Over the past few years the Bible has really started to come together for me in a new way. I have been a Christian since I was a little girl but, sadly, I wasn't confident that I had never read it all the way through until a few years ago. It was kind of disjointed for me - certain parts I knew better than others, and the Old Testament was very separate in my mind from the New Testament. I think that reading the Bible all the way through a few times, as well as chronologically, along with having good preaching and teaching at our church, has really helped me begin to see the Bible as one big Story and read it that way. More recently, I went to a session on the Old Testament that my friend, Mary Austin, taught to a group of us ladies, and it helped me understand the bigger picture even more, and how everything fits together. You can check out Mary Austin's awesome blog here (I love reading her thoughts and insights!).
And then, last weekend, Jon and I finished watching The Bible series on the History channel, and I found it to be amazing! I thought that, in spite of the fact that a lot of material was left out, it depicted the big picture of God's Story through history in a beautiful way. Even with the adaptations it makes to the Bible stories it recounts, I believe the program succeed in its endeavor to "stay true to the spirit of the book". Now I have images and scenes in my mind that bring the true events of the Old and New Testament to life in a different form. So many times I cried just watching God's Story unfold on the screen... seeing His grace extended to His people all through the Old Testament, and culminating with the Ultimate Gift of Jesus Christ.
Today as I was reading my Bible and spending time with God, I was overwhelmed by the "bigness" of this Story ... by the "bigness" of Him. Scenes from The Bible series kept coming back to me as I read God's Word and I felt so small in light of how big He is. As a girl, and as a teenager, I always knew the Good News that God came down and became a man to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) - that He is "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). But today, as I read the Bible as One Story, I was reminded of the fact that God is so other than us at the same time - so holy and set apart. He is beyond us, transcendent, majestic, and above us. As I was sitting on my couch, in awe, this morning, this verse came back to me:
“Am I a God who is only near”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and not a God who is far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?”—the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”—the Lord’s declaration.
(Jeremiah 23:23-24)
And along with it, this song by Paul Baloche jumped into my heart and then out of my mouth. It beautifully describes the paradox of our God who is simultaneously beyond us and within us, transcendent yet near us, revealed yet seen in part ...
In light of how holy and big He is, it's mind boggling that He is still God with us! That He saves us and lives within us!
In light of how holy and big He is, it's mind boggling that He is still God with us! That He saves us and lives within us!
As Nicole Nordeman says in her song Tremble, my prayer today was "Oh, let me not forget to tremble". The lyrics go like this:
Have I come too casually?
Because it seems to me there's something I've neglected.
How does one approach a Deity with informality and still protect the sacred?
'Cause you came and chose to wear the skin of all of us, and it's easy to forget you left a throne.
And the line gets
blurry all the time
Between daily and Divine
It's hard to know the difference.
Oh let me not forget to tremble.
Oh let me not forget to tremble.
Face down on the ground do I dare to take the liberty to stare at You?
Oh let me not forget to tremble.
Even slightly cavalier in the matter of salvation
Do I claim this gift You freely gave as if it were mine to take
With such little hesitation?
'Cause you came and stood among the very least of us, and it's easy to forget you left a throne.
The cradle of the grave could not contain Your Divinity
Neither can I oversimplify this love
Oh let me not forget to tremble....
In light of the Almighty, Holy, Everlasting God and His extravagant grace to men, who are but dust (Psalm 103, Psalm 8), we should take Psalm 96:9 to heart:
Worship the Lord in the Splendor of His holiness; tremble before Him all the earth. (Psalm 96:9)
