Is the LORD’s Arm Too Short?
Numbers 11:21–23
"But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
Are the LORD's arms too short? What a powerful rhetorical question from God to Moses. We are often overwhelmed with our burdens and worries daily that we fail to see God as God Himself. It is usually because we do not keep close to Him at every moment, that's why we tend to easily forget His nature. St Anselm in 1070, bishop of Canterbury said God is "aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit", i.e., the greatest conceivable being bar none! The nowadays infamous Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" is similarly a testament to a conception of God (although misinformed in many other ways) that is always greater than anything. God is huge! He is, after all, the One who breathed out this universe (or multiverse if you like, God still had to exhale that). Included in His great nature is great love and goodness. What makes us think He cannot nor (more importantly I think) will not provide for us His children (Matt 7:11)? "And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children (Matt 14:19–22)."
"But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
Are the LORD's arms too short? What a powerful rhetorical question from God to Moses. We are often overwhelmed with our burdens and worries daily that we fail to see God as God Himself. It is usually because we do not keep close to Him at every moment, that's why we tend to easily forget His nature. St Anselm in 1070, bishop of Canterbury said God is "aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit", i.e., the greatest conceivable being bar none! The nowadays infamous Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" is similarly a testament to a conception of God (although misinformed in many other ways) that is always greater than anything. God is huge! He is, after all, the One who breathed out this universe (or multiverse if you like, God still had to exhale that). Included in His great nature is great love and goodness. What makes us think He cannot nor (more importantly I think) will not provide for us His children (Matt 7:11)? "And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children (Matt 14:19–22)."
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