Our God is an awesome God!
“LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below.” (1 Kings 8:23a)
A while ago I saw this quote: “Don’t tell God how big your problem is; tell your problem how big your God is.” For some reason, it made a real impact on me and stuck with me. You might say that it is a modern restatement of our Bible verse for this week.
It’s likely you have heard someone speaking about their situation in life and how horrible it is and no one else has ever had a situation like theirs. Maybe you thought to yourself “If only they focused on God instead of their problems, things would be so much better.”
We need to know the situation of our verse for this week to really understand and appreciate it. It is part of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple of the true God he was privileged to build in Jerusalem. Notice that there is nothing with Solomon drawing attention to himself or talking about how wonderful the temple is. He puts the spotlight, and rightly so, on God and makes it plainly clear that there is nothing greater than the true God.
How well do we do not only putting the spotlight on God, but trusting that he is the greatest and is truly in control of our lives and everything that is going on? How often don’t we want to not only tell God what he should do, but also tell him the time in which he should do it?
Hebrews 11:1 helps us understand how we can show our problem and everything else around us how big and powerful our God is: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We are very much people who need to see and also don’t do real well if things don’t happen on our timetable. Page through the Bible and look at the stories God has recorded for us of people who help us understand that it is indeed stepping out in faith to trust in the awesome power of God even when you can’t see or understand what is going to happen.
Let me share just a few examples with you in case you want to read about other Christians who, like Solomon, realized and lived “there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below.”Read about David in his battle with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:34-51. Look at how Joshua and Israel won the battle at Jericho – Joshua 5:13-6:20. Look to emulate the faith of the centurion who trusted in Jesus and the power of his Word, without even seeing him – Luke 7:1-10. These are just a few. The pages of the Bible have many other such stories.
May God bless you as you strive to live with confidence in our God who is truly greater than anything in heaven or earth!