Mercy Like Morning: A 7-Day DevotionalSample

The Power of Familiarity

I was neck deep in a newly-kindled love of Scripture-digging when my now-husband slipped me a Bible one summer afternoon while we were still dating. The next morning, I started reading in the beginning, at Genesis 1, with a brand-new Bible curiosity. I picked out a reading plan and made my way all the way through to the end, keeping an eye out for cross-reference-superscripts, scratching ink on blank margins and making notes of my thoughts whenever I came across a treasure.

By the time I had found myself neck deep in the throes of our family-wait, I had well-familiarized myself with God’s Word. Even today, reading certain words in an Old Testament verse can trigger a piece of a New Testament verse, carrying on the conversation from Hebrew to Greek and across generations.

As I chewed on yesterday’s root word revelation, I thought of Paul’s overarching prayer in Ephesians 3. The one that had him on his knees praying for the group of believers in Ephesus, asking that they, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height of the love of Christ.

I’m going to take one from Paul’s playbook and stop right here in the middle of mine. To bow my knees before our Father and pray for you.

I pray that you would have the strength to dig and to keep digging. To continually search every nook and cranny and recess of your Bible until there is no dark corner left to dig into, no treasure stone left unturned. I pray that you keep digging in Scripture until you are old and gray, that you may be able to learn the broad and expansive depth of the love of Christ.

So I pray that you dig and keep digging. Because you cannot reach the depth, breadth, length, or height of Him. But one thing you can count on: When you get down into the no-light-left, deep-sea parts of God? He will meet you there, rejoicing over you with gladness, quieting you with His knowledge-surpassing love, and rejoicing over you with deep-sea singing.

I pray that you can comprehend that the shadow of death is really the shadowing-forth of His glory. And it’s a glory, hallelujah, for all generations to see, forever and ever kind of glory-greatness.

Amen.