Just like a lot of other Christians, one of my new year resolution is to read the Bible back to front. This time, I’m praying to finish the book every three months, so that I could have read it 4 times by the end of 2021.
Great goal, I know, but as a person that had a similar resolution every year and miserably failed, I cannot promise you that this year I’d be luckier.
But… Christians get back up though they fall face flat, right? The plan that I’m following requires me to read more than 10 chapters daily, which means that if I do not mindfully set a time and a place for this, I would end up leaving my bookmark at around Leviticus (3rd book of the Bible) again for me to start all over in 2022.
The forest
I decided on a time in the morning and so far, I’ve stayed consistent and although I may have started with a motivated willpower, these days, I come back each day longing – God has led me to taste the sweetness of His Word and every morning I am a joyful miner, digging for gold in the richest soil.
If in Quiet Time I see the trees and attempt to study their leaves and their rings, this plan takes me to see the whole forest. As a person who enjoys pondering about the smallest thing for hours, I was initially worried I would miss out in the depth of His Word if I was to read chunks of them at a time.
But oh, how I’d been a fool! His Word is so great and profound that depth is promised in any way one reads it. The Holy Spirit satisfies all the knocks of the hungry soul. The experience is so enlightening that I often need to stop myself to jot down what God has unveiled for me. Even the smallest exposure baffles me in awe.
Magnified
The other day, I was taken to the Red Sea and followed Moses and the Israelites finally leave Egypt. Behind them came the Pharaoh and his troops to recapture their lost slaves and in front of them lied the ocean.
Despite the amazing miracles and plagues God used to demonstrate His power, the people of Israel complain immediately in utter despair, saying “it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Exodus chapter 14, verse 12).
Here, one of the greatest miracles shown through the Bible begins. “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent”, declares Moses, as he “stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided” (Exodus chapter 14, verse 13 and 21).
This majestic scene alone dazzles, but what stood out for me the most that day was how God purposely used Moses. The Creator of the universe, the holder of time, the one who controls every atom in all things, decided to use the stretched hand of his servant to separate the great waters.
As I read, I saw how it was totally God who caused the miracle, but it was His man that this was demonstrated through. It was as if I had rediscovered what it was like to “walk with God”.
Although God is more than able to miraculously lighten every room in the country, he uses men to ignite the candle. How glorious that He uses the weakest to magnify His power! Our limitations do not limit His strength.
His right hand
What is also profound is the proper response the used men show. In Exodus chapter 15, we see Moses and the Israelites praising God for His great power. It’s as if Moses had forgotten about his own hand he stretched as he sings, “Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy” (verse 6).
He knew perfectly that it was the Lord who had “triumphed gloriously”: while they had become the beneficiaries, receiving salvation and joy, God was to have his glory and praise.
As the Psalmist said, such truth is “more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (Psalms chapter 19 verse 10).
I invite you to join me in filling the year with the most precious golden truths that taste better than the sweetest nectar! Hallelujah for the happy new year!