Forty days of Proclamation: Day One

Monday, October 12, 2020

Forty Days of Proclamation

Day one

“BIG”

The next 40 weekdays I believe we are in for a treat. We will have 40 different soul sisters posting. Each day the writer will focus on her “ word “ for the year. Choosing a yearly word doesn't mean that word will influence the world one way or another. It’s just a personal word to focus and reflect on in your life during the year. When considering a yearly word, I begin by praying the last quarter of the year about what word the Lord has for me. Another way to look at it is what word does the Lord want to use in my life to teach me during the coming year?

Well, interestingly enough on this first post for this new study I get to write about the word I claimed on January 1, 2020. It happens to be BIG. Part of me wants to give you a BIG “I’m sorry”! However, I feel confident I’m actually not that BIG to have orchestrated the way this BIG year has gone.I must admit, throughout this year my word has brought a chuckle to my mind when I think about the irony here!

Personally, this has been a big year for me. Two out of the original four in my immediate family (which includes me!) got married in 2020. These marriages were indeed very big and welcomed steps in our lives. Something to celebrate for sure. For our country, every four years the presidential election rolls around and what do you know- it’s in the year of big. Oh - did I fail to mention 2020 brought a very unannounced and un-welcome BIG PANDEMIC for the very first time in the lives of every person in the world, which changed how we “do” life ?? I think you would agree, if big was not your 2020 word, you for sure had an abundance of it.

When I felt the Lord leading me to my word in late 2019 I was thinking about the BIG things God does and how I could not start to wrap my little mind around the magnitude. My desire was to be on alert to make sure I did not miss any cues showing me his bigness. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3). Not only did he create the heavens and the earth, he is a God that is in the minute details of my life. He is a God big enough to care not only about the big things but the tiny ones as well. Compared to the vastness and complexity of his creation, my insignificant needs and desires seem so small, yet he is THERE. That’s big.

So exactly, how big is God? ? He is so huge that he is not bound by time and space, not needing or wanting for anything and capable of creating the entire universe. Yet he is personal enough to have created us in his own image. “We are fearfully and wonderfully made and he even knows the number of hairs on our head (Psalm139:14; Luke 12:7). The Creator of the universe still desires a sweet and personal relationship with each and every one of us. That’s big.

This leads me to ask the question where is he now? With sickness, death, financial crisis, and civil unrest we see all around us, is he big enough to handle this? This IS serious stuff that is going on! Does he care enough to help? Scripture says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them “(Romans 8:28) . This means he works “ all things” - the good ones, the tragic ones, and the ones in the middle - for our good. This does not mean that all things that happen to us are good, as evil is present in this fallen world. In fact, bad things will continue to happen but God is able to turn every circumstance around for our long range good to use for his glory. If you are a believer, this is a promise you have in God. Even though Satan is the enemy of God, he is no rival (Paige Brown Bible Study). That is a truth you can count on. God is bigger and more powerful than Satan. He is all the “omnis": omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient . Satan is non of those. This gives me hope in a future. This tells me that our God is still bigger that anything and anyone I can imagine and nothing in this world catches him off guard. I have comfort knowing he is big enough to have a plan for what he has created. This reminds me in spite of his bigness he is not too big to overlook me and my needs. I can’t help but think he is trying to tell all of us collectively he is bigger than the trials we are going through now and we are missing an opportunity if we are not bending our knee and spending more of our time getting to know him. He has much to offer us and I don't want to miss any of it. As we head towards the end of the year I think my take away from “big” is simple : “Less of me, more of him” . And that’s big.

For further reading: Isaiah 55:8-9; Isaiah 40:28; Job 26:14

Heavenly Father,

You overwhelm our minds and hearts with how big you are yet you deeply care about the most intimate details of our lives. You are present in easy times as well as difficult ones and just as powerful and mighty in each. What a gift it is to come to you in our need. Give us not only the cry to ask for help but the desire to listen to you speak to us through prayer and reading your word. Help us realize we cannot do this life on our own; We have the gift of the Savior of the world to walk with us through every minute of every day. Help us not to miss a thing you have for us. You indeed are bigger that we can imagine and we are thankful. Amen