And how powerful is God?
He is powerful enough to have created our galaxy. If you were to travel across the Milky Way, you’d have to have a large cup of coffee because it would take you approximately 100 thousand lights years to make the trip (assuming you didn’t stop too much). And a galaxy that size has to be filled with something besides our sun and solar system. As it turns out, our sun is but one of about 100 billion other stars in the galaxy.
And God made it all!
Since the Hubble telescope has been in the sky, we’ve learned that the cosmos is a pretty big place. How big? In addition to our Milky Way galaxy, there are 100 billion other galaxies full of stars. The Hubble has seen approximately 14 billion lights years into the universe. Shoot a beam of light and it will take 14 billion years to reach the farthest place that we’ve seen.
And God made it all!
Genesis 1 says that He spoke and it was. John 1 says that He created it through Jesus and it was. The word was spoken, the cosmos was created. It was that simple because God is that powerful. Are there any parents on the planet who can just speak a word and their children get out of bed in the morning? I’d like to meet them. But God spoke and it was.
When we consider how powerful God is it also dawns on us that size-wise, we’re less than significant. We’re not even sand on the cosmic seashore. We understand David’s words in pre-telescope times when he said in Psalm 8:
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
Indeed, God is mind numbingly large and powerful.
But He is life-alteringly compassionate.
There are 7.9 billion people on this planet and Jesus said two words to His disciples to underscore God’s love for them all: Our Father. That’s what He said when they asked Him to teach them to pray. He said we should begin by saying those two words because there is just one God and He is the Father of everyone. And He knows them all by name. He knows the number of hairs on their head. (For some of us, that’s not hard). He knows the original color that hair was. He knows how many were left in the brush this morning. He knows us because He is the caring Father of everyone.
Mark relates the story of Jesus on his way to heal the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:25ff). There was a crowd of people around him. One of them was a lady who had an issue of blood for a dozen years. Mark tells us she had spent everything she had going to every doctor and the problem had gotten worse rather than better. However, she believed that if she could just get close enough to touch Jesus, she would be healed. She did and she was. Jesus stopped and asked who had touched Him. The disciples asked Him who didn’t touch you? The woman came forward and Jesus personally touched her and blessed her. With Jesus and with God, you are never lost in a crowd. You are never too small or too insignificant to be seen and heard.
God is mind numbingly large but when He spoke the cosmos into existence, on one tiny planet in one solar system of 100 billion others in a galaxy that was but one of 100 billion others, He raised up a little hill that would one day be known as Calvary.
Aren’t you glad there’s something more to God than mind numbing power?
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 
