How Great Is Our God!

I have been doing some studying lately on something called the incommunicable attributes of God getting ready for a sermon series I have the opportunity to participate in. To understand that word incommunicable, it helps to to think about things I know. Being in the healthcare field, I know that a communicable disease is one that can be passed on, or is contagious--like the flu. An incommunicable (really non-communicable) disease is not contagious--like diabetes. In the same way, the incommunicable attributes of God are those things which are unique to Himself, which cannot be passed on or shared with anyone or anything else.

For example, God is infinite--no beginning and no end. We (our souls) are immortal, but that is not the same as infinite. God's infinity is not only outside time, but outside space as well. God cannot be measured in any way. That is an incommunicable attribute of God. It is impossible for us to be like Him, for we are finite, or limited, in that we all had a beginning, even if we will never know an end, and we are limited to one place at one time.  Make sense?

God does have attributes which are communicable, or can be passed on. For example, God is merciful. We, also, can be merciful through the grace of God. God is Holy. We, also, can share in God's holiness through Christ Jesus. God shares those attributes of Himself with us.

What I want us to consider are some of these attributes of God which make Him so great.

I already mentioned one: infinitude. God is not limited by time or space. God exists outside of time. God was not. God is. God is present today. God is present tomorrow. God is present yesterday. Simultaneously. Right now, God is present at Creation, at the Cross, and at the Second Coming of Christ. Make your head spin? Me too. But here is why it matters.

That God exists outside of time should provide us great comfort. We say that God is with us, but I don't know that we think about God being with us--already--in the future. We are going to get some bad news. That doctor's report. That letter from a lawyer. That statement from the bank. A phone call. A visit. A grade report. Whatever. We're going to hit rough times.

God is not only ready to deal with it, He already is dealing with it. God is already there, at our side, even though we, in our time-limited existence, aren't there yet. God is there, providing for us, sheltering us, strengthening us, and He is also already on the other side of it. Whatever the outcome, God knows. He knows, because He is there, and He is beyond it, and He is with us preparing us for what is coming. That's amazing. That's empowering. That's how great our God is.

Then there is the infinitude of God in relation to space. God cannot be confined to a spatial limitation. God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere. He is in heaven and on earth, right now. He is at my house, and yours, right now. He is in your car, at your work, at school, in the prisons, in the bars--He is everywhere, at the same time, equally. There is no place you can go or be taken where you are hidden from Him. He will never leave you, for you cannot go anywhere where He is not. That's pretty cool.

Now, let's go a little bigger. Our Solar System extends out about 2 light years from the sun. That's about 12 trillion miles. Want to know how much 12 trillion is? Think of the pictures of Houston after the recent Hurricane Harvey. It is estimated that 9 trillion gallons of rain fell on Houston/Harris County, Texas (33 trillion gallons storm total Texas and Louisiana). That's how much a trillion is. My point? God fills that entire space. He is not just present--He fills it.

That's just our solar system. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light years across, or about six hundred thousand trillion miles, and our galaxy isn't a big one. Some are more than a million light years across. God fills that space. Completely. Our universe is thought to contain around 100 billion galaxies. God fills them all.

Speaking of our universe, current science says that our universe is expanding outward at an unbelievable rate. That area beyond where our universe currently is? God is there. He has been since the beginning. Our God is great!

I've only scratched the surface of God's infinitude. Then there is His immutability (God never changes), His immanence (power, sovereignty), His independence (God needs no-thing and no-one to exist), and His immensity, which encompasses all the others.

What I want to realize, and hope that you realize with me, is that our God is great. He is greater than we can possibly fathom. His power, His presence, His being have no limits. He is immeasurable and indefinable.

And yet.

And yet He chooses to care about me. And you. Not just generally, but specifically. So special are you that He keeps track of the hairs on your head. And that's just the beginning. He numbers each one of the 20-30 trillion red blood cells circulating through your body right now. They are renewed about every 100 days, or 2.4 million every second. He keeps track. For 7 billion people.

And just as our solar system is only the beginning of God's immensity, so tracking every physical detail of our existence is just the beginning of how much God cares about you. This infinite, limitless being cares even more about your inner self, and so He listens to you. Not just to what you say, but those silent thoughts, the ones you cannot even formulate into coherent words. He listens, and He cares. No thought escapes Him, no matter how great or insignificant it may be to you. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your fears. Your victories. Your defeats. He cares. He cares with the fullness of His infinite existence, and is prepared to act on your behalf with the fullness of His infinite power.

Now, how big are those problems of yesterday, today, tomorrow?

How great is our God? So great that it's not even a question we can ask. It's a statement. A praise. An awe-inspired, fear-filled, wondrous gasp from the depth of our soul. Our God is great. Our God is great!