Connecting the Dots

Have you ever had one of those earth-shattering moments when you realize two people you’ve known in different capacities, perhaps at college or at church, are actually related to each other? I can’t count the number of times that has happened to me, with my reaction being something along the lines of, “Wait--what? . . . What?? No way! How did I not know that?!”

If you’ve ever been there, then you understand how your world suddenly is realigned as you begin to see connections to which you were heretofore completely oblivious. You start to recognize that, yeah, they do have similar mannerisms/expressions, or actually they do kind of look alike now that you stop to think about it.

Not only that, but also the framework in which you view said acquaintances is totally shifted. You realize that each has a history with the other person that is deeper than what you have with either of them. The lens through which you view them is adjusted to include this new information that they have a sibling or a cousin who is living and interacting in the same environment that you all share. In other words, you see each person in a new, fuller context.

A similar effect occurs when you have an interaction with someone as a stranger or an acquaintance, only to become good friends with him or her years later. It’s mind-blowing when you realize that the encounter you had all those years ago was with the very same person that you know so well now. Suddenly, you have to adjust your understanding of that person to include all your interactions with him, or perhaps more accurately, to recalibrate your understanding of that past encounter against the depth of knowledge you have about that person now.

I’m guessing that many of you have experienced at least one of these connect-the-dots moments, but I wonder if you’ve ever had such a moment when it comes to God? Today, I’d like to invite you to consider with me the joy of a dot-connecting quest with the Divine.

There are countless opportunities for us to connect dots in Scripture, whether it be along lines of theme or chronology or biography, but the dots I’m thinking of today are those that deal with God Himself. I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to read the Bible as a history book (which, in a sense, it is), detached from modern day. Not that there aren’t manifold applications to our modern lives, because Scripture is timeless and is the living Word of God, but it can become very easy to miss the fact that the God who spoke to Moses and Daniel is the same Being we speak to today.

Of course, we all know this intellectually, but do we really stop to consider the practical significance of it? Just as we use past conversations with friends to inform current ones, do we look to past conversations God has had with our predecessors to inform our current understanding of and conversations with Him?

First of all, just take a moment to ruminate on the fact that the God who spoke with Noah, wrestled with Jacob, communicated with Solomon, and answered Nehemiah’s prayers is the same God (see Genesis 6-9, 32:22-32; 1 Kings 3; Nehemiah 1). The main character of the thousands of years covered in the Bible is one Being. We know He is eternal and unchanging, but do we realize the implications of that truth?

It means that the God who spoke with Abraham about Sodom is the same One who said, “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (Genesis 18:22-33; Job 40:7-9, ESV).     

It means the Deity who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the furnace is the same One who said, “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You  are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Daniel 3; Isaiah 41:8-10, ESV).

It means the Lord, who is our Shepherd, is the same One who said, “Let there be light” (Psalm 23; Genesis 1:3).

It means the Person who led the Israelites by pillars of cloud and fire is the same One who said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Exodus 13:21; Matthew 3:17, ESV).

It means the One who said and did all of these things is the One we speak with even now.

When we pray, we are communing with the exact same person our ancestors in the faith did. And by His grace, He has given us a Book full of context to draw upon. We will never be able to comprehend the complete fullness of the mysteries of God or plumb the depths of His character, but He has given us thousands of dots in the pages of His Word and has designed our minds to have the capacity to connect them.

In Scripture, He has given us both explicitly and implicitly revelations of His thoughts, His nature, His actions, and His words over the course of time. And on top of that, to those who have repented and believed in Christ, He has given His own Spirit to indwell us, so that now, having a personal knowledge of God, we can look back at the accounts we had previously read in Scripture and say, “Look! There He is! That’s Him! He’s the One I know!”

And as we discover more and more about Him in Scripture, we can use our newfound knowledge to inform our understanding of Him today. We can have a fuller context from which to speak to Him, to marvel at Him, and to worship Him. What greater joy than to seek after a deeper, fuller knowledge of God? What more exciting than to have mind-blowing experiences when we connect the dots of who God is? 

I pray that today and in the days to come, you will take time to go hunting for dots and that God will reveal the connections to you by His Spirit through His Word.