Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” s30e100 Ps 8¾
May the Lord visit you on this morning; on this day
May the Lord be so close as to talk to you and test you.
May you see that the Lord has set His heart on you
May you appreciate that the Lord has made much of you
Perhaps we could respond: You have made much of us, the least we can do is make much of you>
As Chief Brody said in Jaws when confronted with the enormity before him:
"We’re gonna need a bigger boat"
https://youtu.be/vXdCsfgLqF4
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” s30e100 Ps 8 ¾
There is an iconic Jaws, with Roy Schneider playing the police chief martin brody, he FINALLY gets a view of the shark. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”
When we see ourselves in comparison, or in relation to God, we measure very small, very humble, unworthy, silenced. We’re gonna need a bigger boat
Today let us be STRUCK.
Let us be struck that God has His mind FULL of us…even a little bit.
It is a wonder that I or you or us fall across the purview of the the Almighty.
But He has designed us, created us, placed us specifically into place and time. David asks dear Lord, how is it that You think and care for us?
Why am I on the menu of Your mind? Of all the greatness that you have before You, how is it that your eye is upon me?
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
Who else has thought this way in the wonderful scriptures?
I am thinking of the centurion in Jesus’ day: Mt 8: 5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. :He has a beautiful posture of humility.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Or Bildad in the book of Job. He notes, rightly, that man is a maggot, a worm certainly in comparison with the grandeur of God
and in comparison with the rightness and purity of God
have you ever stood before the starry sky and felt insignificant yet seen?
Job 25: 4 How then can man be in the right before God?
How can he who is born of woman be pure?
man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
:Or of Job himself of job 7:1717 What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
18 visit him every morning
and test him every moment?
:Wait, Lord You are so very here, so in our face:
You VISIT, You set Your heart on us, You interact to the point of TESTING
You have made much of us, the least we can do is make much of you
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? We’re gonna need a bigger boat
Or Solomon, at the opening of the Temple in Jerusalem as he prayed in 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,
:Lord, will you have regard. Can we expect your attention? What happens if we get your attention?
Or later:Proverbs 8 we hear that the Lord 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
We are like Isaiah as he was given a vision of God in heaven: Is62 Above him stood the seraphim3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Woe is me. Who am I. Who are my people. We’re gonna need a bigger boat
YET, God visits. God is mindful. God cares.
This is the great paradox of Psalm 8. The great tension.
We have a great God who is so near.
We have majesty enthroned who visits us.
We have perfection, who comes to speak and so to test us.
We have God rejoicing and delighting in the children of man
Our response: We’re gonna need a bigger boat
So many have felt this before us: Job,David, Solomon, Bildad
If you feel like a speck, you are in good company
Zephaniah 3: 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
17 The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
We sing, children of the Lord because of what He does:
He rejoices over us with gladness
He quiets us by His love
He exults over us with singing
We sing, because He sings over us.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
Conclusions:
May the Lord visit you on this morning; on this day
May the Lord be so close as to talk to you and test you.
May you see that the Lord has set His heart on you
May you appreciate that the Lord has made much of you
You have made much of us, the least we can do is make much of you We’re gonnaneed a bigger boat