quote to ponder

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
-anais nin

I saw this quote this morning across the top of my email account, and it reminded me of a conversation that John and I had last night. We were talking about ideas for the coming year and beyond - dreaming big and thinking outside the box - and John said, "but is my God too small for that? Rather, is my view of God too small?"

It is something that I need to keep learning, to see God as He is, not as who I would like Him to be, or who I think He is.
We will always have something more to learn about Him, about His character, and I need to be very, very, very careful not to "fashion an idol", a god that I am comfortable with (Is. 44) but to let Him be. For He is great, He is awesome, and He is to be praised.


"Remember these things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you."
Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.
"This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD,
who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,
who carries out the words of his servants
and fulfills the predictions of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,'
of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be built,'
and of their ruins, 'I will restore them,'
who says to the watery deep, 'Be dry,
and I will dry up your streams,'
who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,"
and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid." ' -Is. 44:21-28