READING:
One-year plan: Proverbs 30-31
Two-year plan: Isaiah 13-14, Ephesians 5:15-33
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These final chapters of Proverbs cover many issues, including the famous passage about a godly wife in Proverbs 31. I focus my attention, though, on these words: “I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth?” (Prov 30:3-4a).
Not unlike what Job came to realize (Job 40:4), this writer of Proverbs admitted he knew little about the awesome nature of God. Even with what he did know about God, he had to admit that all of his knowledge combined meant he still knew nothing in comparison about the infinite, eternal God. God was just too big and majestic.
Those words are challenging to me today because I spend my life studying and teaching the Word of God. I know MUCH more about God now than I did when I started in ministry 40+ years ago. I can talk about doctrinal terms and theological categories. What I need to understand better, though, is how much I DON’T know about God. I need to be filled with the wonder of a new believer who is genuinely amazed at God’s bigness, majesty, and grace. I don’t ever want to reduce God to someone I can fully understand in my mind.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you filled with wonder over God?
PRAYER: “God, I know I can never capture fully the majesty of Your glory.”
TOMORROW’S READING:
One-year plan: Ecclesiastes 1-6
Two-year plan: Isaiah 15-18, Ephesians 6:1-9
MEMORIZATION VERSE (July 16-31)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov 3:5-6)