God, Show Me Your Muscles

Psalm 24:8 “Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.” (NASB)

God, show me your muscles. This is a prayer that I have been praying lately. I mean, think about it, when we were children we sang songs with lyrics like “My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do.” As we become adults we graduated to songs like, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” We sing these songs about God’s strength but do we really believe it?

Living in a house of young men I have seen my share of muscle contests.  Every once in a while the guys have to strip off their shirts and flex for a family photo session. Each one tries to outdo the other as they position themselves to best display their muscle mass – even Dad gets in on the act. But what’s the point of training hard if no one recognizes and utilizes your strength?

How would a strong young man feel if I said, “Hey, Buddy, I see you’ve been working out and are really getting ripped. Show me what you’ve got. Please carry this jar of green beans from the pantry to the stove.” He would probably be offended and respond, “Mama, I bench press 260 pounds. I can carry a whole crate of green beans!”

This ridiculous example highlights what we do to God all the time. We sing and say we believe that He is strong and mighty. We glibly repeat that with God nothing is impossible, but then we limit our prayers to easy stuff like, “Lord, please help my cold go away” or “Help me find my stray cat.”

While God wants us to bring all our requests to Him no matter how small, I am afraid that is as far as we go. Could it be that we really don’t believe He is as strong as He says He is? Or are we afraid of what might or might not happen if we dare to pray really big impossible prayers?

One of my favorite quotes is by John Newton. It says, “Thou art coming to a king, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.” Don’t only ask God to carry your jar of green beans, ask Him for the whole grocery store!

Do you believe that your God is so big, so strong, and so mighty that there is NOTHING He cannot do? Then cling to His promises, trust His loving heart, and rely on His limitless power to do what is best in each and every circumstance, no matter how difficult. Let’s start praying some really big prayers.  I guarantee we will be thrilled when we see His muscles.

Love,

Mama