By: Rex Stump
Wauseon, Ohio
Growing up on a farm, I carried 5-gallon buckets into the animal pens, through the barns, in the garden, basically for every purpose. Water, feed, dirt, rocks…you name it, we probably carried it.
In Isaiah 40:15, we read, “No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.”
I read that there are over 200 nations on Earth. Today, we have incredible technology that allows us to connect instantaneously with people all over the world. But in the past, nations waged war with each other and traded in peace without the other side of the world even knowing. Each of these nations is ruled and governed by men and women, who come and go. Some are written in stone, memoirs, and historical documents, while others are unknown and forgotten.
We hear of peace treaties and wars within nations, and we worry about how it will affect us. Listen, God is bigger than all that is taking place in our world. These nations and their rulers are nothing but drops in a bucket.
We worry, whine, complain, and argue over our governing leaders, when our focus should be on the one who holds the bucket! God is bigger than all that is taking place! He carries the world like a strongman carrying a bucket of sand!
Isaiah 40:22, “God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.”
I don’t know why, but as a little boy, I would try to catch grasshoppers and sometimes even try to step on them! It must have been a “boy thing.” I was like a giant walking among these insects, holding the power of life and death with a simple step of my foot. And then I read this verse, and I’m reminded how small I am to God. We are like grasshoppers to God! Small, powerless, and yet God loves us!
Don’t miss that last half of verse 22. “He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.” Have you ever gone out on a clear night to look at the stars?
If you live in the country, or have been camping in the wilderness, away from the lights of a city, on a clear night, you can look up and, in every direction, there is nothing but a blanket of stars. This is the tent of God! A tent! A sky that is so massive to us is small to God. His tent. Not a castle, nor a mansion. Just a tent!
When I read these verses and hold them next to my worries and problems, I find hope and relief. My God, who created me and loves me, is big enough to handle every problem in the universe, and yet personal enough to know me and my life situations.
Knowing this, compels me to live differently in this world. Not acting in fear, worry, or anger. Instead, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12). Once again, I don’t have to understand; instead, I must trust God, who holds the bucket, seated above, reigning over all things.
“Stay strong, stay focused…stay faithful!”
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Rex Stump is the Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and serves as a Pastor at True North Church in Wauseon, Ohio.