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The pastor’s delightful little daughter, while cheerfully helping her mommy in the kitchen, began an important conversation. “Every Sunday morning, Daddy stands in the pulpit and tells us how big God is.” The mother agreed. “Every Sunday Daddy tells us we should have God in our hearts.” Again, the mother gave assent. “Mommy, if God is so big and we have Him in our hearts, won’t He always be sticking out somewhere?”
This young girl, in her naiveté, was grappling with the issue of the ubiquitous nature of God. In Psalms, we read how Heaven is God’s throne and the earth is His footstool. The writer is describing the infinite enormity of our Creator. But, continuing to follow this train of thought, we might think that, while God’s heel rests in Europe, His little toe could cover Alabama! After all, if the heavens can’t contain Him, how can He be inside one person?
The answer lies in His ubiquity. While the throne and footstool image teaches us of the enormity of God, His ubiquitous nature allows our God to be everywhere – fully present! When you call on Him, He is fully present with you in your home, with all of His power, grace, deliverance, and love. He is fully present with me in Alabama, not just His little toe! When the smallest orphan calls the Name of Jesus in Eastern Europe, our Lord is fully present to enfold that child in the completeness of His Divine Love.
“Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” Is it just His little toe? Certainly not! The Lord Jesus is fully present for His people!
And still the child’s question remains, “Won’t He always be sticking out somewhere?”
When John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, he boldly declared, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” When I look into the eyes of Heaven, I am overwhelmed with the stench of my own ‘righteousness’ – He is unsullied and I am soiled; He is emphatically holy and I am egregiously sinful; He is right and I am wrong; He is the Light of the World; I can’t illuminate anything. It should be God, but it’s my human nature still sticking out for all to see.
But, thanks be to God, our little pastor’s daughter had the true revelation. Indeed, we are ‘predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.’ Like Paul, we realize that God’s plan is to reveal His Son in us. So we continually ask Him to diminish us, so that – more and more – God is sticking out more and more in our lives. Finally, it will be no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me!
No one lights a candle and puts it under a bushel. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” Isaish 60:1 Is God sticking out today?
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Won’t He Always Be Sticking Out? |
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