How big is your God?

(A continuation of learning to give Our burdens to God)

I read a book today. (Yeah, that in and of itself is something to get excited about because it wasn’t required reading!) I read Max Lucado’s book Traveling Light.  As I was reading I was struck with how I don’t see God as big as he really is. It’s not that I’ve put a limit on God, it’s just that it is hard to comprehend the greatness and power of God. As I started thinking about this, I realized that I wanted to have a bigger view of God. 

How do you view God? Is he someone that takes naps or goes on long vacations? Or is he like Santa Clause who comes and drops a pile of gifts once a year? Maybe you think that you can only ask him for things when you are desperate and life seems to be ending. Is this you? Do you view God as the all powerful, loving, caring, providing, and protective shepherd that he is? Do you even think of him as a shepherd?

Now what about the burdens in your life? We all have them. Maybe it’s looming school deadlines, grades, family situations, relationships, your job, finances, your health, etc. We have so many things we think and about worry about every day but we forget that we have a God who cares about each and every little part of our lives, each thought, and each of the challenges—big or small—that we face each day. Our God doesn’t sit around waiting for something really big and bad to happen, he doesn’t take naps, and he doesn’t just come around on Christmas like Santa Clause does. Our God is an all knowing, caring, loving, just God who cares for us like a shepherd does for his flock of sheep. In fact, he is our shepherd. 

I like to think of myself as a very independent person. I am proud of the fact that I can take care of the day to day happenings in my life and I am not totally reliant on anyone else to survive. (Don’t get me wrong, I do still really appreciate help and people coming alongside me to encourage me and support me.) Although to most people it seems that I have my life together on the outside, the truth is that I have struggles and burdens and wants and cares. These are the things that I don’t let many people see, instead,  I take them to God. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t cry out to God for guidance and direction. Maybe it’s just that I’m fretting about a test or thinking about the bills I have to pay, but sometimes it bigger like worrying about my family, trying to build stronger relationships, or knowing how to help a struggle friend. These are the things that I take to God. After all, he is the provider of all my needs, my wonderful counselor, my great physician, my protector, and the light to my path. When life is rough and I encounter difficulties I remember this, but sometimes when life is on a roll and everything seems to be going well I forget that God still cares about the little things. He cares about the fact that my computer died, he cares about the fact that I’m overwhelmed with the length of my To Do list, and he cares about me being able to spend time with a friend. My dear friends, HE CARES!!! Our great shepherd tells us to “cast all your cares on him for he careth for you.” He doesn’t say “cast you big cares” or cast the life threatening cares,” He says “cast ALL your cares.” That includes the ones that we hardly think are cares. All those cares, or burdens, weigh us down so why do we carry them? 

Several years ago my family hiked the Chilkute trail from Skagway, Alaska to Lake Bennett, British Columbia. It is the 36 mile trail that the gold minors took during the Alaska Gold rush. When we hiked this train we had to carry with us everything, with the exception of water, that we would need for the five days we would be hiking. When you think about food for nine people for five days that is a lot t of food. Like a LOT of food. Even when it is dehydrated it is still a lot of food. I should not forget that you need something to eat out of, something to cook in, and a stove to cook with. Then you need a place to sleep...nine people means three tents and nobody likes sleeping on really hard ground so you need nine sleeping mats and then nine sleeping bags to sleep in. Keep in mind this is Alaska we are talking about, this means that the weather is unprecedented. You have to prepared for sun, rain, wind, really cold temperatures, and warn temperatures. We all needed regular cloths, and a change of cloths incase those got wet, rain cloths, a warm coat, hats, gloves, extra socks, etc. I think you get the picture...it’s a lot of stuff even when you take the bare minimum. And yes, we hauled all that stuff for five days over a thirty-six mike trail. What if we hadn’t needed to carry all that stuff? What if we just had a bottle of water and the cloths on our backs? We could have made that trip so much faster. Instead of walking for five whole days, we could have made it in probably two and a half or three, but we couldn’t just go on a hike like that without taking the necessary supplies. 

We walk through life caring all kinds of burdens, but wouldn’t it be so much easier if we gave those all to God and let him carry them? He wants to carry them for us, He is just waiting for you to give them to Him. Imagine this, your house is a mess and you have no time to clean it because you have other more pressing things to do. Someone offers to come clean it for you and all you have to do is tell them where you keep your cleaners and rags. Are you gong to say “nah, I’ll do it eventually,” or are you going to say “they are under the bathroom sink!” It’s a no-brainer! God is doing the same thing. He is asking you “my dear child, let me carry the worry you have about you family, and the distress you have over a relationship or the way your boss is treating you.” He is offering to carry it for us, all we have to do is give it to Him. But we, the stupid, helpless, dumb, and sheep, say “oh no, I got this. I’m stressing out big time and my life is falling apart, but oh no, I’ve got this.” Seriously? You are going to keep hauling those burdens around when you have every chance to give them up and let someone else carry them? Wow, we are dumb. What is wrong with us?

We are prideful. We think we can hold it together and take care of things ourselves, but truth be told, we can’t. We need God. We need the all powerful, loving, caring father. Be honest with yourself, you can’t go through this life alone. Think about this question though, do you treat your God like he is as big as he really is? Or do you put God in a box? Do you take all your cares no matter how big or small to him and fully trust that he will carry your burdens? It is so easy to say “I have given that burden to God,” but have you really? Have you given it to him 100%, or are you still hanging on by just a thread in case he doesn’t actually pick it up? I’m guilty of it. I know there are things in my life that I have given partially to God but am still holding onto that one little thing. God will do great things when we give him our burdens and don’t take them back, not even the smallest part of them. 

I want to invite you on a journey. A journey of learning to give it all to God and discovering how big our God really is. Who will join me? Will you? My dear friend, don’t carry your burdens any longer. God is standing there, waiting, just waiting to take them for you and carry them for you. Drop them at his feet and stand tall so you can live the life God intended you to. Not the life that is diminished by the burdens we carry, but the life that is free from those burdens because you have given to your loving Shepherd. 

Join me in discovering how big a God we serve!

With love,

Your sister in Christ