Psalm 36:5-9 - How great is our God

This was the very first passage I journalled, so it's very simple. I'd heard you shouldn't start journalling with your favourite verse (you're unlikely to feel that you've done it justice when you're just starting out) so the page I decided to start journalling on was Psalm 36.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast in the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

- Psalm 36:5-9                                      

I had the song The splendour of the king going round in my head - a song with fantastic lyrics about God's attributes taken directly from scripture. As a result, when I read the passage the phrase that immediately came to mind was 'how great is our God'. While the song doesn't mention any of the attributes in this passage, it's another reminder of how big, strong, powerful and generally amazing God is.

After prepping the page with gesso I wrote out 'how great is our God' in various lettering, then coloured with Copic markers. It was very simple but because of that it gave me the confidence to actually put pen to paper in my Bible without worrying about it too much.

I kept the lettering to the margin because Psalm 37 is also on that page and over on to the next, and some of my favourite verses are in that psalm. I'll be returning to these pages and verses later.

Psalm 91:4 - Cover me with Your wings

He will cover you with His pinions,

And under His wings you may seek refuge;

His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

- Psalm 91:4

This was one of the first passages I journalled. It's a verse that I've known in a sort of passing way for a long time but not really thought about in depth. I was inspired by Rebekah R Jones' Bible art journalling challenge (week 25) to think more about what it means to be covered by God's wings.

It's reassuring to know that God is always there, in a way (and I mean no disrespect) like a spiritual comfort blanket, covering us, there for us to duck under whenever we need somewhere to go to hide or think or grieve or rest or anything else.

As far as the artwork goes, it's not the best art I've ever produced and in all honesty if I look at the page just as a creative product then I'm not happy with it. But that's not the point of Bible journalling. Through the process it made me think more about who God is, so even though I'm not happy with the end result, I'm pleased I got to spend time thinking about that verse more in depth and understanding more what it means for me.

I used some feather stamps as the basis for the page then embellished them with coloured pencils and added the lettering. I prepped the page with a very thin layer of white gesso, leaving the verse I was journalling uncovered so it stands out on the page.

Psalm 29 - The voice of the Lord is powerful

I often dip into the Psalms when I don't know what to read, and I found myself in Psalm 29 recently. The Psalm is all about how amazing God is and what He is capable of. I often find that it's difficult to conceive how big God is, but this Psalm goes some way to explaining His splendour.

A psalm of David.
Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King for ever.
The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

 - Psalm 29

Often when I Bible art journal I create something that speaks to me from the passage, but this time I thought I would illustrate what the passage said. There's so much in there and it all talks about how great God is, and I thought illustrating it might help me grasp better more of God's character and power.

I used coloured pencils, blended with a baby wipe, a white gel pen for the lightning and a black pen for the lettering to write out the part of the passage which seemed to sum it all up for me - 'the voice of the Lord is powerful'.

Exodus 3:14-15 - Names of God

I go to a ladies Bible study group every fortnight and we've been following a series on the names of God. In one session we looked at the meanings of all God's names and how they can apply to different aspects of His personality, and what that means for us. Although we weren't studying this passage at the time, it made me think of the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus.

God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”’
God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you.”
‘This is my name for ever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.'

 - Exodus 3:14-15

The art wasn't particularly much this week. I started to doodle the names down the side of the page during the Bible study, as I do use this Bible for everyday use as well as for my art. When I got home I knew wanted to do something to represent the bush so I found a drawing of flames on Pinterest to use as the template then adapted it to fit my Bible page.

The names I chose to use were ones we'd been discussing in the study - I AM/YHWH/Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah), Jehovah (The Lord), Elohim (God), Adonai/Lord, and Shaddai (Almighty). There are many other names which are used, particularly in the psalms, and it makes an interesting study to look at which name is actually being used in which instance to see how the author is relating to God in each instance. I found a good basic study on the names at Blue Letter Bible if you want to find out more.

I used Prismacolor pencils and my Pentel 0.8 pen for the lettering. I haven't stuck it into my Bible, but I also keep the study sheet with the meanings of all the names in that page as well, to remind me.

Mark 8:11-21 - Half full or half empty?

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

- Mark 8:11-21

Our new pastor Tony preached on this passage a few weeks ago and it really stuck with me, so I wanted to journal something. He started by asking 'is the glass half full or half empty?' (Personally I've always thought it depends on whether you're in the process of filling it or emptying it.) He went on to talk about how the disciples were so fixated on what they didn't have - bread - that they assumed everything must be to do with that. Jesus was actually talking about something completely different.

He goes on to remind them about how the bread was multiplied when He fed the thousands of people. Why should the disciples worry about not having bread when they were with a man who could do that?!

Tony finished by reminding us not to worry about the things we don't have, especially if they're things we don't need, as that can distract us and take over our thoughts; but to concentrate on what we do have.

For the journalling it was a very simple entry but I wanted to do something to remind myself of the sermon. I sketched a half full glass of water in coloured pencils and then added the text. I coloured the page with a blue pencil, leaving the passage above white. I'll probably add some notes to myself underneath at some point, but that was all I needed to do.

1 Samuel 1: 9b-20, 24-28 - We prayed for this child

This passage from Samuel is the story of Hannah praying desperately for a child and God hearing and answering her pleas.

Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
...After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

- 1 Samuel 1: 9b-20, 24-28

The passage has always been special to me as I have wanted to have a child for as long as I can remember. It took a lot of time for that desire to be fulfilled though. I remember three years ago on Mothering Sunday crying in church because I'd been dating my then-boyfriend Kevin for 18 months and it didn't seem to be going anywhere, I was getting older, and I wanted to be a mother so badly. A friend prayed with me during the service, which helped me feel better, but the underlying desire was still there.

But God had everything worked out! Five months later Kevin proposed to me and before the end of the year we were married. We decided to wait until we'd been married for a year until we started trying for a baby, to get used to being a couple first. In 2015 we started trying for a baby. So many prayers were sent up on the subject for the first six months of the year! And in August we finally got a positive test result. I remember clearly sitting there looking at the test result and praying "thank You, thank You, thank You!"

I had to wait until I was 37 years old before I finally got the child I longed for, and while I wasn't being mocked for being childless by other people as Hannah was, it was something that weighed heavily on me. The story of Samuel had been an encouragement to me and a ray of hope, even through all the years that I was single and having a baby seemed an impossible dream.

The art

The verse I chose to illustrate, v27, is very simple but says so much - a release from all the stress and longing, a huge prayer of praise, and a statement of how good God is.

I prepped the page with gesso and then decided to use my Copic markers to add a wash of colour over the page. This wasn't my best idea! Not only did the gesso stop the markers blending together properly, but every pen stroke showed up and the markers bled through the page quite heavily in places where I had missed with the gesso. I can still read the text through the colour, but I will be more careful with using Copics in my Bible again.

I used my Pentel 0.8 pen to do the lettering on the side, then filled in the banners and spaces in the letters with a white gel pen. At the bottom I used the space to journal some thoughts about why the verse is special to me.

This was partially prompted by the Heaven is Calling Bible art journalling series by Rebekah R Jones, lesson 1, Set your hope on a good God.

Genesis 8:21-22 & 9:11-16 - God keeps His promises

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” - Genesis 8:21-22

Sometimes things can seem to be completely out of control, and it's good to remember that we can rely on God's word. These verses are part of the story of Noah and the promise God makes to Noah immediately after the flood.

The second part of the promise is in the next chapter^:

I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” - Genesis 9:11-16

I love rainbows because they always remind me of this story and that God does keep His promises - we can rely on what He says and what He tells us He's going to do. It's very reassuring to know that even if we don't know what's going on, God does.

For the art I used my watercolour paints to create a very simple rainbow background and then did the lettering in the margin. I'd prepped my page with gesso, but missed a few bits around the edges. Fortunately the paint didn't bleed through, so the only result was that it looked a bit darker on the front of the page on the un-gessoed bits.