Fear not, For I Am With You

I cozied up in bed one night next to my 4 year old. As I lay down with him, he recounted that day’s adventures, sharing funny observations and thoughts. He had been able to visit a museum filled with exotic animals from Africa and South America as well as around the Southeast. The museum allows children to walk among the stuffed creatures, seeing them up close. While I am not sure my thoughts on these displays, my little guy had the most amazing day of his life, seeing zebras, elephants, giraffes, and lions as well as deer, alligators, and much more! 

But as we unpacked the day, listing out the animals seen, the thoughts about their colors, their fur or feathers, I asked him, “Who made all those animals?” His standard, almost automatic reply was, of course, “God did.” Conversation returned again to his experience, as he marveled at being able to stand under the giraffe and walk through his legs.  

And then a theological truth slid into place.

He abruptly sat straight up in bed and declared, “Wait a minute, momma, God is bigger than a giraffe!”  I smiled a little, not understanding the principle in play, and agreed, trying to return to his adventures. But his mind was unpacking something big, he couldn’t leave that moment, and I am so grateful he insisted on staying. Again, he looked at me with sleepy lids, and said, “But Momma, I stood under the giraffe and he was as tall as the sky! but God is bigger than a giraffe! God is really, really big!” And in that moment God became real, not because He was seen, but because He was experienced. And the understanding that a God so big could love him filled his little body with awe and wonder as he drifted off to sleep.

Sometimes we must stand under the looming, the large, the overwhelming to understand how big God really is. Sometimes our automatic reply that we follow Him, or we believe in Him, is just that - a rote answer without depth of meaning or understanding. Until we look up from underneath. 

We are standing in such a moment, no matter how you voted. We look at the impending future, the overwhelm of friction and debate, the sense of schism between joy and despair. It all feels so big. Yet one truth stands above it all - God is bigger than all of this. 

He declares His own immensity many times in Scripture, but as I have returned to Timothy’s declaration that God is bigger than a giraffe, I retreat to Isaiah. In Isaiah 40, God rhetorically asks who else has ever measured all the water within the hollow of his hand, determined the amount of dust, or found the weight of all the mountains and hills. And in Isaiah 40:18, “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?”

Replete with imagery displaying the vast power and sovereignty, Isaiah 40 also highlights God’s intimate love and affection for you and me. He loves you. He loves me. God, who can measure every bit of water in his hand and sees nations like drops in a full bucket of water, cares deeply for each of us. Your way is not hidden from Him, nor is your right disregarded by Him (Isaiah 40:27) The hard, the scary, the painful. Whether it has anything to do with politics or simply the hard moments this week loving your children well or caring for your family, God is bigger and yet more intimate than we can ever comprehend. He unfetters us from our fears, welcoming us in a triumphant walk behind Him. As His Grace filled Warrior, you and I can stand steadily in our moments, we can love fiercely, and we can hope fully.

For He does not faint or grow weary and His understanding is unsearchable. He empowers and renews us as we wait on Him. We experience God within the shadows of the hard. We rest in His hand as He leads us in the Way of Holiness.

As we walk between giraffe’s legs, let us remember the greatness and intimacy of our God. He is our Creator, Savior, and Friend.

photo: Sven Scheuermeier