My God is so BIG!

Preached at Denton COB 3/23/25

God in the Garden

I have recently learned the joy of gardening. Last year at camp, we decided to start planting more things to help enrich the soil and help mitigate some erosion. We got a small grant, lots of plants, and dug up dirt all around the camp to fill it with trees, flowers, bushes, grasses, and more. I have never been much of a gardener - that was always my mom’s job. Growing up, she occasionally would ask us to help weed, but for the most part, she planted everything unbenounced to me, and from March until October our yard was always filled with flowers that I took for granted. So when we started planting at camp, I got lots of advice from her. I put the things in the ground the way she said, sure that I would find some way to kill it. Then a few days later, little green sprigs began to pop-up where I planted seeds. Then a week or so later, a flower would bloom from that same seed. All of a sudden I felt this amazing joy in watching life unfold before me. My mom then told me that’s why she likes gardening so much - she feels closest to God when she’s in the garden. Although she does a lot of work to plant and nurture the seed, she cannot do it without God’s help. She doesn’t know how a small seed can spring forth life - only God does, and in this small way she can partake in stewarding this beautiful mystery. As spring begins to bloom again, and I am seeing the seeds and bulbs from last year popping up again, in even greater numbers than before, I feel this sense of awe at God’s beautiful mystery again. How so much beauty comes from such small seeds, I am unsure, but what an honor it is to partner with God in bringing life to His creation.

This echoes a common theme in scripture about the glory of God that is revealed to us through creation. Romans 1:20 puts it most succinctly, saying “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” I think we have all felt this sense of awe and wonder looking at nature - its vastness, its diversity, its majesty - and felt inspired. It is so easy to look at the night sky, full of stars, and be awestruck by the vastness of space, and how small we are in the grand scheme of things. We can look to the rivers and seas, abounding in life,  and be inspired how every creature is provided for, and how all of life depends on one another to sustain this environment. We can look to the mountains and how high they are, and see how long it took for them to reach their present heights, and be in awe of the patience and persistence of nature to create things so big and beautiful. All of these things reveal truths about the one who created them - God. As the children’s song reminds us - “My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are His, the rivers are His, the skies are His handiwork, too.”

GOD IS VAST (the night sky)

When we look at the night sky, we only see a small glimpse of infinite space. We cannot even begin to comprehend a God who is big enough to create something that vast! As we contemplate just how big God is, we wonder why He would care for a speck of dust like me. We are but grains of sand on the shores or infinite time, specks of dust here today and gone next. David wrote psalm 8 as he contemplated this very thing. He says:

“O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!”

David contemplated this very thing as he was looking at the night sky, and remembered that God gave us honor and glory because it was His delight to do so. In other words - God is mindful of us because of His love for us. He cares for all of His creations, but we are its crowning jewel as the ones charged with stewarding it in partnership with Him, a little lower than angels. How majestic is this God, indeed.

GOD IS CREATIVE (Seas)

I have always found water to be a peaceful place. As I wrote this, I am actually sitting on the beach, watching the ocean churn and crash on the shore, hearing the lapping waves as they come in, are drawn back into the ocean, to be thrust on the shore again. At camp, we have the honor of beginning every morning in worship by the creek, taking in all of the creatures that call it home. I believe that fish and sea creatures are where we see God’s most creative work. Sometimes I look at a jellyfish, a hammerhead shark, or a spider  crab and just think “God - what were you thinking?”. These waters hold some of the most beautiful, strange, and terrifying creatures on earth. Yet all have been specifically designed to survive and thrive in their environments, and all play an important role in their circle of life. 

It’s in these waters that we see that God made all things with unique skills and abilities to fulfill their roles in their communities. He does this with us as well. Take a look around this room. Although we all live in the same community and are of the same species, no two people in the room are exactly the same - externally or internally. We all have different gifts, interests, life experiences, physical capabilities, and so on. And it is through the creativity of God that he says that we must rely on others and help each other using our God-given gifts to live our most fulfilling life. He did this to show us that even God himself is not solitary, but is triune, and within himself exists interdependent relationships. By creating us for community, worshiping and serving in those communities is one way we show the world the image of God - by ourselves being the body of Christ.

Psalm 104:1–12, 24-26 also reflects this awe and wonder at the rivers and seas:

“You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains. They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.

‭‭”O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small. See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.”

The skies are God’ handiwork, but the rivers and the seas are His, too. And all of these creatures great and small were made to live together in harmony, as God calls us to live in harmony, as His triune nature exists in infinite harmony.

GOD IS STEADFAST (mountains)

Regardless of exactly how old you believe the earth is, it is far older than us, and older than we can truly comprehend. The solid ground we stand on has been here for - at minimum - thousands of years - and at most - billions. Then, towering above us, the ground forms incredible mountain peaks, ranges, and valleys. Massive amounts of rock create natural walls of protection around us. They stand firm and strong, and not even the largest rockslide or most powerful earthquake can cause it to fall completely to the ground. Though they are rugged and dangerous to traverse, this is the very reason they keep us safe from enemies who want to bring us harm. God uses the mountains as a way to show His steadfast love is protecting us. And when the time comes for us to ascend the mountains, we can rely on Him to guide our feet safely on His paths.

Scripture often refers to God as our rock, our mount, and sharing the gospel from the mountains. The mountains have been seen as a source of steadfast love and protection since ancient times. Psalm 121:1-2 reflects this ancient sentiment:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

When we see mountains, we see God’s steadfast love - keeping us from harm as protection, and as we traverse the challenging terrain, we must put our faith in God to make it safely to their peaks. God promises to guide our feet and keep us from tripping on stones that may be in the way as we ascend God’s holy mountain to worship Him. The mountains invoke both awesome wonder and holy fear in those who look to them, the combination of which invokes the most deep and genuine faith, as we put our trust fully in God in the shadow of His mountains.

There’s Nothing my God Cannot Do

Because of what God reveals about Himself in His creation, we can have complete faith in Him. We know he will care for us, provide for us, and give us hope for the future. Through nature we can see we have no reason to worry, and we can be at peace knowing that God has the whole world in his hands. Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 6:25-30 to look to nature, and from that, learn to trust in God:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

What a great and mighty God we have, that we not only have His inspired word in the Bible to reveal His nature to us, but that He reveals Himself to us through His creation as well. From the ancient days, before scripture was written down, to today where people still do not have access to the Bible, God is so big and so mighty that He shows Himself to us in the life that surrounds us - He is always with us, revealing His nature to us in His creation, because He cares for ALL of His people and desires for them to know Him. He is so strong and so mighty, there is nothing He cannot do. As we are now officially in spring, and we see all of the trees and flowers bloom, and birds begin to sing again, and the sun shines longer through the days, we see all of the glorious promises of God in the nature that is coming to life again around us.

I would like to end this message with a poem I wrote in 2020. I was looking out a window at a blooming dogwood tree, and even though the world felt so crazy and chaotic, in that moment, God reminded me of His vastness, His creativity, and His steadfast love as I watched life unfold before me despite the craziness of that year. It’s titles “Spring is a promise (a psalm of praise)::

Nothing can stop what God has set in motion

His covenant still stands

His unfailing promise will be fulfilled

Though our plans may fail and falter away

God’s plan remains

Though our desires may be left unsatisfied

God’s will is the only thing that satisfies

His good, perfect and pleasing will

Though time feels frozen still

Like a cold winter chill

The flowers still bloom

The birds still sing

The sun still rises

The rain still falls

The seasons still change

God’s promise remains

Winter has passed, spring is here

As a reminder of God’s promise for us

We have a hope and a future

And just like the seasons

Nothing can stop what God has set in motion

His covenant still stands

His unfailing promise will be fulfilled

His word does not go out void

He spoke galaxies and wonders into existence

He breathed life into humanity

The ones he affectionately calls His children

His voice is powerful

His breath gives life

In this God I put my trust

Creator God

Faithful God

All-knowing, all-loving

Almighty God

To You alone I give my praise

In You alone I put my trust

Because when all else fades

Your promise remains