LEARNING DAILY

Psalm 8:3-4, When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

As this week comes to an end, I would like you to consider a question over the next few days. Just how big is God to you? Do you think that is an easy question to answer? Mark Batterson wrote in his book, A Million Little Miracles, “From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture paints a composite picture of who God is. One of the common mistakes we make, our ancient error, is making God in our image. How? We cut and paste the character of God, leaving us with a caricature of God. That’s when and why we go back to the drawing board called Scripture” May I suggest the only answer you will have or find is in God’s Word.

Most of today’s blog will be from the writing found in Batterson’s book. He makes a rather obvious statement: “The Bible is a big book ….” He writes, “Read the Bible from cover to cover, and you will arrive at one inevitable, undeniable, incontrovertible truth – God is God, and we’re not. Someday all of us will bow before the throne of God. Newsflash: I won’t be sitting on it, and neither will you.” I have written this before, but here goes. All of us are too busy doing life that we miss the wonders of God. We make excuses for why we do not read and study God’s Written Word, the Bible. May I offer another challenge to you for 2025? Find the time to read the entire Bible this year. Yes, you can – make the time! What you will find as your read from Genesis to Revelation is “a composite picture of a good [great] God” (Batterson).

I wrote the following thought from Batterson’s book in the front of my Bible. “There are many ways to cliffnote Scripture. My spiritual father, Dick Foth, does it with four phrases: God left His place, He came to our place, He took our place, then He invites us back to His place. You can cliffnote the covenants – the Adamic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic – all the way to the New Covenant, which was signed, sealed, and delivered at Calvary’s cross. You can cliffnote defining moments. At Bethlehem, He is God with us. At Calvary, He is God as us. At the empty tomb, He is God for us. At Pentecost, He is God in us.” Read/study/meditate on God’s Word. You will find that “God is God, we’re not”.

After reading Batterson’s book I understand we do not need to go very far to be aware of the miraculous. Too much time is spent asking for God to do something great in our lives; all we have to do is take the time to look around and consider what He has already given to us. Take the time to look at the little thing. He has told us to be faithful in the little things before He gives us more. Take the time to read His Word from beginning to end this year and notice just how big God is. As you do, consider the fact that this great God, creator of all things loves and cares for you. He loves you so much that He sent His Son to be nailed to Calvary’s cross in the place you deserve. He not only wants to save you from your sins, He wants you to walk with Him on a narrow way so He can change you into His image.

So, I ask again, just how big is God to you? Is He big enough that you desire to do all you can to become like Him, to spend more time with Him reading, studying, and praying? Yes, He is!