Going Deeper with God

July 28, 2026

Motivational speaker John Maxwell tells the story of professional football quarterback legend Ken Stabler:

One day when the Raiders were in Oakland, a reporter visited their locker room to talk to Ken Stabler.  Stabler really wasn’t known as an intellectual, but he was a good quarterback.  This newspaperman read him some English prose:

I would rather be ashes than dust. 

I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than that it should be stifled by dry rot.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy, impermanent planet.

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.

I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.

I shall use my time.

After reading this to the quarterback, the reporter asked, “What does this mean to you?”  Stabler immediately replied, “Throw deep.”[1]

I have often thought about this story since I first read it thirty years ago.  It surfaced again this past Sunday in the Bible Study time.  Ken Stabler and the Oakland Raiders had an offense that believed in scoring often and quickly.   You cannot do that three yards at a time.  Long (“deep”) passes for touchdowns were expected in Raiders’ games; that expectation was rarely disappointed!  Quarterback Ken Stabler knew how to throw deep.

The lesson on Sunday was Apostle Paul’s version of going deep with God.

But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived—God has prepared these things for those who love him.  Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  1 Corinthians 2:9-10

The writer[2] of the lesson’s commentary made the point that while we cannot know God exhaustively (particularly due to God’s inexhaustive nature), He has made Himself available for us to know Him truly.  We can know God through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, who came to us, lived with us, died for us, rose from the grave to conquer sin’s death grip on us, and lives eternally with arms stretched open to receive any of us who will come to Him.

In this simple encapsulation of the Gospel, we find the deep (or secret) things of God.  Prophet Isaiah said that God said:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.”  This is the Lord’s declaration.  “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9

So, what are these “depths of God”?  There’s no way to adequately express them, but, like many inexpressible issues, sights, and  thoughts, we know them when we see them.

I truly believe that the deep things of God (unknowable to, and undefinable by us at present, in our limited human knowledge) are at work in everything that happens.  They are active in a child being born, a murder, the stock market, earth’s plates shifting, and my stomach growling at lunchtime.  It’s what leads us to believe God is “in” everything, even though we cannot comprehend Him exhaustively!  We cannot see, but God invites us to know!

For You Today

Get to know Him…Throw Deep!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The Christian Standard Bible^©   

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[1] John Maxwell, Be All You Can Be (Victor, 1987), p.132

[2] Sam Crouch, Bible Studies for Life (Adult Leader Guide), Lifeway Christian Resources, Brentwood, TN, p.101

 

Below the Surface

 

 

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds.  I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word.  Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.  I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations.  I cling to your laws.  Lord, don’t let me be put to shame!  I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding.  Psalm 119:27-32[1]

If you notice the words and phrases in red, the Psalmist asked for understanding of what God’s ways and character mean when put into daily living.  He asked for encouragement (strength) to live that way.  He asked for knowing, a clear understanding of his own character (not lying to himself), all an indication of the tendency to stray from God’s way.  He wanted to change; he wanted to be pleasing in God’s sight, and he expressed faith that God …would expand my understanding. 

How about a little expansion for today?  How about going deeper than the surface “milk” of God’s word, clear-down to the “meat”?  For instance, read this verse from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian believers:

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13

In a “surface” read many people assume what you often hear as bedrock Gospel; The Lord won’t put any more on ya’ than ya’ can stand.  But if you dug deeper you’d have to admit God does just that sometimes (even often).  Just ask Job.  In the oldest of the Biblical writings, the story of Job proclaims him a good man.

There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.  Job 1:1

Read a little farther and you discover Job, a man loved by God, got clobbered with more bad stuff than most of us would face in 3 lifetimes.  But at the end, Job found mercy and grace.  And in the long-run, in God’s timing, things turned-out far-better for Job than the earthly wealth and success he’d managed to accumulate.

The prophet Isaiah wrote that God said:

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

God’s wisdom, strength, and gifts all match his mercy and grace, and it is all available to us, if we will trust like Job, not popular theology that denies God’s Word.

For You Today

If you can pray with the Psalmist for underestanding, strength, clarity, and discipline to live God’s way, you’ve taken a first step in a lifetime of heading in the right direction, pleasing God in every way.[2]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts on Rocky Road Devotions. 

To dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text:  Tough Trust  and Faith Leap

[1] Images:  Russell Brownworth (own work)  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Emphasis (mine) added

[2] See Romans 12:1-2

Good Advice for the Long Haul

 

Friday, February 18, 2022

Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong.  For like grass, they soon fade away.  Like spring flowers, they soon wither.  Trust in the Lord and do good.  Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.  Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.  Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust him, and he will help you.  He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.  Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.  Stop being angry!  Turn from your rage!  Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm.  For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.  Soon the wicked will disappear.  Though you look for them, they will be gone.  The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity.  Psalm 37:1-11

God’s plans for us are always good, despite the difficulties we may encounter.  The problem with human critters’ comprehending that is our perspective of “good” runs far short of God’s perspective.  Mostly we want everything to be what WE want, rather than what God has determined is good.  For instance:

·       living safely in the land and prosper(ing), can only mean no problems/bigger bank accounts.

·       Trust him, and he will help you, can only mean put God on probation, and go with his plan as long as it suits you.

·       Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes, can only mean God’s only doing his job as long as the bad guy gets his comeuppance, and I get to rub it in his face.

·       The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity, can only mean I’m getting a promotion over the other guy (who also prayed, but God likes me better than him).

So, what is the Psalmist saying about trusting God in the long haul of living?  He is saying exactly what he said – trust God.  That includes the mountain of trials, and events you face which make little sense to you. 

In order to see the truth of God’s plans for you unfold, it is sometimes a long-haul.  And some of it you will not see, because you’ve planned an outcome that is light years away from God’s thoughts.  God already told us that through the prophet:

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

For You Today

In trusting God today (and tomorrow, and all the following tomorrows), make sure to take a deep breath over what that means.  Because it means becoming like a small child[1] with everything you see and think, placing your little hand in God’s big hand…and following.  It means stop the leading; it’s not your job.

Now…isn’t that better?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and other images:  Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] See Matthew 18:3-4

Getting to the Next Level

[i][ii]

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done.  Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida.  But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him.  He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.  Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night.  There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”  But Jesus said, “You feed them.”  “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.  “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?”  For there were about 5,000 men there.  Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.”  So the people all sat down.  Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them.  Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people.  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!  Luke 9:10-17

No matter what else you do with this account…how Jesus did that thing of multiplying the bread, or dwelling on the people just following Jesus for a meal, or how stunned the disciples were…there is one thing you cannot afford to lay aside:  God’s ways are higher than ours.[1]  That said, we shouldn’t miss how at the same time Jesus was feeding hungry people in a miraculous way, he was also teaching the disciples where the next level of following in His steps would take them.

To the disciples’ credit, they cared for the crowds that followed; they brought the obvious problem to Jesus that night was approaching and there was no food.  Can’t you just hear it – Peter, ever the first to speak, lays out for Jesus just what to do, make these people take a little responsibility…send them away now so they can find food in the village.  Jesus dumps it right back on the disciples’ shoulders; No, big fella…YOU feed them.  Still on the lower level, Peter is groping for a practical way to make food appear…should we empty the treasury for 5,000 happy meals?

Enter the miracle! 

Someone once pointed out that every miracle in Scripture came with a problem.  Problems, threats, doctor’s reports and bottom lines, it is the shortages and crises that drive our desperation to the limit.  When we get in trouble is typically the time we step up our prayer life.  When trouble comes knocking, we want to pretend we didn’t hear anything.  But often what comes to our doorstep dressed-up like a problem is God calling us to the next level of serving.  The curious people who had no food got fed, but the disciples got schooled at the same time.  His ways may be higher than ours, but the heart of God wants nothing more than for His ways to become our ways.

And without question, there are enough problems in our world that God is using to call us to step-up our game:  YOU feed them!

For You Today

Whatever step you’ve camped on in serving God, don’t forget to look up; the next level beckons!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Isaiah 55:8-9

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Omniscient

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NRSV)

…he knows everything.  1 John 3:20b (NRSV)

When someone calls you a “know-it-all” they’re usually not being very kind.  When God refers to Himself that way…well, His ways and thoughts ARE at a different pay grade.

Omniscience (in God’s case) is not just having all the information that can be gathered as facts.  As the Psalmist points out, the sum of God-knowledge is beyond all knowledge; un-understandable.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.  Psalms 147:5 (NRSV)

God’s knowledge not only sees our steps…

“For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals, 

and he sees all their steps.                   Job 34:21 (NRSV)

…His knowledge will be the central theme of judgment for where our steps have taken us.  We are accountable for our actions and God knows!  God knows, indeed!

And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.  Hebrews 4:13 (NRSV)

The “predictive” element in God’s omniscience has always fascinated theologians, philosophers and simple people like me.  How can He know what hasn’t even happened?  

And yet, so says the Scriptures, He is Alpha and Omega ^{Rev 1:8}; beginning and END!

Think Farmer’s Almanac.  (You knew I’d get around to the farming metaphor).

Year after year since 1792 this amazing little publication has predicted the weather and probability for crop productivity with an amazing 80% success.

But God’s “success rate” is 100%!

There’s a new fad called “open” theology, which holds God really doesn’t know exactly what is going to happen; it all depends on man’s choices – and then God responds accordingly.

The overwhelming number of references (both Old and New Testament) to God’s ultimate omniscience, make anything less than His ways and thoughts being beyond our comprehension, well….incomprehensible.

 “Fail rate” on open theology?  100%. 

Today…for you

Remember that sin?

 

I’m not talking about the word you said when you hit your thumb with the hammer.  Or the thought you had when that crazy driver cut you off on I-85.  I mean that little secret, deep down that you try to never think about, but it’s there….and it eats you alive when you try to pray…but you’re afraid to bring it up to God, because you might have to give it up?  

Remember that one?

Psssst….He already knows.  He’s willing to forgive, and help you forsake it; and even forget it!  But, it won’t happen until you own it, confess it, and let it go.

Not sound right?  That’s because His ways really are much higher than yours.