Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
There are moments in my life – staring out at a never-ending ocean, gazing into the vast openness of the Grand Canyon, stargazing in a California dessert, watching the eclipse last year – when I am physically reminded of my smallness in this gigantic universe. It is in these moments that I am also profoundly reminded of the majestic “bigness of God”. Thinking about how big God truly is often leaves me at a loss for words.
AI put it in these words for me. “The ‘bigness of God’ refers to the concept of God's infinite power, vastness, and transcendence, encompassing both the physical universe and the spiritual realm. It highlights God's sovereignty, greatness, and all-encompassing nature, emphasizing that He is greater than any human comprehension or limitation.” Yes, that! That is what I find myself contemplating in those moments! Thanks, Google.
For someone like myself who likes/needs to be in control these moments are so very humbling and freeing. It’s a moment that reminds me that God is bigger than me or you. God is bigger than whatever is happening in my life at that moment. God is bigger than my pain, my joy, my sorrow, my shame. God is so much bigger. And God is bigger than my human understanding – more than my brain or heart can truly comprehend.
Today’s readings had me pondering this same “bigness”. In today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis, Sarah sees Isaac and Ishmael playing together and cannot stand it. She demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. With limited supplies Hagar and Ishmael are sent away into the desert, where Hagar prepares to watch her son die. How alone, small and unknown Hagar must have felt at this moment – cast out, without food or water, unable to care for her son. BUT it is in that moment that God speaks to her through a messenger. I imagine this is a moment when Hagar would have pondered the “bigness of God” as well. She was likely at a loss for words seeing that God had a plan and would be with Ishmael. How humbling and freeing that must have been for her.
God’s plan is so much bigger than Hagar (or Abraham or Sarah or their sons) could ever understand. And bigger than you or I could understand. Sure, we know that these players are the beginnings of three of the world’s great religions. We see how the story has evolved until now, but we don’t know how this story ends. We, like Abraham and Hagar, cannot begin to fathom the greatness of God. May you make time today to sit with the “bigness of God” and what this means for you. It’s ok if it leaves you at a loss for words, for God’s majesty is truly beyond our human understanding. Amen.
—AJ Grimm