I know we are facing some big difficulties. What we see can be intimidating, even terrorizing. We have the warming thing, the economic thing, the war thing, the political thing, and we haven’t even started looking at our own personal things.    

I am an “intelligent design” guy, which means I believe God made it all. It is difficult for me to imagine in this scientific world, where so much has been empirically proven, that such a planet as earth would hail from nowhere, uncreated by no-one, spinning quickly into oblivion. The whole thing is just all too wonderful and amazing to have erupted out of some void. So now you have my first concept—God did something big, I mean really big, and I am not just thinking Grand Canyon big.

Let me go back to big. Take the number 7, followed by 22 zeros, and what do you have? You have 70 sextillion, or 70,000 million, million, million. By the way, how much is that number? Well it’s “about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts.” 1 Imagine that what we can see of space has 10 times more stars in it than grains of sand on all our known beaches.  

I know what you are wondering, “Do I believe the math?” Doesn’t matter, the point is that God created something huge, beyond our wildest imaginations, because He himself is huge, and it’s way beyond just this little planet.

Now back to earth, because what’s going on here is small, tiny, a little fraction of what He has created out there. My problems dwarf in the knowledge that the sun of my planet is ordinary in size, that its number among the stars requires a God with a phenomenal GPS navigation system, just to find me.

Look, here we are. Jesus came to the planet; we were literally found among the 70 sextillion stars that we know of, not to mention their related planets. God’s gargantuan, and in the face of all that, instead of making our problems so big, we might want to consider making God really big. If we do make Him big, here are some ideas on how we might want to live before Him.  

First, a little humility might be in order. You know, pray, ask for help, try as best we can not to act like we created the world and know what to do with it. He knows best, He made it; it is spectacular, and there is more to discover under one rock than we have in a lifetime. I think He’s got my problem covered.

Second, a little trust might be in order. If He can throw a minimum of 70 sextillion stars in space and then send His son Jesus to perfectly rescue us, He is likely able and kind enough to help us get through the big issues.

Third, and finally, obedience might be in order. Because He is so big, we might want to think about doing things His way. Not because He is mean, but because the universe is so big. It seems to me we could be easily crushed if we try to go it alone or in our own wisdom. It seems to me that if He made such an amazing universe, and less than a fraction of the really good stuff we even get to see, He is certainly able to handle our problems.  

I hope this puts some perspective on what we’re facing. While I know it may not help with the emotions, I hope it puts big confidence down deep where we need it.

1 CNN.com, Science and Space, July 23, 2003 http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey