Day 1

Welcome to the first day of 31 Days of Quotes! I like finding good quotes in books I read. Sometimes I write really good quotes in the bottom margin of my Bible, connecting them possibly with relevant verses.

I'm starting Day 1 with my all-time favorite quote. It's by John Piper and is actually found in the "Preface to the First Edition" of the revised edition of his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching. This book (and this quote) sparked a marked appreciation in me for God's sovereignty and supremacy when I read it, and that appreciation has continued to grow since.

So here we go!

People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow. Preaching that does not have the aroma of God's greatness may entertain for a season, but it will not touch the hidden cry of the soul: "Show me thy glory!"

 

--John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, Revised Edition

I connect it with Isaiah 40 (one of my all-time favorite chapters):

"Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood form the foundations of the earth?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. . . .

'To whom then will you liken Me,

Or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One. . . .

Why do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

'My way is hidden from the LORD,

And my just claim is passed over by my God'?

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the LORD,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength."

Isaiah 40:21-22, 25, 27-29 (NKJV)

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