2 Samuel 7.19 19 And as if this were not enough in your
sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of
your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human! (NIV)
I wanted to change Bible versions this year each month.
So far I’ve had disastrous results. The Bible study program I use seems to be
stuck on one version as it’s default and though I have tried to change it, I am
now finding out why they call it a default – sigh – at least I’m reading…right?
Today, the NIV was where I needed to be despite my efforts otherwise.
Recently, a theme has appeared to me in my reading: the majesty of God and the mere-ness of man.
I understand that man without God, despite his best efforts, cleverness,
talents, creativity, and imagination, is merely
man. I know that sounds kind of lame but our best efforts as a race don’t
hold a candle to the magnitude of God. And we settle for what mankind does because
of what we can see, rather than place our faith in God for what He has done,
which we cannot see.
You can’t blame people for their sight. You can blame
them however, for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe.
God will hold every one of us accountable for our belief.
God revealed to David the bigger picture of what was to
be and how it was going to happen, and David’s response was one of merely magnitude – as far as a human can
be blown away and whatever that amounts to, David said, “…and this decree,
Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!” (Some translations say: You have spoken also of your servant's house
for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!)
Whether for the mere-ness of David or the mere-ness of mankind the result is
the same: God is vastly, eternally, infinitely over and above us and His plans
for us know no bounds.
David rightly wanted to do something for God but it was
only going to be of magnitude mere-ness.
And when God revealed to him what He had in mind, David was undone by the sheer
magnitude of what God said, and he realized that God had revealed it to him: a mere human.
So, here I sit today, a mere human trying to describe in my mere thoughts the magnitude of God’s presence in my life. I don’t
know the half of it (we would say trying to say: we don’t know much). But God wants to reveal to each of us just how
little we are and just how big His plans are for each of us – and He does that
through accounts like this one: choosing the unlikely to do the unlikely. That’s
big and that is our God.
Today, a mere human am I. Today, with the Scotch-tape of
my strength, I am trying to hold together a shaky agenda of my plans for me and
the direction in which my mere life should go. I think God chuckles. I don’t
think He chuckles sarcastically; I think He just looks at me like I do my
grandson: so full of potential, so limited by knowledge, wisdom, experience,
and skill. But where I lack in these things, God is there to lead me by my
faith in Him. And sometimes all I can do is just sit here as a mere human and weakly
attempt to take it all in. It’s hard because I am merely human.
Father, You are God of the mere, and as a mere, I ask for
Your help in understanding what You are doing in me, through me and for me; and
how my plans and Yours mesh. Be gentle Lord, for I am of magnitude, merely.
Amen.
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