Is Your God Too Small? | Today with Dr. Mark Jobe

When our children were little, they would ask Dee and me some pretty deep theological questions: How big is God? What does He look like? Because we wanted to be good parents and raise our children in the knowledge of the Lord, we would do our best to explain exactly who God is. I would tell them that God is bigger and more powerful than anything they could imagine: bigger than the tallest skyscraper, more powerful than their favorite super hero. And I would read to them from the Bible where Isaiah says God is so big He holds the oceans in the palm of His hand (Isa. 40:12).

Today, many people have an incorrect view of God. In their minds, they create an image of God they can shape and control. And this watered-down version of God seems ineffective in a world that seems to be spinning out of control.

When the people of Judah returned from 70 years of exile in Babylon, they were discouraged. The rebuilding of the temple seemed an impossible job. Their faith in God was weak. The prophet Zechariah wanted the returning remnant to remember who God was and that He had not forgotten them. No matter how tough their struggles might have been, they were not beyond God’s control. Zechariah describes God as one who “stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person” (12:1). The Lord Almighty was sufficient.

You and I need that reminder as well. We can glimpse God’s greatness through His attributes, revealed in His Word: God is eternal. “‘I am the Alpha and Omega’, says the Lord God” (Rev. 1:8). There was no time when God did not exist. God is immutable, He can never change. You cannot improve on perfection. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). God is omniscient. He knows all things at all times. He knows the past, present, and future. God knows the desires of our heart and the mysteries of the universe. Nothing is beyond His understanding (Isa. 40:28). God is sovereign. God controls the entire universe (Col. 1:17). He is the storyteller of the past, the engineer of the present, and the architect of the future.

Zechariah proclaimed: “The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.” (12:5). You and I can be strong and confident and have an unshakable hope for the future because the Lord Almighty is our God.

BY Dr. Mark Jobe, President

Dr. Mark Jobe is the president of Moody Bible Institute. He has served as the lead pastor of New Life Community Church, one church that meets at 27 locations. Mark earned a diploma from Moody Bible Institute in 1984, a master’s degree from Moody Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in transformational leadership from Bakke Graduate University. He is the author of What Now?: How to Move into Your Next Season (Moody Publishers) and can be heard on Bold Steps, a daily program on Moody Radio. He and his wife, Dee, have three adult children and one grandchild.