God is Big Enough

In the light of a burning bush, Moses comes into the presence of God. The call is clear. “Go to Egypt.” Moses knows about Egypt. It is a kingdom that dominates the landscape. Statues and idols proclaim the power of her gods. Pyramids rising in the desert announce the greatness of her kings. Treasure cities display her wealth and prosperity. Egypt conquers nations and holds an entire people in bondage. But just as Israel is enslaved to Egypt, so is Moses. He has run for his life from her borders. He has changed his lifestyle. The death of the Egyptian slave master signaled the death of Moses’ life in Egypt. Now God calls Moses to leave behind the new life he has found and return to Egypt. But Moses has questions for God. Questions about belief and doubt. He stands in the light of the burning bush and struggles to measure what he is learning about God against what he knows about Egypt. Embedded in his questions about the belief of Israel is a more fundamental question. Is God big enough – bigger than Egypt’s might, bigger than Israel’s doubt, bigger than all the lures that the world uses to tie us to itself?

Each day, whether we realize it or not, we ask the same question. Who is bigger – God or the world? The world constantly seeks to dominate our lives. The idols of comfort and self-gratification lure us to take our eyes off of God and place them on ourselves. The lure of greatness turns our heads. The promises of wealth and prosperity fill our vision. Each day we are bombarded with the message that the world is bigger than God. That we can be bigger than God. But we serve a God who calls us to see through His eyes. We follow a Savior who wants to lead us out of the shadow of the world to walk in the light of His glory. We are loved by One who wants us to understand how big and powerful our Abba Father truly is.

God is bigger than the things that scare me. As God changes the staff into a snake, we see Moses run in fear. The snake slithering at his feet draws a powerful picture in the sand. It is a picture of death, pain, suffering, and vulnerability. It is a portrait of evil. It is an image that we fear. Fear is a potent weapon of the world. Fear robs us of our joy, drains our courage, and freezes our focus. Satan wants us to be afraid. He wants us to live in the menacing shadows of the world’s power and feel vulnerable, alone, and afraid.

God is bigger than the things that define me. God commands Moses to put his hand inside his cloak. As he draws his hand back out, it is covered with leprosy. The horribly disfigured fingers of Moses spell out a disquieting story. The world defines us by our circumstances. Daily we are categorized, rated, measured, and examined by the standard of the world and found lacking. We are limited by our shortcomings. Your IQ doesn’t quite measure up to the Mensa crowd. Your bank account doesn’t quite add up. Your physique won’t get you on the cover of People magazine. Your soul is so riddled with sin that not even a Savior would save you. The world tells us that our potential is limited by our powerlessness. We are who we are and that is as far as we can go.

God is bigger than the things that give me security. God gives Moses one more lens with which to put Egypt in its proper perspective. The banks of the Nile River hold the wealth of Egypt. As Moses envisions drops of blood replacing drops of water, a deep channel is carved through the landscape of our hearts. The world calls us to tie our security and prosperity to material things. Wealth becomes a measure of our worth. We place our trust in the treasures of this world. We invest our hearts in our investment portfolios. But a nagging doubt always remains. Is it enough? Is the bottom line bigger than my need? Egypt depends on the Nile for its wealth. We depend on ourselves. God is bigger than both.

Embedding the Bible teaches me that God is big enough. Big enough to handle my problems, my worries, my doubts, my fears, and my weakness.