I often think that I want to do a weekly "themed" post but as life happens and busyness comes I never seem to stick with the themed posts and I've gotten to be okay with that. A month or so ago I wrote a post that just shared some quotes from podcasts and other places that God had used to help me focus on Him more. I wanted to share a few others today.
The first quote is from a YouVersion plan Titled "7 words from the Cross". It's a 7 day plan and each day discusses one of the statements Jesus made while on the cross. The 7th day was studying Jesus final statement; "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46). As fully God, Jesus knew that all would be fulfilled as planned but as also being fully human Jesus had to deal with the human emotions too...the temptation to doubt and fear. The following statement sums this up so beautifully:
"He trusted his Father to catch him as he let go,
trusting that the holy plan was a good one,
trusting that his work had been sufficient,
trusting that the Father's promises of resurrection would come true."
May we trust like Jesus did and surrender; trusting that our Abba Father will catch us!
While listening to Tony Evans preach on the Sovereignty of God this quote stood out to me:
"The problem is people want God everywhere except on His throne."
This last quote is a question posed on K-LOVE the other day and one I've been mulling over in my mind. I'd love to hear your answers to this question as well.
"If fear was not a factor in your decision, what would you do?"
Spring is here and I'm looking forward to warmer days and more hours of sunshine. We've started prepping and extending our garden area and planning some changes to our yard. Tonight I used up the last of the tomatoes and tomato sauce I had frozen. I made a batch of spaghetti sauce to go with some meatballs. This is a recipe I'll need to tweak a bit but it was great to have some "fresh" sauce. I'm looking forward to enjoying more fresh veggies this summer.
This blanket was one I made using the leftover yarn from the fox blanket I made earlier this
year. A friend dubbed it the "Nemo" blanket since the colors and stripes are
reminiscent of a clown fish. I'd say it's a hit.
Speaking of using up leftover yarn. This dress is made from the yarn I had leftover from the poncho and hat I made myself last year. I combined two dress patterns as I wanted the closed stitching on the top but more of a flowing, lacy skirt. I'm pleased with how it came out and she approves. Her comment was "it's SO cozy!" She will wear it this week for Easter Sunday.
So those are a few things I've been up to lately.
I'm thankful for newness in Spring and the reminder of God's creativity. God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary!
I once heard someone say that reading the Bible can sometimes feel like eating plain oatmeal for breakfast everyday. We know it's nutritious and that we should eat it but what we really want is cinnamon rolls and bacon every morning. Sometimes this feeling can come from our own spiritual "dry" spell and sometimes we find the Bible like oatmeal because of the passage we're reading. Many times we are tempted to skip past the genealogies, land allotments and temple details. Give us David's challenge to Goliath:"You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled." I Samuel 17:45. Or Esther realizing that she was truly made queen "for such a time as this" and declaring "and if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:14, 16). Now THOSE are some cinnamon roll and bacon passages! However, we are told that ALL Scripture is "God-breathed" and "profitable" (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and that Scripture contains ALL we need for "life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). So, why are there these "oatmeal" passages? We know that since they are God-breathed there must be an important reason for them to be included.
The other day I found myself mulling this over while listening to that day's passage...if I'm honest it was more like an impatient grumbling of "ugh, I'll be glad to get through this list". I was in the book of Joshua where Joshua is listing out the land allotments for each tribe with all the boundaries and cities. While I can see this would be important for the Israelites at the time, I wondered why was it included for us; was it purely for the historical record? From reading Chronicles and Kings we know that there are other books of record that aren't included in the Bible; so why this passage? I laughed when my reading for that day ended with Joshua 21:45 "Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass." A direct answer to my thought! God is a God of details and of promise. These seemingly bland passages come alive with the Truth of Who God is when look beneath the surface.
The book of Leviticus has long been a book that receives dread (from those reading through it) and ridicule (from those that don't understand it). I was fully in the dread category for many years. All those laws, details and seemingly non-applicable passages. We are not under the old law but under grace so why bother reading Leviticus...unless to learn about Jewish laws and practices. But then I chose to study the book of Leviticus; to again look beneath the surface. Do you know that in the book of Leviticus God says that we are to "be holy as I am holy" or that the one standing before God is to "be holy" four different times? (Lev. 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8). This command is again given in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:16). When we understand all these laws were given so that the Israelites would understand that EVERY part of their lives were to be holy; that the priests had special instructions so they could be seen holy and stand in the presence of God, then we can parallel that with the New Covenant we have in Jesus. We see and understand that we can only stand in the presence of God when we are holy - and we are only made holy by being washed by Jesus blood (Hebrews 10:19). As believers we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), a priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) and we are to offer our lives as a "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1) EVERY part of our lives is to be holy. Again, God is a God of details; He cares about every aspect of our lives.
God also includes these passages to remind us that He is a faithful God and will fulfill every detail of His promises. Genesis 15 details the covenant that God made with Abraham. God promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, that Abraham's very own son would be his heir, God also told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years but that God would deliver them with "great possessions" (vs. 14) then in verses 18-21 God lists the land that He would give to Abraham's descendants. God kept every detail of His covenant with Abraham; so when we see those lands listed in Joshua we now understand the importance of those tribes and cities being listed; to show that ALL of God's "good promises" had come to pass.
These are just a couple examples from Scripture but as we read and study more we see this Truth over and over; when God promises something, HE WILL accomplish every detail. So when Jesus promises that:
- He is preparing a place for us and He will come again for us and that we have a Comforter with us until He returns (John 14) we KNOW it is true
-when He says that as we tell others about Him that He will be with us (Matthew 28) we KNOW it is true
-when He says that when we confess our sins we will have forgiveness (1 John 1) we KNOW it is true
So when we bump up against those "oatmeal" passages and are tempted to skip over them; may we instead lean into them and study a bit deeper asking God for a greater understanding of Him!
I'll end once again with a new-to-me song. The lyrics are based on the words of Jesus in the time between His resurrection and ascension. Praise God that Jesus' goodbye on the Mount of Olives was "not the end" Jesus IS coming back for us!
The verse above is the current verse on my letter board for the month of March. As I've mentioned in the past, each month I post a verse in our entryway that contains my "word of the year". As I was looking into the context of this verse (see my last post for thoughts on keeping verses in context) I was encouraged by what I learned and also the glimpse into David's heart as a father. I'm so thankful that God used, and still uses, flawed people. I love reading David's writings because he wears his heart on his sleeve so we get a real look into his thinking and emotions. Below are 7 thoughts on David's as a father. How God had grown him in this role and the lessons that are still applicable to parents today.
Lessons on parenting from David: (1 Chronicles 28 & 29)
1) David made mistakes as a parent but here at the end of his reign he shows wisdom and growth in his parenting; he didn't get "stuck" by his mistakes. (read 2 Samuel for more on his mistakes)
2) David provided the materials, information, encouragement, prayers and teaching that he could to help Solomon with the tasks God had given him to do (being king and building the temple) (see 1 Chronicles 28:9-21)
3) David asked others to support his son (29:1-9)
4) David pointed Solomon to God and reminded all those assembled Who the God of Israel is. (29:10-18)
5) David prayed specifically for God to work in Solomon's life. (29:19)
6) David looked at all God had done; His faithfulness, and rejoiced in God's faithfulness and the assurance that He is forever faithful (29:20-22)
7) David saw that Solomon had a unique purpose and path given by God. He sought to support and prepare Solomon as best as he could. In the final verses of chapter 29 we see David pass the kingship to Solomon and then die. David knew that while his life was finite and he wouldn't always be with Solomon; God is infinite. David entrusted his son to the One who has conquered death and would always be with Solomon (vs. 22-30)
May we be praying parents who seek to faithfully serve God, pointing our kids to Christ, teaching them the truths of the Bible, giving them all that we can, teaching them to stand with other believers, helping each other, and to remember that we serve a faithful God who will NEVER leave us or forsake us! While we can't always be with our kids our Great God is!
Several months ago I read a post on Instagram that said something to the effect of: No matter what happens in the future, when your children look back at you will they see Jesus? The lyrics of the song (of course I have to end with a song :) ) "No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus" speak to this:
