O Great God, Be Small Enough to Hear Me Now

by Mary Beth Wood

“Oh great God, be small enough to hear me now,”  I cried out through tears.  Be small enough to hear my ache, my hurt, my fear; be small enough to meet me here.  And again and again, my Jesus made himself small, to meet me in my smallness, in my fear, in my doubt.  “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)  I would tie this to a specific story, but the stories are many as this has often been the desperate cry of my heart.  In “times of trouble”, I with David have cried “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge,” (Psalm 16:1)  and begged smallness of my infinite God.  Have cried “Help me” in my moments of desperation.  

And he reaches low, to bring me close.  To envelope me in safety from the fears I have, whether big or small in my estimation. They are petty fears, but he doesn’t shrink back from comforting me in these places.  We often think of God as being quick to chastise. The Bible says do not fear, and here we are - afraid again, ‘sinning’ again. But on the contrary, he sees us clearly, and while I am often shocked by my sinfulness, he is not.  He sees the expanse of my life laid out before him and is not surprised by my fear, only ready to be my help in times of trouble.  And we are right to utter the simplest of prayers, “help.”  Because it isn’t in fact simple at all.  This childlike reactionary prayer is rich with truth, honesty, and a robust declaration of who the God is that we rightly worship.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) David knows that help is more than just a desperate, fearful cry.  David knows that crying out to Yahweh for help is rich with meaning.  His help comes from Yahweh, who is fully capable of helping, and in fact, the only one perfectly suited to help, because he made the heavens and the earth.  Our God, in fact, can be infinite, before and beyond us, creator of galaxies and oceans, and yet stoop to meet us individually.  And Jesus finds glory in this stooping, because he chooses to stoop – to humble himself as Paul says in Philippians – “and being found in human form, he humbled himself.”  This stooping, this humbling brings him glory “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestow on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:9-11). It is in his stooping to help, his emptying, that he is most glorified. This great God, this God who chooses to empty, can make himself small enough to care for us in our individual moments of desperation. “He will not let YOUR foot be moved; he who keeps YOU, will not slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:3-4)   

Jesus Reaches Out To Us

Peter, the rock on which the church was built, in his fallenness was afraid – as we all are.  He was afraid because the storm seemed to indicate an inevitable demise.  He was afraid because the figure walking on the water toward him must be a ghost. He was afraid because, well because we all are.  And he cried out in response to Jesus’ words of encouragement “Take heart; it is I.  DO NOT BE AFRAID.” Prove it, Yahweh – “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus in his kindness bids him come, and yet he is still afraid and begins to sink,  Jesus, stoops low, meeting Peter over and over again to reassure him of his divinity and his trustworthiness, to bolster his faith.  “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, Lord, save me.”  And with him we all see the wind and cry HELP.  “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him.”  Oh, great God, be small enough to hear me now.

When we utter “help.”  In our moments of weakness and depletion, we are declaring ourselves small.  We are attributing to God the power that belongs only to him.  We are humbling ourselves before our humble savior, recognizing that he alone is mighty to save.  When we cry “help,” we are recognizing Him as the maker of heaven and earth.  The only one who has power over the wind and the waves, the only one who can bid us walk on water, and reach out his hand immediately to take hold of us in our weakness. 

Richard Foster writes, “Simple Prayer involves ordinary people bringing ordinary concerns to a loving and compassionate Father.  There is no pretense in Simple Prayer.  We do not pretend to be more holy, more pure, or more saintly than we actually are.  We do not try to conceal our conflicting and contradictory motives from God – or ourselves.  And in this posture, we pour out our heart to the God who is greater than our heart and who knows all things (1 John 3:20).” (p. 10, Prayer). And I know, that my help comes from Yahweh, who is big.  He in his infinite grandeur has formed heavens and earth and then stepped low to form me in my smallness.  He is the only one who can readily reach to grab my hand as I am sinking. 

“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:8)