To be honest there are loads of different things I see when I read my Bible, and I am sure that everyone who regularly reads their Bible cover to cover would agree. The story constantly moves on and there are always fresh things to look into. So what are the three things I always see wherever I look in the Bible? I think I would list them in order as:
the greatness of God
the smallness of me
the importance of others.
The greatness of God
The greatness of God in creation is pretty obvious, and when a plan of restoration is offered the moment humanity rebels we see his graciousness as well as greatness. There is clearly greatness too in raising up a favoured nation to benefit from his attention, but I’m left wondering about God’s greatness in the midst of Old Testament warfare.
Whereas for some military might is the height of greatness, I see God’s greatness more in the proportionate nature of his responses. Not that everything seems proportionate superficially. There are some horrendous battles, but the more you read the more you discover God’s heart. Many of the psalms show the full extent of God’s mercy.
“Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.”
The main reason, though, why I see God’s greatness throughout the bible is that I read the Old Testament in the light of the New. It was at the cross of Jesus where God’s justice and mercy ultimately met, and it is in the givenness of Jesus, the crucified Christ, that we see the true heights of God’s greatness.
The resurrection, ascension and outpouring of the Spirit might resound loudly with the notes of victory but it is on the cross that the victory is won. Paul writes at the end of his letter to the Galatians, ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’. The cross indeed shows God’s greatness. And that is the greatness that we need to hold on to.
The smallness of me
Now you may be wondering how my second realisation can possibly have come about. Neither you nor I are not mentioned in the Bible, except indirectly in the all-inclusive passages. But in some ways that is the point. I see the smallness of me precisely because I am only present in the all-inclusive passages.
Of course there are stories upon stories, and chapters upon chapters, that build us up. God clearly does think highly of us but it is that which gives us worth. Personal value doesn’t come from self promotion. In the New Testament letters we find in Romans 12:3.
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement’”
When we identify with humanity as a whole, we see how often we get it wrong. I think there is a lesson for us all in God telling Moses to take off his shoes at the burning bush. That was holy ground, and left to our own devices we could run loose in the full force of our arrogance, and trample on so much.
1 Samuel 15:17 records Samuel referring back to King Saul’s better days by saying ‘you were once small in your own eyes’. It is interesting that many centuries later, at a high point in the ministry of Saul of Tarsus, that Saul should choose to be known by his Greek name of Paul, which means little.
Scripture can act like a mirror giving us a reality check. It enables us to see our smallness in the light of God’s greatness and it is God’s greatness that holds our self-centred aspirations at bay.
The importance of others
The importance of others should be easy for us all to spot. The whole Bible deals in communities and relationships. As we get into the New Testament we see the Church as a community within a community, designed to relate in a way that brings transformation.
As we recognise our smallness and surrender to God’s greatness, we come to know personally the transformative power of the cross and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Our selflessness and the Holy Spirit’s ability to bind us together leads to the establishing of a community like no other - not an inward looking community but an outward looking one.
In the book of Acts (chapter 5 verses 12-14) we read, ‘And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.’ Now that really is an interesting picture of distinctiveness and attractiveness.
Of course I want my eyes to linger longer on God’s greatness than on my smallness, but I do want them to linger too on this amazing new creation called the Church, which is what the whole bible leads up to.
As I look long and hard at its strengths and weaknesses, yet appreciate afresh the momentum with which it grew, I find myself saying ‘God do again what you did at its beginning; show your greatness through our smallness and let us touch the lives of all who live around us with your distinctiveness and attractiveness’..