Just a Drop

I live on very wooded property, and although we fell many trees to build, and I have lost several trees to wind and heavy snow, it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what is left standing.

Maybe you have lots of trees as well and come fall, you spend all day raking, but it’s just a drop in the bucket to what is left on the trees.

Three Sunday’s ago, I spent 4 hours in my garage sorting and cleaning, and repacking into plastic totes but it’s just a drop in the bucket to what needs to be done!

Yep, you guessed it. Today’s Biblical idiom is “Just a drop in the bucket” and for that we turn to the book of Isaiah and chapter 40.

“Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

“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 from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales…” Isaiah 40:10-15 ESV

It was 2008, and I took one of my grandson’s to see the movie “Horton Hears a Who!” He was 8 years old.

It’s a Dr. Seuss adventure involving Horton, an elephant, who is desperately trying to protect a microscopic community from everyone around him who does not believe it exists.

It’s a cute movie. Horton finds a speck of dust floating in the jungle. Upon further investigation he discovers the tiny city of Who-ville and the people who live there. He cannot see them, but he can hear them and quickly forms a friendship with the mayor and Horton sets out to relocated Who-ville to safety, all the while facing opposition from his jungle neighbors who do not believe in the existence of Who-ville.

There is a steady theme throughout the movie and that is this: that everyone should be treated equally. And you will hear frequently through the movie, “A person is a person no matter how small.”

“In his mission to protect the speck, Horton is ridiculed and harassed by the other animals in the jungle for it since they believe that anything that can't be seen or heard is nonexistent. He is first criticized by the sour kangaroo and her joey. The splash they make as they jump into the pool almost reaches the speck, so Horton decides to find somewhere safer for it.

“But the news of his odd new behavior spreads quickly, and he is soon harassed by the Wickersham Brothers, a group of monkeys (which are actually apes). They steal the clover from him and give it to Vlad Vladikoff, a “black-bottomed” eagle. Vlad flies the clover a long distance, with Horton in pursuit, until Vlad drops it into the middle of a field of clovers that stretches for hundreds of miles.

“After an extremely long search, Horton finally finds the clover (the 3,000,000th flower) with the speck on it. However, the Mayor informs him that Whoville, the town on the speck, is in bad shape from the fall, and Horton discovers that the sour kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers (along with their extended family) have caught up to him.

“They tie Horton up and threaten to boil the speck in a pot of "Beezle-Nut" oil. To save Whoville, Horton implores the little people to make as much noise as they can, to prove their existence. So almost everyone in Whoville shouts, sings, and plays instruments, but still no one but Horton can hear them. So the Mayor searches Whoville until he finds a very small shirker named JoJo, who is playing with a yo-yo instead of making noise.

“The Mayor carries him to the top of Eiffelberg Tower, where JoJo shouts out a loud "Yopp!", which finally makes the kangaroo and the monkeys hear the Whos. Now convinced of the Whos' existence, the other jungle animals vow to help Horton protect the tiny community.” (Source: Wikipedia)

I saw so many parallels throughout the movie. Good vs bad. Believers vs unbelievers. A hero doing everything in his power to save the people.

As we were walking out of the movie theater my grandson turned to me and said, “Grandma, wouldn’t it be cool if something like that really existed?” His eyes were wide with wonder as I excitedly replied, “There is!” “THERE IS?!?” he exclaimed.

I said, “yes” and then I began to tell him of how we are that speck of dust living on the red clover. How planet earth has been hung is space by a very large Creator God. How Jesus is doing everything in His power to save us, and how much of the world does not believe He exists.

I don’t know if he remembers that conversation, but I will never forget it. It was precious.

“He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;

he suspends the earth over nothing.

He wraps up the waters in his clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

He covers the face of the full moon,

spreading his clouds over it.

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters

for a boundary between light and darkness.

The pillars of the heavens quake,

aghast at his rebuke.

By his power he churned up the sea…

By his breath the skies became fair…

And these are but the outer fringe of his works;

how faint the whisper we hear of him!

Who then can understand the thunder of his power?” Job 26:7-14 NIV

We are just a drop in the bucket compared to the expanse of space and time. We are barely a fraction of that drop and yet Jesus loved us so much He risked everything to save us. Ridiculed. Misunderstood. Not believed. Lied about. Charged will false accusations, betrayed and tortured all while trying to save us.

Can’t you hear the love in John 17:24?

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” NIV

That’s what Jesus wants more than anything else in the universe. You!

by Jeanette Stark – Wednesday, July 26, 2023