A Drop in the Bucket

It is common to become distressed and fearful about problems whether they are family, work, or government related. The following passages are a few selections from the Bible specifically chosen because of their teaching regarding the nature and character of God. The passages mention the greatness of God, his power and wisdom, his sovereignty, his mighty judgment against his enemies, and his grace shown to those who believe in him. If the character of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the subject of meditation, then the rock upon which the redeemed have been set from the bog of sin will feel firmer beneath their feet. However, those who do not know the Lord should be reminded of their condition before him and believe in Christ for redemption from sin and fellowship with him.

Barry Waugh

Job 12:13-25

With God are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

If he tears down, none can rebuild;

if he shuts a man in, none can open.

If he withholds the water, they dry up;

if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

With him are strength and sound wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

He leads counselors away stripped,

and judges he makes fools.

He looses the bonds of kings,

and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

He leads priests away stripped,

and overthrows the mighty.

He deprives of speech those who are trusted,

and takes away the discernment of the elders.

He pours contempt on princes,

and loosens the belt of the strong.

He uncovers the deep out of darkness,

and brings deep darkness to light.

He makes nations great, and he destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and leads them away.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

and makes them wander in a pathless waste.

They grope in the dark without light,

and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Isaiah 40:12-17

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,

and are counted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less

than nothing and emptiness.

Romans 8:31-39

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect, it is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered [Psalm 44:22].

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

bwaugh

Thanksgiving, William Bradford, 1590-1657

Polity of the Plymouth Pilgrims

An Observer, The Future of Princeton Seminary, 1906

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