At times, I have to endure my Bible readings. Sometimes I just don't see much for my soul to feast upon. And I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, just holding on to the promise that God's Word changes hearts. And sometimes I even see things that cause some doubt to arise in me, doubts regarding God's character.
However, getting past these doubts produced, finally, some fruits of my Bible reading.
I think that even for a person who does not know the Bible's theme of salvation in Christ, reading it can at least give him the sense that "God is Lord of all, and we are small." This is a message that wordlessly and strongly got across to me in my Bible readings. After a while of reading about God working His plan on earth, as one generation dies and another is born, it greatly convinces me that, simply, God works!
The root of sin is man trying to be God. He thinks he's big enough, good enough, that he can obtain for himself what he needs, and not be given it. And such a mindset also includes the attitude that God is not doing much, perhaps even abandoned us.
Yet when we look into the night sky and see a multitude of stars, and consider their actual size, how small is our earth! And how small are we in the earth! I am but one person among billions. How do I expect to change the world?
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
(Psalm 8:3-4)
It is very easy for a person to have the notion of becoming a great influence upon the world. This notion can become an unnecessary and sinful burden, even in Christians. But of course, what else can a person put his trust in if he doesn't trust God?
Yet I have a God whom I can trust in. He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Israel, of the world. He is in control. And we are but tiny little tools, like the characters in the Bible.
To be great is not my burden to carry. It's God's. I must rid myself of the notion that the people around me need me. Nay, even the Word of God declares that "...God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham." (Matthew 3:9)
He shall succeed, and I shall simply find for myself a good seat to admire His success.
And just as the night is for sleeping, so are dark seasons in a Christian's walk with God intended for resting and being still before Him. I suppose that it's currently my lesson to learn that I must not put on myself burdens of faithlessness that God did not give me to carry. It's time to let go for a while and just keep the vital functions running, until my energy is regained and I wake up for a brand new day.
I am reminded of a hymn I used to sing in children's Sunday school:
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There's nothing my God cannot do.
The mountains are His, the rivers are His,
The stars are His handiwork too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There's nothing my God cannot do
For you!
I also remember God's challenge to Job:
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
Will he make a covenant with you
to take him for your servant forever?
Will you play with him as with a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
Will traders bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
Can you fill his skin with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
Lay your hands on him;
remember the battle—you will not do it again!
Behold, the hope of a man is false;
he is laid low even at the sight of him.
No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
(Job 41:1-11)
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