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Sometimes God makes Himself known to us in the majestic. The crashing waves, the towering mountains, the fiery sunsets. We take it in, the power, the awe, and we are dumbstruck by the sheer magnitude of the greatness of God.
Sometimes God reveals Himself to us in the minutiae. A butterfly wing, a soft breeze, the laughter of a child. We sit. We quiet ourselves to hear that still, small voice. It is just as powerful, for in it is the personal, the individual relationship God fosters with each of us, One on one.
Though I stand in amazement at the beauty created by a loving Father for His created, the thing I love most is when God winks.
God winked at me this past week as I was preparing for a meeting at church to determine interest in having a women's Bible study. Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about two points in particular. If you haven't read "Mirror, Mirror" yet, it might be helpful to take a look, as today's entry will make much more sense.
The two points from that post were the following: Put first things first... and "Look up." Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I was digging into the first lesson of a book we had decided to use for this women's study over eighteen months ago. Yep, crazy! We had ordered these books, passed them out, and set a start date for March, 2020. Then... COVID hit and everything shut down, including activities at church.
This first lesson in Ten Women of the Bible is on Sarah, wife of Abraham. I got to page six, Genesis 15, where God is needing to reassure Abraham and Sarah that His promise of a child to them will, indeed, come true, no matter their age, no matter the number of years that have passed since the first promise was given. Abraham was feeling discouraged, doubting if he had understood God completely, wondering if God had somehow forgotten about them.
How does God respond? God makes Himself known in the majestic. He takes Abraham outside and says, "Look up!" There, the night sky is so punctuated with brilliance that the velvety blackness of evening can barely be detected. "Count the starts, if indeed you can," God says to him. "So shall your descendants be."
Hmmm, "Look up! "Yes, Lord, you've got my attention too."
I move down a few questions and I encounter this section. (Giving credit where credit is due, this comes from the aforementioned study book by Max Lucado, also p.6)
"At the beginning of Genesis 15, God says, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceeding great reward.' This is where we start. We start with 'I AM.' We start with remembering our 'shield' and our 'great reward.' Before looking at the promises, we look at the Promise Maker. If we focus on trusting in His promises before trusting in Him, or receiving His promises before receiving Him, then we have missed it. Missed what? That the same God who spoke with, met with, and walked with Abraham wants to speak with, meet with, and walk with us. This is the ultimate promise- the greatest gift. And as we grow in relationship with God, we grow in our trust of His promises burgeoning in our lives."
"Wow, God. Yes, yes I just saw it, that little wink you sent my way. I need to put first things first, and first always involves looking up... to You."
Whether I'm doubting myself, or whether I'm doubting God's provision or His promises for me - the first thing I must always remember is to look to the One who holds both the Universe... and my hand.
You see, God doesn't just come to us in the majestic. He's also in the minutiae. He took a blog post from two weeks ago, and drew my heart into a study from eighteen months ago to reiterate, as He did with Abraham and Sarah, that He loves me, that He desires a relationship with me...
that He comes to me in a very personal way, in a still, small voice... in a wink... One on one, to make sure I know that even though He is the God of the Universe, He is still my Daddy...
and He always has time to remind me.
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