Oh! For biblical scholars of the last century or so, this picture is complicated by (1) the Bible’s own hints and nods at a more complicated “early history of God” and (2) our considerable and growing understanding of religion in general in the ancient Near East, especially Canaanite and Ugaritic religion. Thank you so much for rescuing me from my huge misconception. It’s funny ’cause it’s true! “Jesus Did Not Come to Save Us from God.” Well, Actually, That Is Exactly What He Came to Do. And God has especially harsh things to say to those who either downplay or deny God as a God of wrath who will execute punishment against his enemies (Amos 9:10; Isa 5:18-20; Mic 2:7; Zeph 1:12). Romans 8:28 TPT So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose. God's mercy, my Roman brothers in the faith, by which you are saved, is the motivation for you to offer yourselves to God as his holy people. Scriptures for Understanding How Big God Is. Nothing is too hard for you. Here’s my take-away from all this–and I’m asking you (or at least humor me) to believe me when I say that this is not a last minute frenzied punt from my own end zone before the sack. God is bigger than my doctrine, my framework, my denomination. To be “inadequate” means to fail to reach an expected or required standard, to be insufficient and lacking. May your heart fully recognize that nothing is too hard for the God of the universe. Get updates from Peter Enns delivered straight to your inbox. Ferreting out how the ancient Israelites came to worship Yahweh and what that meant in an ancient polytheistic cultures has been a huge topic ever since modern biblical scholars started finding things out about (1) ancient Israel and (2)  ancient polytheistic cultures. more like me. Of course he is! If He wasn’t, He wouldn’t be God. prophesy illusions. On December 14, 2016, I published this post as The Peace of... We resume the podcast on January 12th. That is, the Bible actually gets some things wrong about God. But, at the same time, he is not less. But remember this: God is bigger than the coronavirus. I knew that before him all the nations are before him as nothing, even less than nothing. Sometimes it will be worded as “God is bigger than the Bible.” Or possibly it will be “Jesus is bigger than the Bible.”. I’m used to this sort of thing, but I know many are not. I haven’t come to this place quickly or casually, though from my vantage point today, it feels rather commonsensical to me–though I don’t impose that on anyone, at least not until I gain supreme, ultimate power, which is the plan. God knows all about those things in … One of the great truths in life is that you are bigger than anything that can happen to you—as long as you know it and act accordingly. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. The Bible indicates that some sins are greater than others. The point, though, is that the modern study of the Old Testament has irrevocably affected what we can expect from the Bible in terms of “brute information” about God. and to the prophets, Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! God allows the devil to go only so far, and no farther. The irony is that it is the study of the Bible that has led me down this path. God tells us over and over throughout His Word how big He is and how He can overcome anything and anyone. God is bigger than the Bible–and frankly, I see Jesus in the Gospels already sounding that note when he began reshaping common views of God based on Israel’s traditions, but I digress. . And God is faithful. Every challenge and crisis that comes your way provides the opportunity for you to ask God to release the creative ingenuity, wisdom and strength that lie within you. 18 Inspirational, Motivational, Uplifting & Encouraging Bible Verses, Scriptures, Quotes & Passages reminding us that God Is Bigger Than Our Problems, Troubles, Fears & Weaknesses. No one knows exactly how big the universe is. God is bigger than your mistakes. The Bible says, “You do … The modern study of the Old Testament doesn’t tell you what to believe, like a bully, but it has placed the Old Testament firmly in its culture moments–so firmly, in fact, that a well rounded view can’t just make believe the last hundred or so years of thinking on this subject didn’t happen. Much of liberal theology provides the wrong answer to that question. God has given each of us a free will, therefore He will not intervene uninvited. My life, such as it is, is about synthesizing my own spiritual life with what I’ve been trained to do and what I do for a living, which is to say I’ve thought about this a good bit and hang out with others who have done the same. But the liberal approach to the Bible seems to me that it warns us to keep in mind that any human understanding of the Bible can be the means of violence. Smith, for the next 200 pages, looks at the “role of Yahweh within Israelite religion” vis-a-vis older Canaanite deities like El, Baal, and Asherah. Veggietales God Is Bigger Then The Boogie Man from Veggietales Where's God When I'm S-Scared (1993). 5. Lesson 3: God Is Stronger than Your Enemies Related Media “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and … well . And if God does in fact exist, he must be bigger than we can imagine. When the Bible describes God in certain ways, such as “angry” or “wrathful” or “punishing” or “intolerant of certain sins” or in any way which I would prefer not to think of as a way to envision God—well, the God I worship is bigger than that. His love endures forever. God is Bigger Than ANY Need We Have. He has freed me to know Him beyond labels, while calling me to a deeper dedication to His Word. God is obviously bigger than his self-revelation which he, in his great condescension, in his marvelous stooping down to our level, has given to us in the pages of the Bible. Some of us wallow in our inadequacies. Nothing is Too Hard for God God is Supremely Able. “Give us no more visions of what is right! To see an example of this in the Bible, read Chapter 1 of the book of Job. Thanks for this Jerry. Now, we should not be man pleasers but rather seek God’s acceptance of who we are. So, here you go. Your problems may be big, perhaps even bigger than you know. In 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4, God used what two widows already had as a resource to multiply on their behalf. Not only does it not tell us everything about God, but it is also deficient in the way it understands who God is. But your God is bigger, and his promises to you are stronger and surer. My response to the Introduction of Bruce Waltke’s surrejoinder to my response above. Tell us pleasant things, It’s acknowledging that the Bible–even where it talks about God–is not a heavenly tablet dropped from heaven, but a relentlessly contextual collection of ancient literature that takes wisdom and patience to handle well. with the Holy One of Israel!” (Isa 30:9-11), “Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.” The ironic thing about this whole phenomenon is that those who are continually referring to how God is bigger than the Bible actually end up with a God who is smaller than the one described in the Bible. And I, somehow, perhaps intuitively, or perhaps by the use of my reason, or perhaps because I have the spiritual gift of discernment, can determine where those places are in the Bible where it gets God wrong. He is something less than the “Holy One of Israel.”. “See no more visions!” Bob and Larry sing a song to Junior that God is the biggest thing in the universe and you don't need to be afraid of monsters. God is bigger than your inadequacies. Because God is bigger than your financial problems, He wants you to prosper in every area of your life, including finances so you could be a tremendous blessing to others. Also, send me the Evangelical Newsletter. And he has been truthful in that revelation. And he has been truthful in that revelation. God is obviously bigger than his self-revelation which he, in his great condescension, in his marvelous stooping down to our level, has given to us in the pages of the Bible. 6 Those who keep touting, “God is bigger than the Bible,” are simply locked into a reciprocally confirming relationship with a contemporary society that doesn’t want to hear about a God who is different than themselves: For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, . Every promise from God comes to us now through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20), the God with scars on his hands. These people never mean just that. This walk with Him is a continual pursuit of truth, of opening my mind to the fact I might be wrong – and being grateful for grace when I am. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Doesn’t it you? God is bigger than you. (2) God is not less than what he has revealed about himself in the Bible. “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” King James Version (KJV) Give thanks to the God of gods. That’s fine. The bigger part is what we call spirit--thus the mix of word and spirit. He is who he says he is. Now if the person trotting out this truism, “God is bigger than the Bible,” or “Jesus is bigger than the Bible”—if all they really meant was that the Bible is something that God inspired, that the Bible falls into the category of “created things,” and that a book as small as the Bible could not possibly capture everything that is true about God—if that was all they meant, then my question, less sarcastically, would simply be, “So what?” But that is exactly where the problem lies. His love endures forever. This mainstream view does not rest well with the biblical progression of events, namely: Israel knew Yahweh as the/their only God from the time of Abraham, and how well they did as a people/nation depended on remembering that and worshiping/obeying Yahweh alone. There has been and is much disagreement among theologians about the god honored among the Hebrews (De mensibus 4.53). That fills me with joy, with love, with awe. I&I and the Westminster Confession of Faith, My Response from the Westminster Theological Journal (Spring 2009), The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, Critical Race Theory Examined and Analyzed, Masturbatory Worship and the Contemporary Church. My stance has been to see our viewpoint of the Bible as a tool for us to love, fear serve, abd worship God. by Matt SlickNo, all sins are not equal. As with the Judaism of his age, for Jesus the Bible was a book meant to be engaged creatively, going beyond its original meaning, not simply being bound to it. See more ideas about inspirational quotes, words, bible verses. So, whenever someone says, “God is bigger than the Bible,” what they really mean is this: “I am bigger than the Bible.”. That's like saying "God is bigger than the Bible." He is bigger than any problem you may be facing right now. Massive Proportions. Leviticus, Leprosy, and Lent—in the Light of the Corona Virus Crisis (Part 4), Leviticus, Leprosy, and Lent—in the Light of the Coronavirus Crisis (Part 3). Of course he is! Veggietales is owned by Big Idea. He opens with a quotation from the 6th c. AD writer on Roman antiquity, Lydus. I pray that these biblical principles will help you to increase generosity and faith in God. My God Is Bigger Than the Lump in My Breast: My Breast Cancer Journey of Faith [Bartelme, Brenda J] on Amazon.com. My God Is Bigger Than the Lump in My Breast: My Breast Cancer Journey of Faith What gets to me though is that I feel like I am not actually pursuing holiness if a brother or sister speaks negatively. God is more outside of my control this way, which I can’t help but think is as it should be. So, look up from your problems. Listen again to God’s powerful, wise, and tender voice. All these years I have been going blithely along under the delusion that the Bible was bigger than God. Answer: The question “how big is God?” pops up in two divergent contexts: serious philosophical discussions and children’s Sunday school. One last point to ward off a predictable response: “But how can you know anything about God other than what the Bible tells you?” Fair question, but when you get too close to the Bible, prepare to have your view of the Bible reoriented. Happy New Year Everyone! Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. A Prayer in the Storm In Job 1:9-12 you can see examples of God restraining and limiting what He would allow Satan to do to Job. The Bible is deficient. I prayed to God over and over to take my “thorn” away from me. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. Also, send me the Evangelical Newsletter and special offers. Top … Able: having necessary power, skill, resources, or qualifications; qualified This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. No, I don’t think the liberal approach to the Bible does any better job than the conservative approach of reminding us that the Bible can be interpreted uncritically to serve our own interests. I knew that he might answer my prayer in the same way he answered Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I would repeat those words as a reminder that God is bigger and stronger than … Jeremiah 32:17 Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth By Your great power and outstretched arm. 26 Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth.… The Christmas Beginning of Making Biblical Womanhood. I knew that he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. In Psalm 50, he rails against those who thought that God was exactly like them (Ps 50:21). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Responses to Some General Criticism of I&I, Criticism 1: I&I Is Inconsistent with the Reformed Faith, Criticism 2: I&I Ignores Other Possible Solutions, Criticism 4: I&I Lacks Precision and Clarity, Criticism 5: I&I Has Been Criticized by Some Important Scholars. . New Living Translation The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Let There Be Violence? The God I serve is . In the latter, the answer usually given is “bigger than you can imagine!”—setting up the follow-up question: “bigger than my house? God is bigger than the Bible. It’s acknowledging that the Bible—even where it talks about God—is a relentlessly contextual collection of ancient literature that takes wisdom and patience to handle well, and in doing so drives us toward further contemplation of God here and now. get off this path, But, at the same time, he is not less. Instead dividing the beilevers into cinservative abd liberal, can we not understand the motives of each viewpoint and learn from each other? I knew that God was bigger than the universe. That’s not knocking the Bible. . They say to the seers, God is bigger than anything you are facing today or tomorrow. You’re right. I must admit, I must confess, every time I read this or hear someone say it, my immediate reaction is something like this: God is bigger than the Bible? Katherine Sonderegger’s Systematic Theology, No, Jesus Did Not “Close the Book on Vengeance”. Oh! 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Wow! How silly could I have been?! For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Identity Politics vs. Transactional Politics. I’m not going to preach Genesis 1:1 and try to answer your questions about if God really did create the heavens and the earth.And I’m not going to try to prove to you when God created the heavens and the earth. God, in other words, has a history–or better, how God was understood has a history. Your email address will not be published. Hi Lordwin. God is bigger than the Bible. The Old Testament as "fact-fiction" (more from Mark... Did biblical writers understand their past? And Lydus said over 1400 years ago, Yahweh isn’t easy to get your arms around–for Israelites or for those who have followed in their footsteps. That’s what Genesis 1:1 tells us. We can quickly see this from Jesus' own words when he said in John 19:11, "You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered me up to you has the Psalm 136:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. God is bigger than your needs. God is bigger than the Bible. Scientists estimate that it contains hundreds of billions of galaxies, and that the average galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars. Please also opt me in for Exclusive Offers from Patheos’s Partners, Thinking about God Makes Me Just Want to Keep My Mouth Shut. By his grace, Rachel. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. Required fields are marked *. Feb 24, 2018 - Explore Emma Fehr's board "God is bigger than", followed by 255 people on Pinterest. God is bigger than you. I knew that he looks at the nations and considers them all to be nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Question: "How big is God?" Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Leave this way, I knew that there was nothing in all creation that was bigger or stronger or greater than God. RESOURCES: A Prayer to Remember God is Bigger. God is Bigger, also known as Bigger than the Boogie Man, is a song from Where's God When I'm S-Scared? I knew that the heaven of heavens could not contain God. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. God Is Bigger Than Your Problem – You Can Trust Him! So, here’s the take-away: Studying the Bible and Israel’s past is a regular reminder to me that my object of trust is God, not the Bible. We often overlook what God has already provided for us and concentrate instead on what we don’t have. And it’s a nice path, at least for me. A. All I see is disunity in that. ‘Ah, Lord God! Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, it is important that you remember that God is bigger than your circumstances. I knew that God looks down on the earth, and that all the earth’s people are like grasshoppers before him. But I had absolutely no idea that he was bigger than the Bible. Most of the time, God’s provision is going to come through people, not miraculously appear from the sky. Nothing is too hard for You. But one must still ask, which God? The Message of the Cross 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Yes, the Bible is a tool (but much more than simply a tool) to cause us to love, fear, serve, and worship God. children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction. I’m praying this list of 10 Bible verses to remember God is bigger settles into your soul and comforts your spirit. Last night I was reading Mark S. Smith’s The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (because I felt like it, that’s why). [God is bigger than my problems] Emotionally speaking, I am drained because of the problems I see and encounter. Thoughts from Peter Enns from his book, The Bible Tells Me So, from chapter five, "Jesus Is Bigger Than the Bible." Remember how bad the environment was? Before we get going, let me mention briefly the sermon I’m not going to preach today. I am so glad you told me! And let me assure you, the person who cannot affirm the second, doesn’t really believe the first one either. This is your spiritual act of worship as his transformed people who approve of his good and perfect will, Romans 12:1,2 and stop confronting us Have you ever come across a statement like this in a blog post, article, or book? God has extremely harsh words for those who construct their images of God out of the “illusions” or “delusions” of their own minds (e.g., Isa 30:9-11; Jer 14:14-15; 23:16, 21, 25-32, 36-38; 27:14-15; 29:8; Ezek 13:2). These scriptures will help re-set your mind to think about living a life that’s bigger than you. He is who he says he is. It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Psalm 136:1-6 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Yes, the conservatives and liberals can and should listen to and learn from each other; but in the end, liberal religion, in its denial of several important doctrines, is a different religion from biblical Christianity. God has nothing good to say, absolutely nothing, about those who would try to worship some other God than the one whom he himself has revealed himself to be. The bottom line, mainstream view–I shudder even to attempt to summarize it in one sentence–is that the Hebrew scriptures reflect Israel’s later beliefs (i.e., after the return from Babylonian exile), further along on their spiritual journey, though their writings also preserve earlier, more diverse religious stages, where exclusive worship of Yahweh was not a given. Bruce Waltke’s Revisiting Inspiration and Incarnation. With God’s help, we will overcome this threat.” We need to keep praying, because the worst of this virus may still be coming. All Videos: https://bit.ly/37hndFM Sing along with Junior Asparagus as he brings us a lesson in handling fear. Your email address will not be published. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than … Church and ministry leadership resources to better equip, train and provide ideas for today's church and ministry leaders, like you. 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