“To infinity and beyond!” Any moviegoer familiar with the blockbuster Toy Story franchise knows Buzz Lightyear’s iconic catchphrase. Is there anything that expresses unlimited possibilities better?
This simple concept is the essence of who God is. We’ve dressed it up, theologized it and complicated it until our brains hurt, but the simple fact is that God our creator is himself infinity and beyond. Scientists always have, and always will, spend their lives trying to pierce holes in God’s infinity. They cannot, even with pure logic, scale the truth of who God is. The higher and deeper they go, there he is in all his mystery, possibility and wonder.
The Latin word omni is used to define God primarily in three ways: omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere all at once). In Psalm 139, David traversed the heavens, letting his mind go to infinity and beyond to see if God was truly everywhere. His joy and sense of tremendous comfort pulsate through each verse as he finds God in every corner of the universe.
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there...If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as day, for darkness is as light with you” (Psalm 139:7-12, ESV).
Recently, the Sesame Street character Elmo sent out an innocent tweet: ““Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” The jaw-dropping response was a “trauma dump” from thousands of social media users expressing their sadness, loneliness and depression. One user, who said he was at his limit, received over half a million likes. This outpouring of sadness to a puppet was profoundly revealing to me. We are a world of silos with people desperate for connection and for the God who created them. Oh, that we could know the God of infinity.
If you are feeling alone, know this: there is nowhere on earth or in heaven you can go that God is not there. He is right beside you no matter where you are, and he will never leave you. You have a future filled with boundless hope because of him. Call on him today!