The Deep

So, I am reading through the entire Bible again for the 4th time.  The first time I did it, it was in a year with my very first Bible, a Women's Devotional Bible.  It is still the Bible I have marked in and underlined the most.  The second time I did it, it was over a summer...well....like....May to September.  Then, last year I did the Bible in 90 Days reading plan off of YouVersion after I read the book "Radical".  In the book, David Platt challenged the readers to have a hunger for God's Word like never before.  So, I took it on.

Now...I have a brand new ESV Study Bible.  I LOVE IT!  Quick story if you didn't already hear it.  I got this Bible from my parents for my 33rd birthday on Christmas Day.  Yes, my birthday is actually on Christmas Day.  Anyway, I went to the local Christian bookstore and picked it out.  My Dad went and got it for me and had it gift wrapped and embossed with my name and all.  Anyway, so I took it home fresh out of the box on Christmas Day...it had never been opened before.  You know how every Bible has that bookmark ribbon inside?  Well, the bookmark ribbon was already inside and folded in and I wanted to see where it was.  Guess what I opened to?  "If not, listen to me; be silent and I will teach you wisdom." --Job 33:33  Did ya get that?  Job 33:33 on my 33rd birthday.......HOW AWESOME IS THAT?  So, basically the theme of my new Bible is "Shut up and listen."  :)  It wasn't actually God talking to Job, it was Elihu, but still...a good message.

So anyway, about this Bible.  So far...this is the best way I can explain how I feel about this Bible.  There are a ton of Bibles out there.  A ton of different translations, types, for different age groups, different languages, etc.  I've had a lot of different Bibles over my life.  I've heard a lot of God's Word over my life....for the first time ever in my Christian life......reading this Bible makes me feel...............knit into the story.  I wish I could explain what I mean but I feel more connected to history and HIS-STORY while reading this Bible.  I feel pulled in...I feel like I'm a part of it and it's a part of me.  I feel like I have a cable attached to me and I'm locked in tight.  It's weird...probably sounds weird, wish I could explain it better.  I feel more included and it's more personal to me than ever before.  That's the best I can do...

So last night I was doing my Bible reading for the day according to the ESV yearly plan and it was in Genesis 1:2 where it says, "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep."  When I checked out the Study Bible notes, this is what it said:  "In any event, there is no conflict in Genesis or in the rest of the Bible between God and the deep, since the deep readily does God’s bidding." and then it cited a bunch of verses about "the deep".  So here I am sitting and trying to wrap my mind around "the deep."  It talked about the flood and Noah and about how God held the rains in the "fountains of the great deep".  In Psalm 33:7 it says, "He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses."  Ugh, trying to comprehend the deep is like trying to comprehend how the universe is always expanding.  It's unfathomable!  


The theme of my new ESV Study Bible is "to understand the Bible in a deeper way"...I mean, how else would you want to understand it and know it if it wasn't deeply?  It's like...there are levels....like the Holy of Holies....you can go so far, but sometimes you reach a point where you can't go any further.  Well, let me tell you I'm going there.  That's where I want to go!  I don't want to sit on the outskirts anymore worshipping God from afar...I want to be where He is!  My heart longs to search the mind and heart of Christ and the deep things of God.  I'm 33 years old now...what have I done with my time?  Christ's ministry lasted only 3 years.  Well, it continued when He ascended and when the Holy Spirit came and it continues today, but His earthly ministry was only 3 years.  What can I say I have done for Him with my life?  


While I contemplate that question....time to do some more reading...."I'm divin' in, I'm goin' deep, in over my head I want to be, lost in the flood, tossed in the flow, duh duh duh duh..."  I forgot the rest...I'm tired.


'Night all!