I don't think I've ever told you, but I've really grown to LOVE reading the Bible :D
It's interesting because I think about how I used to have to really discipline myself to read the Word, and even then I'd be like...ugh, what's the point? Reading the Bible seemed like a tedious process. Even going through the Map & Compass track at Expedition, where I practiced intense manuscript/inductive studying, I learned a lot but had no idea how to go about digging in on my own.
I constantly asked myself, "How am I to bring all of what I do and learn from studying the Bible with a group of people (especially my small group) to my own personal quiet time?" The process of circling, underlining, and drawing connections seemed to take too long. I knew I wasn't the sharpest tool in box, so I expected to draw nothing new from the texts without being asked good questions or jumping off the input of other people. I didn't want to interpret the Word wrong. History interests me and I find it important, but the history of each book of the Bible seemed way over my head. Plus, it would take more time to look up the historical background of each passage I studied.
But, all you readers, I am a living testimony that it is possible! Reading the Word on your own and finding meaning and truth from the Scriptures, while also applying it to your own life is possible and completely thrilling :]
I'm telling you all of this because I wanted to share a little bit of what God showed me this morning.
My family and I are reading together through the whole Bible...and we're doing it in 3 years. Now if you didn't know, this is I believe...our fourth attempt to read through the entire Bible together as a family. It first started when my dad gave each of us this Read-Through-the-Entire-Bible kind of book for Christmas a few years ago. We were supposed to follow the guide and since we were all doing it, we'd be going at the same pace. It worked for a while...but then the guide started asking us to skip parts or skim parts instead of reading through them, and I think most of us kind of fell behind or gave up. We tried a bunch of different plans but each time I personally (I don't know about the rest of my family) didn't keep up, nor did I want to.
But in any case, my family started over this year (for my sake), and we're following a hand-made guide (my dad found some sort of program that helps you make one up...but he also put a picture of our family on the cover. sigh -_-) where we read a chapter (or two at most) each day, with the weekends free for catching up or doing something different from the plan, to read the entire Bible in three whole years.
We're up to Genesis 14-15, where Abram goes to rescue Lot from captivity in chapter 14, and chapter 15 where God makes His covenant with Abram. It's the part before the covenant I wanted to focus on.
So I'm reading Genesis 15 and it says this (v.3-6):
And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir." And he brough him outside and said, "Look toward the heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
As I'm reading this I'm thinking something like, "Oh gosh. Abram's worried. He wants to see God's promise to him come true, but he's getting a bit impatient. He's thinking in the here and the now, and right now his son is not here."
But God shows him the stars and asks him to count them. To me, this is like God giving Abram a visual. As I was reading this I was like, "Hey, I'm a visual learner! Look, I'm just like Abram." And I just imagine Abram in the middle of this desert, in this darkness, staring up at the beautiful night sky without a single cloud, at all the stars blanketing the darkness.
Hahahaha I wonder if Abram would actually try and see how many he would count before he messed up or gave up :P
And I imagine Abram just staring in awe, thinking, "Wow, this is too much for me to count!" And God saying, "So shall your offspring be." And Abram making the connection that he had a role in something bigger than anything he could count or imagine. There was no way Abram could easily solve this "problem" by saying Eliezer of Damascus was going to be his heir. Abram was thinking too small and too immediate. It wasn't time for Abram to know exactly who or how or when God was going to fulfill His promise. Maybe Abram was a detail-oriented person like me, hehe. But in any case, God gave Abram a "tangible" visual of His bigger picture to someone who thought he was too small to make any small difference.
See where I'm going with this?? ;P
So, when I read this and thought about it, I immediately thought of Urbana. Instead of God pulling me outside to count the stars one night in St. Louis, He stopped me and pointed to the thousands and thousands of people in the Edward Jones Dome every single night for five nights, saying, "Look toward heaven, and number my beloved creation, if you are able to number them. These are the ones who will carry out my good work." I could never count how many people were there...and I also knew that God's people who were carrying out God's good work wasn't just limited to the thousands at Urbana. Just like Abram, God was giving me a "tangible" visual of His bigger picture. By keeping this picture in mind, it makes what I do and say in my home neighborhood as well as my campus at Binghamton all the more significant. No longer am I serving God to carry out the vague, bigger picture that I can't wrap my mind around.
I believe the Lord and what He is doing, even though I cannot measure my significance right here and now. He has placed me where I am and is making me who I am to carry out significant work for Him. I am assured that God will carry out what He has promised to all of us.
I am a star shining in the darkness, one of Abram's offsprings.
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