The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-09-30
e'od.', Great
Lesson for October 2, 1860

God is great" what did you
think? One thing you m g t
have t ught was. why of
course. Who would be interest
ed in a little God?" Well, some
people have been interested in
little gods; but this was only
when they pictured in their
minds a large number Of Gods.
Some of these might be little,
not much more than fairies or
ghosts. But people who believe
in little gods and lots Of them
like primitive Africans for ex-
ample) can't get along without
believing also in some big God
reigning over all the others.
Indeed, famous definition of
God went something like this:
THAT being than whom no
greater can be conceived. If
you could conceive Of a greater,
that would show you we're not
yet thinking of the true God.
God Is No Particular Size
God is great" does not mean
God is big" the word "big"
refers to size. God is Spirit, and
Spirit does not come in sizes.
What size is your own spirit,
for instance? You do not know
and it would be ridiculous to get
out a tapemeasure or a slide
rule to measure your Utmost
self. The greatness Of God
means that every quality he has
he has to the utmost and high
est and most intense degree. No
one and nothing surpasses him.
Is it power? Then he is more
powerful than all other powers
together. Is it love? No other
love can compare with his. 1t
it wisdom, justice? His is SUI
preme. To be sure, there is one
sense in which we might al
most say that God is big. That
is, in the sense that we can
never run away from him.
People everywhere are wonder
ing what strange creatures
spacemen may find on far-away
planets. One thing is sure; they
will not find strange God. for
there is only one; and they will
not find a planet where God is
not.
Sit down by yourself SOM
day and think of the greatness
of God the Creator. He is not
just "the Man upstairs" he is
not a somebody, he is not one
item in the catalogue of tn g
things in the universe. You and
l might be items in that cata-
logue, but not He. He made the
catalogue, he alone knows what
Is in it; for he alone made all
things. This does not mean that
he brought everything into ex-
istance all at once. or in a week
or in a million years. This pres
ent universe of the year 1860 is
not exactly the same, indeed in
many ways not at all the same.
that it was one hundred mil
lions years ago. Nevertheless,
when the Bible speaks Of God
the Creator it speaks Of a God
whose will it was, and is, that
these things, all these things,
this tremendous and unimagi-
nable universe. have come into
being. The God to whom we party
is not a god who sits cozily in
his heaven watching an earth
and a universe that was made
he knows not how.
Great in Providence
When the writer of Psalm 8
thinks of Gods greatness, his
mind turns at once to the stars,
then to man. and then to the
animals of this planet. He thinks
of God in terms of what he has
done for man. But the writer
of Psalm 104 has a different
slant. His mind moves from Gre
alton to providence, or in other
words, while Psalm speaks in
terms of mighty once-for- all acts
of God. the poet of Psalm 104
thinks of God in relation to
everyday events. out-of-sight OBJ
scure events, most of which
have nothing at all to do with
man. The main point to see here
is that God is as great in pro-
violence as he is in creation.
God starteds the world, he in
vented it as C. S. Lewis says.
But he also acts within it, there
is no part of it to which he can
be denied admittance. He is not
like a king or a president who
cannot attend nearly' all the
events to which they are invit-
ed. Invited or not. God attends
all events. Look with the writer
Of Psalm 104 at the mountain
springs. at the wild beasts
drinking. the birds flying in the
treetops, the rain on the noun
aims - in all these things not
less than in the overwhelming
ones, we see the greatness of
The one true God.
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