When I was a boy, I loved to climb trees. There was one particular tree in my yard that was a favorite for aerial acrobatics. With dazzling originality, we called it “The Climbing Tree.” It was perfect. There were branches just the right size for boyish hands to wrap around and perches that looked like they’d been made to cradle an eight year old boy. The limbs started low to the ground, so it was easy to access for even short legs. And there were a few spots just the right height so an adventurous soul could swing out into space and drop nimbly to the ground without harm. The Climbing Tree was a boy’s best friend.
It was only in my teenager years that I discovered my climbing tree was a bush. A largish bush, but a bush nonetheless. I could see my boyhood “perches” at eye level. The branches were smaller than my wrists. With a modest vertical leap of two or three inches, a chap could touch even the limbs that had once seemed so dizzyingly high. What had once seemed enchanting and so much bigger than me now seemed sad, small, and slightly pathetic. I had outgrown my boyhood entertainment.
It’s impossible to go through life without similar experiences – but thankfully not in relationship to God! No matter how much you change, no matter what you accomplish or experience in life, you will never outgrow God.
He will never be smaller than you once remembered. He will never be left behind by the speed at which your seasons of life change. No matter how deep your knowledge of God, he will always be more grand, more glorious, more awe-inspiring than you have even begun to fathom. Though he is not unknowable, he is certainly indescribable. And no matter how much your life changes – another child, a new job, increasing strains on the budget, relocation to a new home – you will never surpass God’s ability to care and provide for you.
Christian, you will never outgrow your God.
