Episode #207 Finding Strength in God When We Feel Small – Knowing God

Hey friends, it's Jen and welcome to the podcast. We're in a series talking about knowing God, that we would get to know more closely, more intimately aspects and attributes of God's character and nature.

And this is helpful for us as we're seeking to hear his voice because he doesn't go against himself. What he talks with us about will always line up with his character and nature and what is written in the Bible. And it also helps us recognize him more quickly as we go about our daily lives.

And in the last episode, we looked at how God is infinite in his perfection. And today we're talking about how God himself is just infinite. He is beyond measure.

And I want to start us off with a quote from Jen Wilkin in her book, None Like Him. And she says, “Who has measured everything? God has. Who has measured God? No one. Paradoxically, he who is immeasurable is himself the measure of all things.”

And she points out a contrast between verses 12 and 13 of Isaiah 40. And it says,

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?” (Isaiah 40:12-13 ESV)

God, who is immeasurable, knows the measure of these things that are somehow smaller than God, yet still larger than we can even measure. And Isaiah 40 goes on into verse 15, and I'll read that verse in the New Living Translation. And it says,

“for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.” (Isaiah 40:15 NLT)

God is infinite and beyond measure.

But one of the things that stuck out to me is how sometimes as humans, we can get stuck measuring the wrong things.

It reminded me of how God was leading the Israelite people into the promised land and Moses sends spies out to see what's going on in the land of Canaan. And this is recorded for us in Numbers chapter 13. And so starting in verse 1 and 2, it says, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel…” (Numbers 13:1-2a)

And so Moses sent the spies out with these instructions: See what the land is, if the people are weak or strong, if they're few or many, whether the land is good or bad, if the cities are camps or strongholds, whether the land is rich or poor, and if there are trees in it or not. Those are their instructions, and he ends with “be of good courage and bring some fruit of the land.” So these men return after 40 days of spying out the land and they tell Moses and all of the congregation that's gathered It flows with milk and honey.

Here is the fruit, but there are fortified cities with large, strong people. And Caleb quiets the people and tells them and Moses, let's go up at once and occupy it, for we are able to overcome it. But the other men who went up with him speak against that plan. They're like, no, we shouldn't do it.

It's not going to go well for us. And in verse 33, we see these spies, these chiefs among the people give measurements of themselves and of their enemies.

And they say, “we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Numbers 13:33)

Continuing into Numbers 14, the congregation freaks out and they raise a loud cry. They weep that night. They start grumbling against Moses and Aaron, “’Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’” (Numbers 14:2-3)

And then in verse four, “And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’” (Numbers 14:4)
Now reading this from my vantage point, I can be like, what are they thinking?

God freed them. For hundreds of years, the Israelite people were oppressed in slavery in Egypt. And now they're saying we should just find a leader who will take us back there because we think of ourselves by our own measurements like grasshoppers, and so these people in this land must think of us like grasshoppers too.

Forgetting that God said that this was to be their promised land.

That this was the land that He, their infinite, immeasurable God, was going to give to them.

I can look at their circumstance and be like, what are they thinking? But I also can have circumstances in my own life where I forget that my God is beyond measure. Where I start to think of myself too small or honestly too large. Where my circumstances or the opposition that's against me can loom too big in my imagination.

And I'm guessing that I'm not alone in that. If that's you too, take this opportunity to talk with God about it today.

And here's our question:

God, please recalibrate my measurements and assessments of you, of me, and of my circumstances. What do you want to show me?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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