The other day I read a post on Instagram that said for some encouragement take a few minutes and read through Psalm 104; so I did, and these verses especially caught my attention.
In particular, the phrase "may my meditation be pleasing to him", many days we can fake it on the outside but our minds are racing and a mess. We become too focused and overwhelmed by what is going on in the world around us that our meditation is on all the chaos. The verses in Psalm 104, up until this point, recount the greatness of God as revealed through His creation; God's power, faithfulness, wisdom, majesty and sovereignty are all mentioned. Then we reach these verses and this reminder to focus our praise, song and all our thoughts on what is pleasing to God. Reading through this Psalm was indeed an encouragement; take a few minutes and read it, meditate on it and then sing a song of praise to the great God we serve!
I think I've mentioned this before, but one of my favorite lessons to teach kiddos is the lesson found in Matthew 6 about how God provides for the birds and flowers so we don't need to worry because God will do "much more" for us as His children. Yesterday Keira brought in this beautiful tulip from our yard (I had asked her to pick some flowers from around the yard so I could use them to brighten up a spot inside). These verses immediately came to mind when I saw the gorgeous colors and patterns of the tulip. It was also another reminder of Psalm 104; how every intricate part of creation is lovingly designed and produced by an almighty Creator God; and how great a gift to us that we get to enjoy them! Take some time this week to stop, breathe, look around and truly see!
The weather here has been a bit crazy; we had sunny 70 degree days and then two days ago we got snow! Still thinking spring thoughts. I'm thankful for the sureness of the seasons. So often we can feel like we can't "see" God but He reminds us to look around at the things we can see and remember that He is the author and creator Who reveals Himself to us in the beauty of His creation. God reminds us that the seasons will change and will not cease.
We've started a bit of prep for this upcoming "seedtime". We've started working on our garden area outside and started a few seedlings inside. The kids love seeing how many new sprouts pop up each day.
From death (of the seed) comes life (in new plants) what a beautiful picture of new life in Christ.
I also made a new table scarf to add a bit of spring to our table; the old one I had was a red plaid and more winter looking. I found this yarn at Savers so it was a great deal.
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!
