard to admit, it's not that God couldn't do anything to change the past situations.  It may be that for some unknown-to-mankind reason, God has an even bigger plan for that event.  Just because He sometimes says no does not change anything to do with His power.  God CAN heal your friend (or whatever your current situation may be), and it is important to never lose sight of the faith in this and in Him.  Hearing NO isn't fun, but it doesn't take away from God's power.

2) We are making ourselves too big.  

So maybe we aren't doubting God's power, but we are overestimating how much we know about our own life.  We think that we have the absolute best plan for our lives and we can't figure out why God doesn't seem to be going with our "perfect" plan.  If our plan is so great, why won't God get on the program and start making things happen to go along with it?  

We have been praying and praying for that new job or that boy to ask us out.  It's going to create the perfect situation that will set us up for the perfect, happiest life we could imagine.

Hey guess what?  God created literally everything.  One week He just decided to create the entire universe and everything in it.  I'm thinking He has a little more creativity than we do, which means that He can come up with a pretty fantastic plan for our lives that we can't imagine from where we are now.

If God would have given us that job, we would have been stuck in a situation that doesn't allow us to use our talents because we couldn't wait on the job that captivates our passion and is our perfect work environment that God really had planned for us.

If that boy would have asked us out, we would have missed out on the man that knows how to love God and love people better than anyone we have ever met.

Our plan is not the best; God really does have our best interests in mind.  Let's go back to our images of God's power that we thought about earlier.  Can we combine them into one?

The God that can win battles, the God that has power over death, the God that loves more deeply than we could ever comprehend... THAT God is with us every day.  And that God?  We can't possibly take away His power.

"Our God comes and will NOT be silent" (Psalm 50:3)

This verse is in a chapter in Psalm discussing the things God can and WILL do when He is on our side.  While life is hard and we may not always like His answers in the moment, God is going to answer every prayer and He is going to guide our lives in a way that is better than we can imagine.  Let's live with a heart that is fixed on what is pleasing to God, and God promises to have a plan that will work for the good for us.

""For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to give you hope and a future". (Jeremiah 29:11)

While this verse is used all the time, the context behind it describes a time filled with pain and suffering.  Things are hard, but the future He has for us is brighter than we could ever imagine, so let's take heart in that!