Imposing Grandeur Radio: Recent Episodes
Imposing Grandeur // Alexa Miller, Annie Clapp, + Avery Ward
Here at Imposing Grandeur Radio, it is our goal to ultimately glorify God, deepen our love and fervor for the King by valuing + studying His infallible Word, and to sharpen one another in the faith. We hope you will join us!
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." -2 Peter 3:18
NEW EPISODE!
Jeremiah 29:11- The question isn’t “have you heard this verse,” but rather, “have you ever heard the explanation of this verse?”
We usually see the words from Jeremiah 29:11 penned on a graduation card, in social media captions, or proclaimed whenever someone enters a new season of life.
But are we missing something?
This verse says God has a prosperous future for us… but what happens when our life is really hard? Has God left us?
How do we reconcile life’s sorrowful trials with a verse that speaks about having “hope for the future” and a life “without harm”?
Join us for episode 2 of our newest hermeneutics series! In this episode, Annie takes us on a deep dive into the Old Testament to explore the proper context of a verse that is so often copy-and-pasted in western society.
Listen and learn with us on all streaming platforms!
Timeline:Intro 0:00
Who wrote Jeremiah? Who is the author writing to? 8:19
When was Jeremiah written? 10:00
What genre is the book of Jeremiah 16:37
Why was the book of Jeremiah written? 17:30
Where was Jeremiah written? 19:15
Analysis & Application 19:35
Scripture References: Jeremiah 29
Jeremiah 1:1-4
2 Samuel 7
John 5:39
Other References: Study Bible (ESV, John MacArthur, Reformation)
The Bible Recap
Can you really do ALL things? Philippians 4:13 is one of the most popular Bible verses, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood verses in Scripture. Welcome to our new season at Imposing Grandeur Radio, where we move beyond the Instagram bio and discuss the most famous verses through their proper hermeneutical lens. Listen and learn with us!
Timeline:Intro 0:00
About The New Series 2:02
Hermeneutics in Action 7:45
- What is the context? 10:59
- Who is speaking and who are they speaking to? 13:15
- Applications: 15:50
Outro 24:58
Scripture References:Philippians 4:13
Hebrews 4:12
2 Timothy 3:16,17
2 Peter 1:21
Genesis 3
Philippians 1:7
Isaiah 55:9
Ways We Hope This Series is Helpful: 1. Debunking the most common verses taken out of context. 2. Equipping you to properly read and apply Scripture to your life. 3. To arm you with a defense for when these verses are misused so that you can lovingly correct and educate others.
Quotes:"Hermeneutics is simply a fancy word for reading and understanding Scripture." -Alexa
"When reading Scripture we do not do it with blind eyes; we read with eyes made new." -Annie
"Contrary to what some may think, the Bible is not full of separate one-verse inspirational quotes...they are verses with context which is something we must consider." -Alexa
"This verse should give you hope. This verse is not for those who finished a marathon, who have achieved a dream, or chasing a destiny....this is a verse for those who are broken. This is for those who have no strength of their own and no resources to rely on.....so this verse written by someone in a dark circumstance should be a light to us applicationally when we walk through tough seasons." -Alexa
"Our circumstances will change... but the point of this verse is that God doesn't. His power and presence in difficult circumstances is what enables us to have strength and contentment." -Alexa
"A simple gauge to determine if someone or you are reading a verse out of context is to ask yourself 'Does this elevate man above God?'"
"The greatest thing is finding Christ in your suffering." -Joni Eareckson Tada
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
- 2 Peter 3:18
The final episode of our “Fruits of the Spirit” series is here! It has been such a sweet and rich time of learning this year as we have delved into these fruits and what they mean for us, our lives in Christ, and what He calls us to. Our final “fruit” is self control! What is self control? How did Christ exhibit self control? Was Jesus self-controlled when He overturned the temple tables? We hope you will join us in listening and that you’ll be encouraged as we have that our God is a self-controlled God that does not change and what good news that is for us!
We are finishing off our "Fruits of the Spirit" series and we are so thankful to be back with you guys! Today, we are on the topic of "gentleness." Can you be gentle AND strong at the same time?? Practically speaking, how can someone be obedient and gentle in day-to-day scenarios and life? We hope you will take a listen and be encouraged that our God is a gentle God and His Holy Spirit is what grants us the ability to be gentle as we look to Him, our greatest example of gentle strength.
Hello everyone!! We hope y'all are doing so well! It's hard to believe we are so close to wrapping up this "Fruits of the Spirit" series. We hope y'all will join us for this episode on faithfulness. What defines faithfulness? How is God's faithfulness different than ours? Does His faithfulness depend on our faithfulness? This was such a rich episode, and we pray as you listen, you bask in the Lord's faithfulness and His ability to strengthen us to be faithful.
Welcome back to another episode!! We are back with our “Fruits of the Spirit” series and it is GOOD to be back! What is Biblical goodness? Where do we see this in scripture? How can we practically apply goodness to our lives? We hope you will listen and be encouraged that the Holy Spirit can grant us the ability to emulate goodness as we look to Him, our perfect example of what goodness is and what it looks like.
Welcome back to another episode!! Today, we are excited to hear from Alexa and what’s been happening in her life the past few months. This summer, Alexa traveled to Kenya and God did some incredible work in and through her life while there. It has been a gift to see the way she has clung to Christ through her own circumstances. He truly has been her contentment. We hope you are encouraged to lift your gaze and to look eternally in your own heartache and struggles. “The sweetest joys and the deepest pleasures are marked with tears, not laughter." - John Piper
Welcome back to another episode!! Today, we are looking forward to having Annie share what God has been doing in her life the past few months. As believers in Christ, there are always unique trends of joy and sorrow in our walks, no matter the season. We hope you will be encouraged to hear how Annie has been learning to rejoice in the Lord in her current season of life. May He be magnified in all our seasons of growth. Thank you for listening!
Avery discusses the intense grief of miscarrying while also reflecting on the peculiar joys God has blessed her with during this time.
Welcome back to another “Fruits of the Spirit” podcast! Today, “kindness” will be our newest topic. What is Biblical kindness? What’s the difference between kindness vs. goodness? How is kindness as a fruit of the Holy Spirit different than the world’s version? Listen and be encouraged that the Holy Spirit can grant us the ability to be kind to those around us as we look to Christ, our precious example of true, lovingkindness.
Welcome back to another roundtable episode! Occasionally, we sit down to discuss more casual topics. On today's agenda, we will be continuing our mini-series on High School. Welcome to our part 2!! Can you be friends with people that believe differently than you? DATING in High School?! What about college and picking the right degree for you? If you are in high school, we hope you will stick around for our other episodes included in this mini-series. If you aren't in high school, but you know a high schooler or a lady that would be encouraged by this episode, please share! Thanks so much for listening!
Welcome back to another “Fruits of the Spirit” podcast! Today, “patience” will be our newest topic. What is Biblical patience? How do we exhibit patience when dealing with difficult people? How do we grow in patience during trials and seasons of weariness? Listen and be encouraged that the Holy Spirit can grant us patience as we look to Christ, our precious example of true, godly patience.
Welcome back to another roundtable episode! Occasionally, we sit down to discuss more casual topics. On today's agenda, we will be starting a new mini-series on High School. How do you know which friend group is for you? Does how you dress matter? Should you get a job in high school? If you are in high school, we hope you will stick around for our other episodes included in this mini-series. If you aren't in high school, but you know a high schooler or a lady that would be encouraged by this episode, please share! Thanks so much for listening!
Welcome back to another “Fruits of the Spirit” podcast! Today, “peace” will be our newest topic. What is Biblical peace? Is it always a feeling? What if I don’t feel peace? How do we cultivate peace and where do I even begin? Listen and be encouraged that our great God and the hope of the Gospel is where true peace lies.
Welcome back to another roundtable episode! Occasionally, we sit down to discuss more casual topics. On today's agenda, we will be discussing the consumption of media. When do movies, shows, books, media, etc., become sinful? As Christians, what boundaries should we be placing on our consumption of media? Take a listen and be encouraged!
Welcome back to another “Fruits of the Spirit” podcast! Today, “joy” will be our newest topic. What is Biblical joy? Is it the same as happiness and pleasure? How does suffering intertwine with joy? How do we practically cultivate joy? Listen and be encouraged that our great God is where the joy is and He is the true life and joy giver.
Welcome back to another round table episode! From time to time, Avery, Alexa, and Annie sit down to talk about more casual topics. Today, they are discussing “Social Media.” As Christians, how should we be viewing and posting on social platforms? Why should we consider our audience when we are posting/sharing? What are some ways we can reflect Christ and walk in the light of the Gospel on Socials? Take a listen!!
Welcome to Imposing Grandeur Radio’s new series, the “Fruits of the Spirit!!” This spring, Alexa, Annie, and Avery will be walking through the fruits of the Spirit and talking in-depth about how the Spirit moves in our lives as Believers to produce fruit that reflects Christ. Today, the first fruit of the Spirit, “love,” will be discussed. How do we love others? Why should we love others? How is Christ the truest example of love? Stay tuned for more fruits of the Spirit and be encouraged!!
Merry Christmas!! Welcome back to another round table episode! From time to time, Avery, Alexa, and Annie sit down to talk about more casual topics. Today, they are having a "Christmas party" filled with some Christmas trivia and fun memories of this season. Join in on the fun and have a wonderful Christmas. May you bask in the joy and hope of Christ this season and forevermore.
Happy Advent!! It is so important this Christmas season to understand how God is Peace and what this means for us as believers. What does it mean to have true peace? What about in scripture like Phil. 4:7 and Matt. 10:35? Did Jesus bring peace when He came to earth? How can this godly peace carry us through this life? Join IG Radio as they sit down to discuss all of these truths that are worth our life and everything. Merry Christmas!
God is immutable and unchanging and this is SUCH an incredible truth for us as Believers. Why is it important for God to be unchanging? Does He ever change His mind? What does God's immutability mean for us as beings that change? Join Alexa, Avery, Annie as they rejoice in the hope of our unchanging, immutable God.
Welcome back to another round table episode! From time to time, Avery, Alexa, and Annie sit down to talk about more casual topics. Today, they are discussing “Intentionality.” How does intentionality play a part in our relationship with God? Why should we be intentional in our earthly relationships? What are some ways we can intentionally love those around us? Take a listen!!
As we see in Psalm 23, God is a Shepherd to His children. What does it mean for God to be a Shepherd? Why are we compared to sheep in scripture? How is God our Shepherd while Christ is simultaneously the Lamb of God? Join IG radio as they talk about the precious picture of God being the Good Shepherd.
God is "Jehovah-Jireh" and He provides, what a glorious truth that is!! Today, IG Radio discusses how God provided for Abraham in Gen. 22 and how He still provides for us today as His children. Join IG Radio as they discuss scripture that points to God's gracious nature of providing and some personal stories Alexa, Annie, and Avery have experienced of God providing.
God is jealous. How can this possibly be true if we are talking about the same “jealousy” we think of when we speak of worldly envy? Is all jealousy a sin? Can Christians be righteously jealous? If God is jealous for us like in the song “How He Loves,” what does this mean for us as Believers and for His creation? Join IG Radio as we unpack this truth and bask in the goodness and intricacies of our great God.
Welcome back to another Round Table episode! From time to time, Alexa, Avery, and Annie sit down to chat about different topics in a more casual format. Today, they will be discussing “Quiet Times.” What are they and what are they not? Do we really have to be in Scripture every day? What resources are recommended for being in the Word? Take a listen!!
God is Omnipresent or existing/present everywhere. If God is present everywhere, what does it mean for God to be "far away" as we see sometimes in Scripture? If He is present everywhere, is He present in Hell? How does the truth of God's presentness encourage the Christian? Join IG Radio as they sit down to discuss these great truths and encouraging promises of God.
God is Omniscient or all-knowing and that is a very glorious truth to behold. If He is all-knowing, why do we bother praying as Christians? If He knew the Fall of Man would happen, why did he allow it? Join IG Radio as Annie leads them through this rich discussion of God's omniscience and why His all-knowing attributes should bring us to our knees in awe, wonder, and praise.
Introducing Imposing Grandeur Radio's casual roundtable episodes! From time to time, Alexa, Avery, and Annie will be sitting down to chat about different topics in a more casual format. Today, they will be discussing their own college experiences, what they wish they would have been told as college freshmen, and some things the Lord taught them during their college experiences. Take a listen!
God is omnipotent or all mighty and powerful. How does God’s power affect us as Christians? What does a healthy fear of God look like? If God is so powerful, why doesn’t He stop all evil and sin from existing? Should unbelievers be fearful of God’s power?
Our God is faithful and that is such an incredible truth to bask in. What does “faithful” really mean? What does God’s faithfulness look like to the Believer? How do we remain faithful in our walks with God? Join Alexa, Avery, and Annie as they continue their “Attributes of God” series and discuss the hope we have in God’s faithfulness to us.
God is Holy, Holy, Holy. What does it mean for God to be Holy? If we are born again Christians, why does the Lord call us to holiness? How do we “become” holy and what does pursuing holiness look like? Can we truly be perfectly holy in this life? Join Alexa, Annie, and Avery as they continue their series on the “Attributes of God” and they discuss why God’s holiness should leave us in awe of who He is.
Jehovah Mekoddishkem - The Lord Who Sanctifies You. Our God is a sanctifier and He is fully sovereign over our sanctification process. What does sanctification mean? Why is it a process? Will sanctification lead to perfection in this life? What does sanctification look like in others? Join Alexa, Avery, and Annie as they continue their weekly study on the Attributes of God and why sanctification is a process we cannot avoid as followers of Christ.
What does it mean for God to be a JUST God? How should that transform our view of Him? Join Alexa, Avery, and Annie as they discuss why God's just character is good news and how that should affect our lives as we strive to live in obedience unto Him.
Today, Alexa, Annie, and Avery walk through their first episode on their "Attributes of God" series and discuss the graciousness of God, what it is, and why God’s grace should transform our lives.
Alexa, Annie, and Avery define “theology” and why studying God’s Word is so important to knowing, serving, and loving God. Join them next week for their intro into their first series, “Attributes of God.”
“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.”
-Dr. John Henry Jowett
Ministry to me has always seemed to be exciting and limitless. It amazes me that the same God of the Bible in which I study and read about is giving me the honor of becoming a vessel in which He uses to reach His people and to teach them of the Truth that offers miraculous life change. You never know who He will bring into your life, and a God whose very being is immutable has no external influences that would change His sovereign and perfect plan.
But there are times while ministering to people when it's easy to get distracted from that serving mentality. We find ourselves exhausted, uncomfortable, or just plain weak. And instead of turning immediately to The Lord for our source of strength and comfort, it's dangerously easy for us to start playing the victim and inviting self-pity to coddle our "I'm just doing so much" outlook. Thinking that we deserve to have a comfortable lifestyle and that our time is more beneficial if spent doing something else rather than serving those God has placed in our life.
But the truth is,
You simply cannot do ministry fully and effectively without sacrifice.
Don't believe me? Look at Jesus' ministry.
And unfortunately, this is where it gets hard.
Instead of us sipping our lattes while posting photos on our social media of a favorite verse we stumbled upon in our quiet time, (although not inherently bad, I myself do both of those things), we are called to so much more.
We are called to sacrifice.
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,"
-Colossians 3:23
God has been sanctifying me in those last three words recently:
"not for men"
This means I have no excuse whatsoever to not serve.
Someone I served didn't say thank you?
Roommates didn't do the dishes again and I'm going to have to clean it up like last time?
I have to take time to listen to someone vent about their day and counsel them when they don't even care about what I'm going through?
I have to use my own money to help a friend in need when they never help me when I'm in need?
Our actions are not contingent on what others have done for us, rather what Jesus has done for us. And the sacrifice Jesus has done for us is a debt in which we can never repay.
Therefore, we do not serve others because they have been kind to us, or have treated us nicely. It isn’t them we are serving to begin with.
Even Jesus Himself addresses this idea of “serving those who are easy to serve” in Matthew 5:46-48:
"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
That word "perfect" in the last sentence doesn't mean "sinless", but rather suggests maturity, or completeness as sons of God. And isn't it our goal as followers of Christ to be made more like Christ?
Serving others based off of what they have done, or what they could do for us is the complete opposite of the Gospel. Imagine if that's how Jesus loved us? I don't know about you, but I have absolutely nothing to bring to the table.
As Believers, we are called to be different- to stand out. How easy it is to be kind to someone who is kind to you! Even the tax collectors, people who were thought of at low esteem for taking money from people, have the capability of being nice to those who are nice to them in return. Why? Because that reaction is natural to our selfish, sinful flesh. What is unnatural is giving to those who could never return the favor.
After all, just look at Jesus:
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:6–8
Not while we were perfect, or let alone nice. Not when we had something He needed. Read that again:
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
What does this mean for us?
It means we never have the right to judge someone based off of what they have done, or could do for us when our very lives are blood-bought by Jesus.
Praise God that His love isn't conditional. That His love does not come with an "application" we must fill out and have approved. Rather, it is through His own sacrifice in which He displays His love towards us. And it is through the Holy Spirit that we are given the ability to love those who are hard to love and serve those whom we don't want to serve for the glory of God. May the Lord sober our minds and continually bring us back to the truth of where we came from. Because at the end of the day, life isn't about us. We are just vessels of our Heavenly Father who seeks to love and serve the lost-and if He does, shouldn't we too?
The podcast, Sheologians, that I cohost with my best friend Joy started two years ago because I don't understand the sway Amish romance novels have on Christian women. These books are vaguely religious, marketed to Christians, written by Christians, for Christians. As if writing a less-steamy but still-love-triangley novel is somehow more Christian. Or maybe it's just easier to pretend that Fabio with a haircut and farmer's hat is suddenly pious-Fabio. Sometimes, well-meaning Christians are easy to deceive. A romance novel is a romance novel and Christian women tend to eat them up, despite the fact that the wool being pulled over their eyes is actually see-through.
My soon-to-be cohost Joy and I were joking about the predictable plot lines of this kind of pretend-art when our soon-to-be producer Marcus suggested we start a podcast and talk about the kinds of things we already liked discussing—art, culture, politics, and how they all effect Christian women today. We thought it would be fun. We didn't know that we would debut in the number two spot next to Joel Osteen on the iTunes charts, or that we would have over a million downloads a little over a year later. Truthfully, we didn't plan for or expect any of it. We don't do anything particularly special on our show—we just love puns and a good discussion.
So my job is kind-of-really weird. I sit in front a microphone with my best friend and discuss some topic with her—discipleship, doctrine, feminism, a topic we invite a guest on to help us discuss, you know, what-have-you. I work with our designer on our website graphics, write up topic explanations, post episodes, answer emails, travel, occasionally blog, and respond to a lot comments across social media interacting with our weekly discussions. I do this in between being a mostly stay-at-home-mom of four young kids, which means my social media interaction and episode posting are always punctuated by kitchen timers, sibling fights, grocery shopping, bath times, bed times, and the conquering of laundry mountains.
I hope that the work I do in my ministry, my attempt to encourage and edify women in the church through podcasting and writing, is effective. I hope that I can be a tool in God's hands to that end. I have myriad feelings regarding what qualifies as Christian content these days. In a time when fiction portraying God as a woman make the bestselling "Christian" charts, there is a lot of reason to be skeptical. As image-bearers of a creative Creator God, there's no reason for Christian art and content to be as vapid and one-note as it often is. Our God tells the best stories. He is the best teacher. He has the most magnificent eye. We should strive to image him in that when we take on any creative project.
Mostly my prayer is that Joy and I are faithful. What that looks like on the back-end of Sheologians is that I've spent maybe a total of an hour over the course of the last two years looking into Facebook algorithms, what hashtags are trending, or how to optimize our website. In other words, we aren't interested in what's going to gather the most listeners, but in how we can use our gifts as faithfully as possible. Sometimes that means putting out an episode we know might upset some folks. The point is never to be upsetting—the point is speak faithfully and Biblically into areas that are difficult, counter-cultural, and hard to talk about publicly.
Our conviction is that Christian women need to hear more hard, Gospel truths than they need to hear another self-help message. Women were created by our creative Creator God to come alongside Adam and work. Women were built with hard labor in mind, and neglecting to put our hands to the plow God has placed in front of us isn't going to do any good. We are the weaker vessels, but that doesn't mean we belong on the fainting couch. It means we must take up the call to be teachers of good, models of good, peaceful down to our very souls, and ready to get our hands busy for the Kingdom.
Women are exhausted. Just check the trending memes on mom-blogs. But Jesus has promised a light burden for his children. That means that women need to be encouraged to eat of the feast that God has set before them in His word. To love God properly, we must know God. To rest in God, we must know who it is we are resting in. And the more we know, love, and rest in our Savior, the easier it is to have courage in a world that is so hostile to it's creator. As long as I am able, I want to encourage women to this end. Sometimes that means sharing my own personal struggles or attempting to break down a certain doctrine in an understandable way. Sometimes that means Joy and I spend ten minutes every episode just laughing together. Christians should be the most joyful people in the world, right? I want to encourage women to laugh like that's true!
So, yeah. I have a super weird job. I work in a medium where my content is more likely to get censored and removed than posts glorifying baby-murder (no, seriously, that's happening now on Facebook). Nevertheless, this is where God has placed me and I will be faithful in it for as long as it's the plow in front of me. The thing about being a Christian is that it's our job to be faithful and simply trust God with the results. So whether that means saying something unpopular publicly, learning a new creative project you will likely be bumbling at for awhile, or conquering Laundry Mountain, the question is: can you do this and be faithful? Can you not do this and still be faithful? Nothing else matters. You plant. You water. God gives the growth.
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord established his steps.” -Proverbs 16:9
“What are you most excited to do one day?”
“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
“What’s your life plan?”
These are just a few of the many questions we all have been asked. As humans, we naturally want to control our lives and “plan” what we want each season of our lives to look like. Often, our plans fall subject to change, failure, seasons of waiting, and ultimately, seasons of “unknown.”
I’m currently writing away from the lobby of an auto mechanic shop in the middle of nowhere, North Carolina. My husband is a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and we are currently moving our lives and everything we’ve known from the foothills of North Georgia to the flatlands of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We have no idea what this next season will look like. We have no clue of where we will live, what my husband’s new job will look like, what my new NC life will look like, or what these next few years will hold. On top of all the current pile of unknown, our car is having issues, so we are chilling at the mechanics with no way to drive around to look for a house and to prepare for our future here. I have to laugh, because I am being thrown into “army wife life” whether I like it or not. If you had told me back in high school that my “ten year plan” would look like this, I would have laughed and would have been completely surprised because “this” would not have matched my “ideal life plan.”
“What is happening in our lives may be surprising to us, but it is not surprising to God. Just as Jesus knew what was coming to Him, so God has known for eternity what is coming to us and what we will need to endure it. Let us trust in Him this day to strengthen us and to equip us for all that is ahead of us.” -R.C. Sproul
When our life does not go as we so hoped, it is in our sinful flesh to panic and grip harder onto the “life plan” that we hold so dear to our hearts. It is easy to become bitter and angry when those plans do not pan out. As much as it is human and natural for me to want to cry and be fully overwhelmed by all the change, seasons of waiting, and seasons of unknown that we are in, I have to remember and rest in the fact that all seasons under the sun are faithfully held by the sovereign hand of God, and He will never lead me into a season He hasn’t equipped me for yet.
I think there are two ways to rest in the sovereignty of God in seasons of change, failure, waiting, or unknown…
1. Humility:
The Lord faithfully orchestrates our lives in accordance to His own timing and purpose. Our life is not ours and He is gracious to allow us life, salvation, and freedom in Him and through Him. He owes us nothing and we deserve nothing. We must humble our hearts and minds to remember that we are nothing without Him. It is a privilege to do anything for the King, no matter the season. In humility and with this perspective in mind, any inkling of anger, bitterness, and fear about our seasons of unknown will melt away.
2. Trust/Surrender:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” -Matthew 10:29-31
Okay…how incredible is this? The God of everything values each and every sparrow He has created, of course He would care for me who is (unlike the many sparrows) fully created in His image and for His glory. To trust is to “have firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” To surrender is to “let go.” Surrendering your fears and anxieties without the element of simultaneously trusting will never work. God calls us to not only trust Him when things are all joyous mountaintops, but He most importantly calls us to trust Him in the lowest valleys when seasons are frightening, blurry, and hard to understand. As we fully trust in the sovereign hand of God, we can truly surrender all our thoughts, anxieties, pressures, and fears to Him, knowing He can handle our burdens.
“To think today, when your life doesn’t work as planned, that it’s out of control is to forget that Jesus reigns for your sake and His glory.” -Paul David Tripp
I serve a God that allows forks in the road and seasons of failure, change, unknown, and waiting for His glory and our good. He’s purposeful in all He does and He calls us to trust Him in every season. My prayer for my life and yours is that we will seek the Lord’s plan and will for our lives over our own “ideal plan.” And even when our plans and futures do not pan out as we had hoped, may we melt away any thoughts of anger and bitterness by surrendering our “fears of the unknown” with humble hearts that fully trust in the hope of God’s sovereign, caring hand.
Praise God for His faithfulness, for He plans my steps.
Last January, I was pretty sure the Lord was asking me to move Uganda.
I got on a plane, flew 7,039 miles across the Atlantic to visit a place I knew little about, and silently wondered if this was what it felt like to do something that really matters.
Today, I brewed 8 pots of coffee. I pulled shots of espresso and steamed pitchers of milk. I ordered romaine lettuce, emptied 7 garbage cans, and made small talk with the locals. And I knew it mattered.
As it turns out, the Lord was asking me to move.
…about 9 miles across town.
After closing the door to that job in Uganda (at least for now), I begged God for another opportunity. Three months later, I agreed to be a part of a brand new adventure: opening a coffee shop in little old Schroon Lake, NY.
Excitement and doubt began to wrestle in my mind. Is this enough? Does this matter? Will this fulfill me? I mean, what kind of Christian says no to being a missionary in Africa to serve coffee? While I had no doubt the Lord was nudging me to make a career change, I struggled to accept that He was nudging me away from full time vocational ministry.
Open Hands
I love the story about Jesus feeding the 5000. The Bible says He saw the people, felt compassion for them, and then simply asked His followers to meet the needs. Out of all the resources in the universe that Jesus could have used to feed these people, He chose the most everyday, un-miraculous thing: a kid’s lunch. What a reminder: ministry starts with what I already have, right where I am.
In this particular season, what I had was barista experience and a burden for this tiny town.
I had to let go of my big flashy dreams of “glamorous” ministry and lay them down at the Savior’s feet before I could pick up the assignment He has for me right here and right now.
And you know what? I’ve yet to be disappointed.
Ministry in the Mundane
I believe that ministry can begin the moment we open our eyes each morning. It may not be discussing the great mysteries of theology or rescuing orphans out of poverty, though I hope those things are a part of my story someday too. In this season, for me to serve the Lord in obedience may look like covering the cost of that single mom’s latte because I know how hard she works every day. It may look like coming in early to make sure the floors are clean or staying late to chat with a girl who’s having a tough day. It’s remembering names and using them; seeing the people in front of me not as projects, but as potential friends. (I’ve noticed people don’t really care Who you know until you make them feel cared for and known.)
These little mundane interactions can be more telling of my “mission” in life than the words I speak from a stage or publish on the internet. Yeah, I had high hopes of changing the world someday. But, if in this season the only thing I’m called to change is the mood of the grumpy old man across the counter in front of me, then obedience is what will honor my Savior most- not grand acts. I believe in a life of faithfulness there is a time and a place for both.
Whatever You Do…
I love the Amplified Version’s translation of Colossians 3:23-24:
“Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.”
First and foremost, I don’t serve my caffeine-seeking customers. I don’t serve my employers. I don’t serve the expectations of other people. I serve Him. And in serving Him, I get to use every ounce of energy and joy that overflows from remembering Who He is and what He’s done for me. It’s amazing how excited you can get about scrubbing floors when you’re scrubbing floors for Someone who rescued your life. Having this perspective changes the mundane, everyday tasks that we are assigned into acts of love- little choices that we get to make that whisper “thank you” to a Savior who graciously allows us to be a part of His redemptive plan in the lives of the people we interact with.
We can find comfort in knowing the emphasis of this command is placed on the “how,” not the “what.” No matter where I find myself – serving overseas or in my town, in singleness, or motherhood, or unemployment- what is asked of me is not changed. In every season, whatever we do, we are to do with excellence for our Savior.
“Jesus makes His invisible presence visible through His people who represent Him in one another’s lives. You are the look on Christ’s face. You are the tones of His voice. You are the touch of His hands. You are the physical representative of His grace. This is your mission in every relationship of your life- to make the grace of the invisible King visible.” – Paul David Tripp
Have you ever sat yourself down and asked, what is my mission for this life? Or even, what are my goals? If you are like me, then you have mulled over this thought a million times as the seasons of life come and go.
In high school, I remember having this thought driving down the road, “I know I feel called to overseas missions…I don’t know how I will get there, but I do feel called.” You know what is so crazy? A few months later, God faithfully coordinated me to go to a new church at my new college, meet the right woman that eventually signed me up for a mission trip overseas. You know what was even crazier? It was the exact region of the world I desired to be at, ministering to the exact people group I so desperately wanted to talk to. How could you say this was anything but God ordained? You honestly couldn’t. His hand was clearly orchestrating my life and I was so amazed. It is such a beautiful feeling when your heart’s desires align with what God has called you to.
Fast forward some time later, I met a guy. The greatest guy I have ever known, and we had been dating for a while and things were getting serious. I was at the time overseas for a few months and he was training for the military. Not too long afterwards he asked me to be his wife, and we got married this past August. He is in the military, so our life will be moved to and fro by the orders of the Army, and guess what that means? No full time overseas missions for us, or at least not any time in the next decade. A question I have really had to toil with is, “Why would God place this huge desire for overseas missions in my heart, place a guy in my life that speaks my favorite regions language (forgot to mention that-but how cool?!), lead me to marry this amazing man, but take away the opportunity to go overseas full time?”
I think the answer is rather simple actually. I had narrowed down my life’s purpose to one specific region, one people group, and one motivation. Don’t get me wrong, having the intent to share the Gospel with specific people is awesome and God gives those desires for a reason. However, the Lord’s calling for my life changed. I now understand everywhere is my mission field, and the same is true for you.
I remember right before Patrick and I got married, he was being assigned where we would be moving to for the next couple of years. His first choice was Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I selfishly said to the Lord, “anything but Kentucky, God…I think Germany would be a better choice.” Not surprisingly, I woke up the next morning to scroll Facebook and an article appeared on my timeline called, “We Need Missionaries in the Backroads of Kentucky too.” Well, now I knew where I was going.
So, fast forward to today, we are moving to Kentucky in March. Sharing the Gospel in the backroads of Kentucky may not be as glamorous as sharing the Gospel overseas, but God has ordained it. He ordained this season of my life just like he did the last one and the one before that. My friend has a quote hanging above her door as you exit her room that reads, “You are now entering your mission field.” Our mission field is truly everywhere. It is where God has placed you at the moment, because that is where He has called you to be.
My life is heading in this direction now, but it isn’t really my life. As a Christian, I am simply the Lord’s vessel for His glory. He has deemed Kentucky to be where He can receive the most through me and Patrick, so we will go and we will rejoice! I am eager to see all that the Lord has prepared before us, and to share the good news just a few states over.
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11
We live in a day and age where watching people live out their spontaneous daily life on reality shows has become as exciting as watching actors, with prewritten lines, in dramas. We, the audience, can observe and even judge from our viewing screens, the attitudes, actions, and words of real people.
Imagine for a moment if the eyes of the viewing audience were turned on you. If every day, cameras followed you from place to place and hidden speakers caught your every word. What if you were aware the audience watching; knowing it was not just people who didn’t know you, but those who knew you well such as your family, close friends, your boss, neighbors, coworkers, the police, and even those who would wish ill on you… your enemy. Your every action and word seen by probing eyes. Would that change the way you lived out your day? How you spoke? Where you went? What you did? Would you think twice before going over the speed limit or speaking poorly about someone behind their back? On social media we can post what we want people to see about us, but what if anyone who wanted to, had full exposure to our everyday living?
I think it is safe to say many of us would live our day out differently. We would try to avoid gossiping, treat others more gently, most likely avoid speeding on the highway, and perhaps… most importantly, see ministry from a whole new perspective.
Scripture reminds us that there is an audience viewing us…
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways." Psalm 139:1-3
The God who made all of existence, including us, sees us! Check out the next verse…
"Before a word is on my tongue, You, Lord, know it completely.” v.4
He sees to the very depths of our mind and motives.
As a pastor’s wife, I’ve served in ministry alongside my husband for almost 26 years now. Many people would view this ministry as a quiet one; my husband is in the spotlight and I am sitting on the front row cheering him on. I have to confess, I’ve never really looked at it that way. While my ministry may not be viewed by the congregation every Sunday morning, it is viewed by God all the time. His eyes are what matter to me. He sees me praying over the phone for a mother who has a wayward child, having led children in worship to music, delivering a meal to a family in need… even sharing a Bible verse with the cashier at Walmart who is having a bad day.
What does it mean to minister. According to the dictionary online, it is defined as “attend to the needs of (someone), care for, look after. ” God has gifted each of us with the ability to serve one another. This could be a dear friend, a stranger, the police, or even an enemy. There are various forms in which the serving is done from giving gifts and acts of helping, to speaking the truth in love and praying for them. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:10-11…
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Knowing that the God who made you, and gifted you, with an ability to care for others for His glory, sees you at this very moment, should affect the way you live out this day. He is aware and has a vested interest in what you do. Be encouraged, your service, whether appreciated by human eyes or not, is recognized by the One that matters and the One who sees has equipped you ever so beautifully for the task. Serve on! :)
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men..." - Colossians 3:23
Everyone is uniquely different. We are all involved in different occupations, experiencing different seasons of life, and learning different things at different times. Despite how we may feel about the word itself, "different" isn't a negative term. Whatever our differences might be, it doesn't negate from the command we see in Colossians 3:23:
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men..."
Yes, we are all different and yes, we all have different occupations and/or roles in which we operate, but we all have the same mission. We all have the same Master.
During this series, we will see this same verse applied in different ways. We will hear real testimonies from people who are living various lifestyles and fulfilling distinct roles, yet at the same time serving the same Master.
Because no matter the season and no matter the story, we are to serve and glorify our Maker.
We welcome you to join us as we begin our new series, “In Every Season.” We hope you are encouraged, strengthened, and built up in the season the Lord has called you to.
Whether we like it or not, we are all owned by something.
We all have something that possesses our thoughts and occupies our time. The question is, what?
I want you to stop and really think about this. This conversation can easily go from an innocent, "yeah I shouldn't think about, or prioritize that as much" to an intervention of an idolatrous lifestyle.
Today's word is Adonai, which is translated, Lord or Master. It was actually a word that was substituted for the sacred, personal name Yahweh, meaning self-existent one. In the sixth and seventh century, the vowels of Adonai were combined with the consonants YHWH to remind Jews reading the Holy Scriptures to read aloud Adonai, instead of verbally saying, Yahweh. An Old Testament understanding of this word is understood when considering the relations of a Master to a slave. And when used in regards to God and men, it conveys the idea of absolute authority- He is the Adonai that rules over us. But not only does He rule over our lives, but within that ruling He is absolutely sovereign. We also see this name in the New Testament under the Greek word Kurios, which is used as a respectable term meaning "lord" or "master" to anyone in a higher position. One of the examples of passages containing this word is in Philippians 2:5-11:
"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus is not only referred to as "Kurios" (lord), but as "Kurios Kurion", which is translated, "Lord of lords". The distinction is profound.
What does this word have in common with the words we have studied thus far in this Names of God series?
Absolutely everything.
You cannot know Him as Yahweh, El Roi, Elah Elahin, Jehovah-Shammah, El Shaddai, Elohim, El Elyon, or Abba- unless you know Him as the ruler of your life. Our Adonai who not only is our Ruler but has freed us from the bondage of sin so that we can be free under His sovereign care.
"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." - Romans 6:17–20
We are all owned by something. Either we are living in the mentality of Phil. 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"- submitting to the One who provides everlasting joy and satisfaction, or we are living in the destructive reality of Ephesians 2- following the passions of our flesh and "the prince of the power of the air".
As drastic as those two realities may seem, there is no "in between". God makes it clear that we cannot claim to serve Him and yet live for worldly things (Matt. 6:24), and Paul refers to this submission in Galatians 1:10:
"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Praise God for His sacrifice on the cross that freed us from the bondage of sin (Acts 13:38) and thus allows us to partake in a relationship with Him. As the writer of Hebrews says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (4:16).
Let's give up every consuming burden that we have placed on ourselves; whether it's our grades, social status, likes on a photo, job occupation, etc- and let us draw near to our Adonai… looking to Him and nothing else.
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."- Galatians 5:1
For in Christ, we are free indeed.
Father.
Have you ever thought about or felt the weight of that one word?
What does the name “father” mean for you? Does this name remind you of a man in your life that is strong, loving, brave, protective, and kind? or does this one word sting + remind you of painful wounds in your life?
As a child, have you ever felt the strong arms of your father? His strong, powerful, protective arms that have made you feel safe, loved, and cared for. If not, have you seen or experienced watching another child in response to their father? Maybe the baby falls off the playground and the father is immediately there to graciously comfort the crying child. I know for some, perhaps you never got to meet your father, or your father was not one to carry the responsibility of loving his children well. Maybe you long for the safety and comfort of a loving parent that does make you feel safe, protected, and cared for.
The name of God, “Abba” in Aramaic means, “Father.” He is the God of Gods, the Self Existent One, The God who Sees, The Lord that is There, The God Most High, The Creator, the God Almighty. Not only is God all of those names and titles we have studied so far and more, but God is our FATHER. Without this name and this fatherly characteristic of Him, the whole point of the gospel would be missed.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.” Galatians 4:4-6
Adopted.
What does this truly mean for us?
This passage in Galatians holds so much weight and hope. In other words, before the foundation of the world, God knew He would sacrifice His only Son. When the time arrived, He sent His precious Son as a baby, to be born into this world and to experience the humanity + sin of man. He came not only as a baby, but a Redeemer. He came as a Savior, for the purpose of bridging the gap between us and God, and making a way for us to be physically and spiritually adopted into His Covenantal family. As believers of Christ and this promise, we are sons and daughters of Him, we are heirs of the Kingdom.
So with this incredible truth in mind, how should we view God? Unbelievers cannot look to God and call Him their heavenly Father. Yes, He created them, but not until we have trusted in the the saving work of Christ and His atonement for our sins can we look to Him as our true Father, nor can He look to as us His adopted children. No matter your upbringing or how your earthly parents treat you now, as believers, we have a gracious Father and we should view Him as such. He sovereignly mapped our lives out before the creation of the world, and from the beginning of time, like a gracious, good Father, He has known what is best for each of us. In Him, we find our true comfort, love, protection, and safety. May this truth lead us to awe and worship of Him. As simple as this truth may seem to those that have heard it so many times, may we still be like little children and run to our Father. I pray these truths saturate our lives inside and out, and may it transform the way we view Him. He should be our home, resting place, and firm ground.
Praise God for His gracious kindness in adopting us. He is our Abba, the Father we have longed for and waited for.
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9–10
Let's be vulnerable, shall we?
At times, I can be a very prideful person.
This is magnified in my desire to have control over certain situations, or even at times, my emotions. For example, I hate crying in front of people, because it "shows weakness" and I'm not weak (what I tell myself). The situations I find myself wanting to control range from grades, social status, the list goes on and on.
The end result of this toxic mentality?
You become burnt out, hopeless, discouraged, ashamed, and tired.
Sound familiar? Too familiar?
El Shaddai is one of the names applied to Yahweh (Self-Existent One) in the Old Testament, and is translated, "God Almighty" or "All-Sufficient One". It appears mainly in the book of Genesis, but you can also find it in the book of Job (Job 13:3).
In Genesis 17:1-3, we see God appear to Abram (soon to be Abraham four verses later) and unfolds the nature of what we refer to as the Abrahamic Covenant. It is here that the LORD introduces Himself as El Shaddai for the first time in the Old Testament, exclaiming His sufficient power for Abram to stand firm in faith:
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.'" - Genesis 17:1–2
The time in which God reveals this name to Abram is significant. This was before He was about to tell Abram that Sarah was going to have a son and that as impossible as it seemed, there is nothing that El Shaddai cannot do. A reminder that the God they serve is all-sufficient and all-powerful. Abram's response to this declaration was to fall on his face (v. 3). This is the outcome of his acknowledgment and reverence to God, and his humility to accept and adhere to what El Shaddai has to say. Abraham yielded to God Almighty and His covenant by becoming circumcised, and then in later verses, showed his obedience to God by offering up his only son, Isaac, as a living sacrifice. Both of these acts were demonstrated as a result of great faith and confidence in the LORD. Abraham knew his hope was not in the flesh or what he himself could do, but what his Almighty God can and will do. And as a result of giving everything to God, God made Abraham fruitful.
Not only is God made much of when we surrender to Him, but this is what we are made to do. We were never meant to handle all of our own problems. Our shoulders cannot handle that weight. We were never created to run to ourselves when something goes wrong or to dwell on our anxieties. We are to run with confidence towards our Heavenly Father who cares for us and gives us the strength needed to complete His will (Heb. 12:1).
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
- 1 Peter 5:6–7
I can't help but wonder how different my life would look if instead of having moments when I was so desperate for control, I yielded to my Almighty God. Or if in those moments of helplessness, I boldly accepted my weakness and cried out my Refuge instead of essentially saying "I don't need your help. I'm too good for that". Or what about those times when I looked for sufficiency in worldly things like grades or friends? How much discouragement I would have been spared if I had turned to my God who is the All-Sufficient One.
What patches of your life do you struggle the most with yielding control to God?
Are there secret areas of your life you feel God is just not powerful enough to handle through you, or for you?
Has seeking sufficiency in personal perfection left you spiraling down as it highlights your weaknesses all the more to condemn you?
Why don't we instead do what Paul does in 2 Corinthians and boast in our weaknesses? Rejoice in the fact that we aren't in control? Let make ourselves available for God to work through us. By this, we are declaring that our hope isn't in what we can do, but what our El Shaddai can do through us.
The echo and cry of every human heart is, “Why am I living?”
Have you ever questioned this in your own life? “Truly, why do I exist?” I think it’s our natural tendency to want to seek out the reason for our existence. This journey to find our “reason for being” is absolutely essential to our lives and walks with Christ. Once we know our purpose on this earth, it should change, shape, and define us forever.
Today, we are studying one of the first Old Testament names of God, Elohim, which means “The Creator.” The “El” portion of the word means, “mighty, powerful, strong,” and the “him” ending to the word designates in Hebrew God as Creator of all of the earth. We first see this name manifest itself as early as Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” He simply called out, “let there be light,” and just like that, light came into being. He formed and shaped the earth to His purpose and likeness, displaying and leaving behind a reflection of His astounding beauty everywhere. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”
So, why did He create man? What is our purpose? How should this name Elohim shape our lives?
We are all masterpieces of Elohim, the Creator. He made each of us with intentional purpose and care. He predestined our lives before the beginning of time; we are made for His glory alone.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a creation of God, specifically made for His glory? I know for me, it is so easy to forget when you look in the mirror and all you see staring back is the endless list of flaws.
Just the other day, I was looking through photos my husband had taken of myself without my knowledge. I am a photographer, so rarely am I on the other side of the lens, and I like it to stay that way. That night as I was looking through the pictures my husband had mysteriously taken, I was jokingly picking apart every bit of myself in each photo. He turned and looked at me and so seriously said, “Avery, why are you doing this to yourself? Do you realize that you are attacking the Creator when you bash yourself in this way? He has made every bit of you with intentionality and purpose, and when you talk this way, you are acting like you do not even care one bit about the creation He has made.” To say the least, I was taken aback. I thought I had been joking around, but when I truly thought about it, I was ashamed of the way I had been acting. How true is it that especially in this modern time of history with all the concentrated social media platforms and selfies that are floating around, we tend to compare and bash ourselves often. How many times do we actually think of ourselves as creation created for the Creator, and for the Creators’ GLORY alone (whoa, say that 5 times fast).
Don’t get me wrong, we are entirely, completely flawed in every way. That is our nature from birth, and is the reason we need Christ. It does not mean we should think highly of ourselves or pride ourselves on our outward beauty, but we should know that our purpose on this earth is to glorify the Creator, not ourselves, and our identity in Christ should be what defines us, and makes us truly beautiful. We need to stop trying so desperately to fit our piece in the puzzle that tries to define our beauty by worldly standards. Through God’s grace, He offers life, true beauty, and perfect completeness through His Son, so that when He looks at us, He only sees the majesty, grandeur, and fullness of Christ.
Now, you may be thinking, “Avery, it is so much easier to say than do. I have this issue that does not make me feel beautiful, how could the Creator create me to have this physical problem? Why did Elohim allow me to have this _____ problem or this _____ physical deformity, or why did He not create me to be physically beautiful to the human eye? How could He do this?”
I was reading through a book on the names of God, and when it came to the chapter about “Elohim,” the author reminded me of the story in John 9 about the blind man. The disciples had come to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” Jesus responded, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3) We know from this passage, that God allowed this man to deal with blindness for a reason, and that was to display the glory and beauty of Christ through him. The same is true for you and me. No matter what physical issue we deal with on our own, God has allowed it to be so with intentional care and purpose.
As followers of Christ, He has given us a much higher calling than the world can ever give. We were created so that His beauty might be displayed through us. I love what Kay Arthur wrote when she says, “Your life is to be lived in such a way as to reflect Him, to show the world the character of God—His love, His peace, His mercy, His gentleness. You are to live for Him, to accomplish His will. To miss this purpose is to miss fulfillment. It is to have existed rather than to have lived.”
This truth should change, shape, and define us for the rest of our days. Elohim, the Creator, has fearfully, wonderfully, and purposely woven us together (Psalm 139:13-14). May the echo and cry of our hearts be to live in a way to glorify, reflect, and display the beauty of Christ every breath we are given on this earth.
Have you ever experienced days where you have literally been so beaten down that you feel like you have a cloud of bad luck just hovering over your life? If you have felt this way, I have a story that may encourage you. This story hits me really close to home because it’s about my fiancé. When Patrick was just about to graduate high school, his mother passed away from an unexpected brain aneurysm. Three weeks later, he had to leave town to work at a summer camp, where God seemed more far than near. The day after he finished, he started college. We all know that freshman year of college can be a really difficult transition time. The death of his mom, as well as the struggles of being in a military school, beat him down every day.
During his first semester, Patrick developed a problem in his lower back that required surgery to fix. He was out of the game for a while so that he could heal properly. From what I can gather about being at a military college, any time off is bad, because you have to work twice as hard just to get back to where you started. Fast forward a couple years, and now his senior year is almost over. There has been a fair share of struggles for him no doubt, but it’s his final year, and he’s going to be an officer in the US Army. He got the job and duty station he wanted, which was a huge blessing! Patrick didn’t expect to get either of them. Both his graduation and commissioning were all lined up for May, and we were actively planning our wedding together. Life truly was great. Then, out of nowhere, the problem from freshman year springs up on him again. He has to have surgery again, which stops him from working out for a couple months, and despite the doctor’s assurance, he wasn’t healed in time to take his last physical fitness test that was required for him to commission. On top of that, he fails his hardest class with a D, which meant that it needed to be taken again. Now his commission and graduation have been pushed out of sight.
Patrick retakes the class over this summer as he is healing and working hard to get back into shape so he can pass his physical fitness test. He passes the class (barely) and graduation is set for the day before our wedding. Everything is going well until he gets a call explaining that the Army needs to review all paperwork from his second surgery. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, they were not able to send it up in time, and Patrick is told that he can’t commission at the end of the summer. This means that he has to wait even longer until he gets re-approved. All I could think when he told me the news was, “God, really? Why? Has he not been through enough?”
I walked into his house right after we were told the news, and he calmly tells me: “I’m not gonna wig out, ‘cause God is in control.”
Those were words I needed to hear aloud.
Throughout these times, it has been a constant struggle of trusting the Lord and His sovereignty over our lives. As I study the name of El Elyon (The God Most High), I am reminded that Patrick’s life and mine are not a series of unfortunate events or bad luck. No, God is the God Most High! He knows exactly what He is doing. I could write an entirely separate post on the goodness of God, and about the silver lining to every “bad thing” that has happened in the past four years, but it would take pages and pages.
There are so many places in scripture where God is called El Elyon, but here is my favorite passage that outlines the name beautifully:
“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; calling a bird or prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it; surely I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:9-11)
God does not leave my future, Patrick’s future, or your future in the hands of anyone but Himself, the God Most High.
Another story that I love is from the book of John. Right before Jesus is about to be crucified, and he is standing before Pilate - who has the earthly power to declare Him innocent or guilt - Jesus won’t say so much as a word to him or the crowd. “Pilate, therefore, said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release You, and I have the authority to crucify You?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above; for this reason, he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.” (John 19: 10-11) El Elyon: God absolutely is the Most High, even over things as big as governments and world leaders.
The hope that goes hand in hand with this name of God gives me a peace I cannot fathom. God is not just sovereign over Patrick’s story and struggles but over things as big as the leaders and rulers in the world. The world is literally God’s, and that gives me the peace I need to trust and obey Him. I am so thankful I serve no one less than the God Most High.
P.S. -- Today, I am even more thankful for God and his perfect timing. I was late in editing my blog, and the Lord sovereignly allowed this to happen. This morning, I woke up to a string of bad news; however, editing this blog today is the grace of God to remind me of what I wrote about Him not even 2 days ago. I will conclude this by emphasizing the importance of reminding yourself daily of the truths about God’s character and His promises. Today would have been the straw that broke my back if it were not for His indescribable faithfulness and sustainment through His character and His promises.
Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord is There
When I first heard the name, “Jehovah-Shammah,” I was intrigued to see that this name of God does not mean what I originally thought it meant. Initially, I took Jehovah Shammah to mean something along the lines of, “The Lord is there is our hardships.” However, it means something entirely different, and I am beyond excited to share this facet of the Lord’s character that had not been revealed to me before.
The name Jehovah-Shammah is mentioned in Ezekiel 48:35, “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’” Without any background information this can seem rather insignificant, so the following is a brief synopsis of what was taking place during the account from Ezekiel. The nation of Israel had been split apart and judgment was falling upon them. Some people would remain in their city under foreign rule and capture, while the others were exiled away from everything they had known. This nation of Israel was not innocent by any means, so this was simply a consequence of serial adultery to their God, the God of the universe. It had been prophesied to them that this would happen and here it was, the prophecy eventually came true. Briefly skimming through the book you can see that the nation of Israel had abused the Lord’s grace for long enough, and the language is very intense as it calls Israel “The Faithless Bride” and “The Useless Vine”. Israel's adulterous actions had brought forth devastating consequences and extreme punishment from God. You might see now why I initially thought the name Jehovah-Shammah indicated the Lord is present in hard times, even when He is punishing them. Still, my original definition of the name isn’t entirely what it actually indicates.
Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, the Lord was removing His glory from the people. Chapter 10 in Ezekiel expresses in vivid language God’s glory leaving the temple. This led me to ask, “What exactly is the glory of the Lord?” John Piper simply stated, “Intrinsically holy, intrinsically holy, and the whole earth is full of his glory from which I stab at a definition by saying the glory of God is the manifest beauty of His holiness. It is the going public of His holiness. It is the way He puts His holiness on display for people to apprehend. So the glory of God is the holiness of God made manifest.” Piper helped me to understand a little more of what exactly it means for God’s glory to depart, however, why is the departure of the Lord’s glory such a bad thing for the Israelites? The Lord is our light and void of that is darkness. At times, when the Lord removes His presence from His people, it is to show them there is no hope and light apart from Himself. It is to bring His people to repentance and allow them to place their hope back in Him while being faithful to the Father. We eventually see that the Lord is only absent for a season and His glory returns in a vision from Ezekiel in the new temple (chapter 43).
So what about the name Jehovah-Shammah? How does this play a part in this narrative if it does not mean that the Lord is there through this season of consequence? As mentioned earlier in Ezekiel 48:35, it says to name the new city where this new temple will be built, “The Lord is There.” It is a message and name of future hope or future grace. The Lord may have removed His light, or rather His glory from His people for a season, but that is all it is, a season. There is the future grace He will bestow on the people of Israel; a future grace named, “The Lord is There.”
How can we apply this to our lives then? We don’t have prophets these days who tell us the Lord is going to remove His glory from us or prophets sharing visions with us telling us the hope of His return. We do have His own Word though, and it is called the Bible. We put our hope in the promises of God and His future grace to us. If you feel that the Lord has removed Himself from your life and you are walking through a season of darkness, examine your heart. Like the Israelites, God may be allowing you through this season to reveal your helplessness and depraved-self. You have hope because God is Jehovah-Shammah. The Lord is there. He is the light at the end of your tunnel.
"She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.'" // Genesis 16:13
Have you ever felt the sting of deep heartache inflicted upon you by someone else? Did that sorrowful instance leave you feeling alone and broken? Did you feel unseen? I too have felt the sting of a broken heart, and because of my personality and natural tendencies, I wanted to bottle it up, shelf it, brush it under the rug, and move on. As a result of keeping it to myself, I felt alone in my suffering and sorrow. I almost felt like no one saw me or even cared about my feelings.
On an even broader scale, I think Hagar in Genesis 16 felt even more so alone, unseen, and broken. Sarai could not bear any children for Abram, so Sarai had the idea to give her Egyptian slave, Hagar to sleep with her husband so that Hagar could bear a child for them.
Genesis 16:4-6 says, "When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her."
I can imagine that Hagar felt she was used, mistreated, and tossed aside. I am sure that she believed that no one cared for her, but only for her unborn child. I naturally would have run too.
"The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Genesis 16:7-10
God commanded her in 16:9 to change her attitude about her master, to return home to her, and He encouraged her by promising that her descendants would be numerous. What Hagar did not understand was that El Roi, the God who sees, knew and recognized exactly what she was walking through. From scripture, we know that God is omnipresent, meaning He sees all and is everywhere at once, all at the same time.
Aside from being everywhere all at once, God had also allowed Hagar's suffering to occur, and the same goes for us. He has gone before us in our pain, He is with us in the midst of our heartache, and our struggle is not in vain, in fact, it is for His glory. John Piper said, "Not only is all your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there. But all of it is totally meaningful. Every millisecond of your pain, from the fallen nature or fallen man, every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that."
Genesis 16:11 continues, "The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery..." He calls her to name her son Ishmael which signifies, "God hears." He truly saw her in her suffering; a youthful, pregnant, Egyptian slave, frantically fleeing from her feelings, and He cared for her. Let that unbelievable truth just saturate your soul for a second as you read further to Genesis 16:13, "She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.'"
The God of all creation sees us where we are. He knows our deepest troubles, toughest afflictions, and most bitter miseries. Isn't that incredible? How completely humbling and overwhelming is that? We are never alone in our suffering and heartache. Let us rejoice and be glad that we never have to flee like Hagar in the sight of heartache, for we too have seen the One who sees us. Our protector is ever present and attentive to our needs wherever we go. He is El Roi, The God who sees.
"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?" -Psalm 8:3-4
Have you ever had a "David moment"? Where you just stop and stare at the vastness of the sky, or maybe behold something so grand and overpowering that you just think to yourself, "The same God who created this made me and wants to have a relationship with me. Why? I am so undeserving."
It is truly a humbling and overwhelming feeling. Even more so, to think about how much more we know about the sky, space, planets, and the various galaxy's today versus back when David wrote this Psalm; surely we have more knowledge to add to our astonishment!
Today we look at God's name Yahweh.
This isn't a title given to Him, but rather a personal name He has told His people to call Him in the Old Testament. And just like other people's names carry different meanings, God's name Yahweh means "self-existent one".
What does that mean exactly?
It means that God is self-existing and eternal. Nothing created Him, and He is not depending on anything for His mean of existence.
J.I. Packer touches on God's self-existence in this quote:
“Our Maker exists in an eternal, self-sustaining, necessary way—necessary, that is, in the sense that God does not have it in Him to go out of existence, just as we do not have it in us to live forever. We necessarily age and die, because it is our present nature to do that; God necessarily continues forever unchanged, because it is His eternal nature to do that. This is one of many contrasts between creature and Creator.”
All of these attributes of God are packaged up into the name Yahweh. While reading Old Testament texts, we see the name "Yahweh" translated as LORD (all capitalized letters).
"Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘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 forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations." - Exodus 3:13–15
God is self-existent- "I AM WHO I AM". He is eternal, never changing, and contains all essence of life. Therefore when we read "LORD", we read it through the lens of His being: He is the Alpha and Omega; One who is, and who is to come.
"The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?" - Psalm 27:1
Not only is God self-existent, but He is also personal.
In this passage of Psalms, David is on the run from violent evildoers who were lying about him and wanting to kill him. However, instead of looking at the situation in which he was in, he looked with faith towards God- the ultimate protector and sustainer.
Let's look at this verse with the name Yahweh in mind:
"The eternal, unchanging Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Creator of life is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
He is our light in the darkness and our victory within our weakness. Even in the midst of life-threatening terror, David found complete peace and courage by abiding in Yahweh.
Surely worshipping a God who contains these qualities should bring us to have yet another "David moment". Why us? Why would an eternal God who created the awe-inspiring sky, space, planets, and galaxies want anything to do with us? Or even more so, why would he choose us to be made in His image?
We are meaningful because He has made us meaningful. It is through the sheer precision of His will that He made us and it is this act that gives every one of us incredible value. We don't have to strive to be valued according to what the world might say. God made us in His image and, therefore, we have value.
Think about that for a second- the Self-Existent One has called you significant. Truly, that is an utmost title.
Do you live your life today as if God is who He says He is?
- He is the same, unchanging God we read about in the Bible keeping covenants and faithfully providing for His people.
- He is the Creator of life (including yours), with which He sovereignly governs.
- He is not dependent on anyone or anything, but simply is, always was, and always will be.
The all-powerful, eternal God whose very essence gives life to everything; This same God actively works and desires to have a relationship with you and I. A fact we so carelessly forget and take for granted. Let us all constantly live in the glorious mindset of being undeserving, and continually have our awe-inspired eyes point back to our self-existent Creator.
Elah Elahin // GOD of gods
“The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” // Daniel 2:47
Our next series on Imposing Grandeur will be summer long, and we will be exploring the incredible names of our God. The names of God are amazing because hidden behind every name is a meaning, and a meaning reveals characteristics. As we explore such a small amount of the names of God, we pray that you will be encouraged and that your faith will grow alongside your knowledge and love for the Lord.
First of all, we will be exploring the name ELAH ELAHIN, which means “God of gods."
What is your god? Is it yourself, your pride? Is it your success? Or is it a thing like sex or money? The list could go on forever asking the "what is your god" question, but at the end of the day, we all have an answer to this question that isn’t THE God. We all struggle daily with identifying gods that we have made in our lives or of ourselves. So I think a question we may need to start asking is, how do we stop these thoughts right in their tracks and start giving to GOD the attention and worship He is so worthy of?
I always find it interesting in the Old Testament when leaders of other nations recognize God as the true God over their false idols, and I think it is so stupid that they could have ever worshipped something made from wood or stone so deeply and seriously. Once I change the medium of the idol, the idea of worshipping something other than God seems not so far off. I don’t think I will ever be able to vanquish all the idols from my life forever, but with the strength of the Lord, I am confident in his powers to change my heart and desires.
My friend always says, “your feelings won’t knock God off His throne.” I love this because it is the important first step to recognize that God is THE God of all. Your heart is chasing after other things but God is still God despite that.
“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality not take a bribe.” Deuteronomy 10:17
At the beginning of this blog, I referenced a passage in Daniel where the king finally has his dream explained to him, and because of this, he recognizes God as the true God over all. Daniel was the Lord’s vessel in this revelation, and it is worth considering how Daniel’s faith played a part in his devotion to the Lord. Daniel didn’t just wake up and serve the Lord against all odds. Daniel’s life as far as we know involved him being faithful in the big and the small things despite the circumstances surrounding him (you should just stop now and go read through all of Daniel- it’s amazing). For example, In Daniel 6 a decree is signed where no one is allowed to pray to anyone other than the king himself and in return, this is what happened, “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” (Daniel 6:10) His devotion to the Lord was born while he was on his knees with God.
While it is important to recognize God as the only god it isn’t enough to just know that. The heart starts to yearn for the Lord and push idols out when we spend time with the Lord and subject ourselves to true devotion to him by choosing to spend time with him. Daniel could have chosen to make the king the center of his worship for a time or he could have chosen to pray more privately, but God had established within his heart to worship Him as the God of gods regardless of consequences (by the way, the consequence was being thrown into a den of hungry lions resulting in being eaten alive).
Worshipping God for who His name says He is, brings boldness in our faith and true satisfaction despite all odds and consequences. He is Elah Elahin, God of all gods.
You know those days when it's really easy to praise God?
Those days when the weather is beautiful, it's payday, and you got to wake up slowly to the smell of coffee and bacon.
As far as your concerned, life is really good.
And then there are the not-so-good days.
You wake up late for an appointment, get drenched in the rain while running to your car, and five minutes down the road you realize you left your coffee on the counter while rushing out the door.
Yeah, I've been there. Pretty sure we all have been.
There are factors we face daily that carry the potential to alter our entire attitude. Whether it's an alarm clock not going off, a traffic jam, or the weather- these small, unpredictable moments have the ability to distract us from a God-exalting mentality.
We are faced with two choices on how to react to the "change in our day"- to bless or curse.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should put on a fake smile and say, "I love traffic!" It would be of no benefit to us to lie to ourselves and to confront these situations with a fake approach.
But rather it is in these temporary moments we can't control where we can rest in eternal truth God offers for our lives.
Our days are built on so much more than what happens during them.
"Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."
vs. 2-5
Why do we have a reason to praise? We have a future in Christ! God didn't just meet the bare minimum in saving us by not condemning us to hell, but He rather exceeded in saving us. He has adopted us into His family. We are redeemed, forgiven, healed, and loved! Do we deserve any of it? Absolutely not. Yet we stand renewed in Jesus Christ "crowned with steadfast love and mercy".
"The LORD works righteousness and
justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him."
vs. 7-13
When I was younger, I would occasionally picture God in the clouds looking down on me in anger when seeing I had messed up again. But here in these verses, we see the exact opposite. Read through those verses again- can you even begin to fathom such a love like His?
"He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities."
Thank The Lord life isn't fair. If it was, we would be living an empty life with no hope, only to suffer in hell for eternity.
"For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, His days are like grass;
He flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep His covenant and remember to do his commandments.
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, O you His angels,
you mighty ones who do His word,
obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the LORD, all His hosts,
His ministers, who do His will!
Bless the LORD, all His works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
vs. 14-22
Not only do we serve a God who exceeds in redemption, and loves us unfathomably, but He is a great and mighty ruler. Where man is finite, God is infinite. Rulers on this earth will fade like grass on a field, but God is everlasting. He is forever able to sustain us and intercede for us.
How has your day been going so far? Did you wake up slowly to the smell of coffee and bacon? Or did you get rained on and forget your coffee at home? As a redeemed child of God, who is unfathomably loved and cared for, no matter the circumstances, may you be reminded of His goodness and your identity in Him. Let us forfeit the temptation to curse, and live our days with a rejoiceful heart, overwhelmed at the goodness God offers us.
Let there never be a day that we cease praising- we are blood-bought children of God!
Scriptures to Read: Psalm 51, 2 Samuel 2:1-14
The following scenario is probably an all too familiar story for a lot of people. It’s been a long, dreary day. You’re bored and there is nothing to do, you walk into your house surprised to find that no one is there. You go to your room and sit down and scroll through Instagram and that’s when it hits you; the desire to go to the internet and watch people pervert and destroy a wonderful gift that the Lord gave the world. In your mind, you are fighting back and forth on every reason why you shouldn’t do it, but eventually, you stumble and there you are again feeding the lion you thought you had caged up within your soul. Seconds after it’s over, your heart is torn. You feel sick to your stomach. “How could this happen again?” or maybe even, “My spiritual walk with the Lord was going so well why was I so unprepared to fight this?” The questions go on and on. You may even get angry at the very God whom you just spit on with your sin, “Where was he when I most needed him?”
Pornography has stained this world with the darkest crimson imaginable. No amount of human efforts will ever be able to cleanse what has been done to the people whose bodies have been used and used for pleasure, the young eyes that glance out of curiosity and soon become enslaved by the time they are in their twenties, or even the broken souls of Christians who can’t seem to run away permanently from the desire and temptation, falling again and again. Of course, none of this is news to you. I do not intend to write a piece of earth-shattering, “never before heard” news, but rather an encouragement to those struggling.
Your heart can be cleansed because it is not the work of human hands but that of the Almighty God.
In the scriptures, I listed above, it lists 2 Samuel 2:1-14 This is very important to the context of Psalm 51, and to understand exactly what David was dealing with you need to pay attention. In summary, King David had seen a woman bathing and wanted her as his wife but she was married. Knowing his flesh was prone to temptation, he didn't flee from the situation, but rather he calls her to him and completely surrenders to his sinful desire by sleeping with her. Still not being satisfied, David sends out orders to have her husband killed in battle so he can marry her- a woman he had just met. David commits both adultery and murder. This is a familiar reminder of how quickly and drastically our own sin can affect our lives. I imagine the things I have done before and how heavily they weigh on me, but I can’t begin to feel the weight of the guilt David must have felt because of what he deliberately did over not just a few minutes but days and days. He knew in his heart what he was doing was so sinful but he proceeded anyway. Every single person I know relates to this. We do this all the time. Just like David, it is also important to surround yourself with people who are willing to call you to repentance. Nathan the prophet rebukes David for his sin and calls him to repentance, leading David to write Psalm 51.
David begins his prayer to the Lord with pleas for mercy,
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (v.1,2)
Here we can already see David acknowledging that God is the one he has ultimately sinned against, and God is the one whom he must ask for mercy. David goes on to not only acknowledge that God is the one he has sinned against but that he has in fact sinned.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (v3,4)
He continues with pleas to the Lord and begs Him to cleanse him and his heart.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (v. 10-12)
I think it is interesting here that the Psalms really comes to a climax not around necessarily his sorrow or even his sin specifically, but the fact that he is sinful. David writes so beautifully here just how desperately we should be crying to God for his renewal and strength every moment of every day. The only one who could renew David is God. No one else, only God. When I truly meditate on the Lord forgiving my sins and cleansing my heart regardless of how big my sin is it takes my breath away. I love how after all this David sings praises of the Lord’s forgiveness! Once we repent of our sins we are not to wallow there. We are to rejoice that the Lord is so loving and good to save us and forgive us!!
You don’t understand what the Lord has done for you until you truly repent and rejoice in his salvation of your soul. To wallow in sadness or guilt is to say that the Lord’s forgiveness means little to you. God is so good and my words can’t express that. You are free from sin so rejoice in it! Jesus came and conquered the temptation we face every day. And if we are in Christ, the same power that was at work in raising Him from the dead is at work in our lives. We have hope and victory through Jesus' work on the cross! No longer are we slaves to our sinful flesh, but we have obtained the ability to say no to what dominates us. There is hope in the cross.
“Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Above all things, do we find that our hearts are so satisfied in Christ that we find true contentment in Him? Is He our safest stronghold, most marvelous treasure, sovereign ruler, and valued counselor?
"Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16)
How easy is it to answer the above question with, "oh yeah, totally. I am always fully content and confident in my hope in Christ." If you are anything like me, you know this isn't true. There have been so many times in my life that sin has wrecked my thoughts and I have doubted my confidence and hope in Christ.
At a glance, Psalm 16 is written so eloquently and can truly move our hearts to worship just by quickly reading the beautiful contents. However, when we dig deeper into David's heart, mind, and thoughts behind the writing of Psalm 16, the truths are so profound and convicting. Let's break down Psalm 16 verse by verse and study further about our confidence in Christ + who He is to us...
First, let's look at verses 1 and 2:
"Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
By David stating, "in you, I take refuge," the Lord is his safest place, his stronghold, his only refuge. "You, are my Lord; I have NO good apart from you." David is humbling himself before the Lord and stating that he has nothing good to boast about apart from Christ. How true is this for us? We have nothing apart from Him. The Lord is the only One we can rely on for our well-being. He is the sovereign ruler of our lives.
Verses 3 and 4:
"As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips."
David is implying that he finds delight and joy in fellowship with those that are godly people, those that love God and emanate the fruits of the spirit on a daily basis. In verse 4, David is explaining that it is foolish to run to other idols, and because he loves God so much, he can't fathom worshipping anything other than Him. Often times, this is not our attitude at all. We are unaware of idols that sneak into our lives and become our main focus. Idolatry is a serious, daily battle that we must pray for strength to fight against, otherwise, it will ultimately lead to destruction.
Verses 5 and 6:
"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."
By David declaring "He is my chosen portion and cup," He is explaining that out of everything in the world, David would choose the Lord over anything. Nothing else truly satisfies other than Christ. In verse 6, "lines" also mean portions, lots, and inheritances and can allude to the Old Testament family land plots and inheritances. This verse indicates David is content with his life and he sees his inheritance as being the Lord's providential hand. He knows that in Christ, he has a divine inheritance and that it is his most marvelous treasure. Praise the Lord that this is our hope too! Through the blood of Jesus, we have graciously been offered the same beautiful inheritance.
Verses 7 and 8:
"I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
Aside from God being his stronghold, most beautiful inheritance, marvelous treasure, and sovereign Lord, He is also David's counselor. The Lord guides, instructs and leads him. Verse 8 is unique because as we compare it to verse 1 where David was crying out to the Lord, "preserve me, please!," we see that in verse 8 after David has spent the passage writing truths about who God is to him, we see that he finally has confidence that he knows the Lord will preserve him, and therefore, he will not ever be shaken.
Verses 9, 10, + 11:
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
In verse 9, David is rejoicing because he knows that the Lord will always preserve Him. In verse 10, we see what the Lord was preserving him from; death and corruption. Death will not be the end for David. He sees that the Lord promises eternal life and joy forever in Him, therefore, David can be content and truly glad because his confidence is secure in Christ forever, and he will never be shaken. This is why we should never doubt our hope in Christ. Death is not the end for us either. As His children, He has promised to preserve us, provide for us, sovereignly lead us, and counsel us.
Therefore, we can rejoice and be glad, confident, and content because the God that knew David and the God that graciously provided redemption for sinners through Jesus Christ is the very same God that calls us by name. We can find true contentment in Him being our safest stronghold, most marvelous treasure, sovereign ruler, and valued counselor.
In His presence there truly is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Praise the King!
Psalm 16 (Fullness of Joy), a song by Shane & Shane on Spotify
Doesn't it feel great to be known by someone?
That warm feeling you get when someone says, "I got this for you because I knew you like _____". How about when someone remembers when your birthday is, or even that moment when the person you only met once or twice remembers your name the next time they see you.
A small act of simply remembering you or something about you has the potential to positively transform your entire day. Personally, there have been small yet incredibly sweet moments like these that have happened years ago that I still look back on. How about you?
Let's think about this now on a much larger scale. In today's Psalm, David is in awe of God for knowing him down to the tiniest detail. We see the omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence of God throughout this chapter. Each aspect of God's character is intently focussed on displaying how active and intentional God is toward His creation.
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it."
Psalm 139:1-6
While knowing the actions of a person is one thing; David goes deeper, exclaiming that God also knows the motivations behind our actions. He knows our thoughts, how we think, why we would choose ______ over ______, and what words we would speak from the result of our thought before we could ever think to utter it.
God is omniscient- He knows everything. Because He made everything. It would be foolish for us to think that we know better than the God who created us when we don't even fully know ourselves! I sit here typing on my computer blissfully not at all aware of how the nerves, muscles, and bones in my fingers work together with my brain to successfully hit a key on the keyboard- and yet it is dangerously easy for me to put the weight of knowing my future on my shoulders, as if I am in charge of orchestrating what will happen.
Give up every ounce of stubbornness that clings so closely to you, and let the one who truly knows you take the lead.
"Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."
Verses 7-16
What we see here is the beauty of God's provision. Not only does God know you better than you know yourself, but He has been so actively involved in your life from before you were even formed. Words like "created" and "knitted" give light to God's sovereignty over the natural process of reproduction. Intimately and actively forming us- having His power magnified in His own creation. What an honor it is to be an image-bearer of the living God! While bearing His image and exhibiting His careful construction, how much more cautious we must be in tearing ourselves down for what we look like. We are offending not only ourselves but the very Creator who made us.
God is omnipresent- He is everywhere.
Nothing can separate us from God (Romans 8:38–39), and His hand will continually lead and comfort those who are His children.
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
Psalm 139:17–24
God is omnipotent- He is all powerful.
God's deep relation to His creation, paired with His sovereignty over their life, is all made possible through His powerful nature. In light of recounting the characteristics of The Lord, David, in closing, dedicates his loyalty to The Lord. Stating that God's enemies are his enemies, and asking Him to search his heart and mind for anything that would hinder his relationship with The Lord.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"
The last two verses should be the prayer of all of us. Before we read our quietime, before we get out of bed to start our day, and even before we reach for our phone.
We must ask God to examine us. To reveal to us any areas of growth that we must work on, and to ask Him to give us the strength to overcome what is holding us back from pursuing Him.
May we not be neutral in our loyalty to God, but wholly submit to Him as our creator God.
By coming to understand the weight in which God knows and understands you- how more this should affect our day. How much more this should affect our lifetime of living!
The creator of everything you see and don't see. The one who has given you the very air in your lungs to breathe, and who mercifully enables you to live in this very moment-
the God of the universe deeply knows you, intricately designed you and passionately loves you.
The one who knows you best, who has stood beside you, and who is all powerful has marvelously planned your life.
What a beautiful truth.
Wonderfully Made, a song by Ellie Holcomb on Spotify
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1
Scriptures to Read: Psalm 143
When reading this Psalm you may be thinking, “Why are they writing on this psalm? It seems pretty depressing.” Well, you aren’t wrong. It isn’t the happiest psalm there is that’s for sure, but it is not lacking in substance by any means. This is something I definitely love about the Psalms. They aren’t all sunshine and rainbows...in fact, they mirror life pretty realistically.
The Psalmists starts off the Psalms with, “Hear my prayer; O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” (Psalm 143:1-2)
This is awesome. This is exactly what biblical repentance looks like. Crying out to the Lord with a heart of remorse for the wrong we have done and begging for mercy. It reflects such God-given humility to understand that there is no one righteous apart from God and to understand what sin truly brings us to this place of heartfelt cries to the Lord.
The Psalmists continues with this in verses 5-6, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.”
As Christians, when we look back on the past we should be brought to the same place that the Psalmists is at as he writes this. Looking back upon what the Lord has done in our lives or in the lives of others should not give us any sense of independence but should further our dependence on Him deep into the crevices of our soul. Our dependence is not like that favor you depend on every once in a while, but rather a feeling of helplessness if you do not have this thing. That is what the Lord is for us. He is the water of life for our eternally parched land.
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul….. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:8,10)
“In the morning”, that is a phrase that I actually really hate to hear.I’m not a morning person. I prefer waking up at my own convenience rather than setting multiple alarms that I would have to ultimately “snooze”. However, the Psalmist highlights the specific time of morning and not evening in this passage. This is to bring to attention the importance of mornings and their role in our walk with the Lord. Think of a full day as a race. Morning is the starting point. If I start a race without shoes on I will be fine for the first couple strides, but soon I will start to feel it and by the time night approaches I will have either given up or my feet will be in excruciating pain. This is exactly what I think of when I read scriptures about reminding yourself of scripture or the Lord in the morning. If I start my day out with no dependence on my one life line I will probably make it to the night time, but I will have failed and there will be pain. The Psalmists here realizes that in the morning, every morning, he must be reminded of the Lord’s character because that is the one thing that he trusts in- the one thing that he can depend on. The Lord is the only one who can change us and save us.
I am about to get married to a future Army officer. I get married and a mere 3 weeks later we will be separated for a few months. I have no idea where I will live and when we will move there. Will I even get to move with him? I don’t know. What about school will I be able to finish online? Who knows honestly. I have so many concerns about my ambiguous future; so many worries and preferences. You know what though? This Psalms was so convicting to me, and it definitely should be. How often do I wake up and remind myself of the Lord’s faithful and trustworthy character? Rarely, if I am being honest. No wonder life can suck so bad sometimes and I can be so overwhelmed, I am not placing my trust and future in the hands of the Lord. Repentance and Remembrance are two key words that stick out to me. I need to repent quickly of my distrust and then remind myself through the Lord’s word that he is faithful and worthy of all my trust.
I hope that as you read through this Psalm you won’t see it as a lonesome drag but rather a call to remember who our God is and repent in ways that you have failed to recognize it.
Psalm 143, a song by Shane & Shane on Spotify
Scriptures to Study:
Psalm 46, 1 Peter 4:12, Psalm 118:8, Exodus 14:14, Psalm 59:16-17
To the Choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage [roar], the kingdoms totter [shake]; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." (Psalm 46)
Just take a moment and read the above Psalm one more time. Isn't it so insanely rich? The God of ALL nations from the beginning of time is our refuge and strength. We must be still and KNOW that He is God.
Wow.
How easy is it to read that and be so in awe of our God one moment, but then when trouble plaques our life the next moment and turns our world upside down, how often of times do we run and seek comfort in things that will fail us?
1 Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." As believers, God promises that trouble will strike His people. We cannot be surprised when it happens but instead, be prepared to know how to act in response.
It is better to retreat to God as our ultimate fortress than to turn to man for strength. It is written in Psalm 118:8, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." How true is this? When trouble comes in my life, I often turn to the people closest to me for immediate comfort and advice. Do not hear me wrong, the Lord has given us Christian counsel, wisdom, and friendship for a reason. We must utilize the people He has blessed us with because He can use our godly friends and family in mighty ways. However, because we are all sinners and live in a fallen world, those around us will fail us often. We cannot rely on them as our sole refuge in times of trial.
Charles Spurgeon in his book "Morning and Evening" writes, "Is God not enough for your need, or is His all-sufficiency too narrow for your wants? Do you need another to watch for you when you have Him who sees every secret thing? Is His heart faint? Is His arm weary? If so, seek another God; but if He is infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why do you run around seeking another confidence? Why do you scour the earth to find another foundation when this is strong enough to bear all the weight that you can ever build on it? Christian, do not mix your wine with water; do not tarnish the gold of faith with the dross[rubbish] of human confidence. Wait only upon God, and let your expectation be from Him. Do not covet Jonah's gourd, but rest in Jonah's God. Let the sandy, shaky foundations be the choice of fools; but you, like one who sees the approaching storm, build for yourself an abiding place upon the Rock of Ages."
"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)
The most precious news is that as adopted sons and daughters of the King, we serve a God that is sufficient to bring us through times of trial, temptation, pain, and struggle. We see in the entirety of Psalm 46 that God is our refuge and strength, He truly is our only present help in trouble. He has gone before us and in Him, we find our hope. He will never fail us, leave us, or forsake us. Let's also look at Psalm 46:6 that says, "The nations rage [roar], the kingdoms totter [shake]; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." This passage shows us that whatever it is, whether our world is shattering from causes of nature, or from the problems of our sinful nations, God is our only true fortress.
"Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Psalm 46:8-11
Let us take time to come today to the throne of grace and revel in these glorious truths and in His wondrous works. In the stillness and in the quiet, let's allow these truths to soak deep into our hearts, so that we may know and rest in the fact that He has gone before us in our pain and sufferings, He is our only hiding place + solid fortress, and He is faithful in His promises to the nations. Hallelujah, He is with us to the end of the age!!
"But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
You are my strength, I sing praise to you;
you, God, are my fortress,
my God on whom I can rely." (Psalm 59:16-17)
Psalm 46 (Lord of Hosts), a song by Shane & Shane on Spotify
Scripture Readings: Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12:1–3; Deuteronomy 11:1; Exodus 32:7-8; 2 Samuel 7:11–13; Isaiah 53:5–7; Matthew 1:1; Hebrews 2:14–18; Ephesians 1:7–10
Put yourself in Adam and Eve's situation. Disobeying the very command God had given you to not eat of the forbidden tree, you glance down at your hands holding the fruit that bears your bite. You have just disobeyed the very One who created you, thinking you knew what was better. "He was keeping something from me", you had thought, "Perhaps what this serpent says is true", you wondered.
The effects of that decision immediately enter the world, and the relationship between man and God, which was perfect and intimate, becomes dead and distant. We no longer are considered innocent in God's eyes, but rebels partaking in the greatest blasphemy of the universe.
What if the story stopped there?
What if God, in His justice, struck Adam and Eve dead immediately after partaking? Surely He would be right to do so- He gave a command, it was broken, and now someone had to pay.
The question is... who?
God, in His infinite wisdom, was working towards something so much more. He would use this seemingly hopeless situation that we have created as a canvas to ultimately display His glory to all nations.
God's plan for a redeemer of mankind begins to unfold right after the fall in Genesis with the protoevangelium- the first mention of the Gospel:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
- Genesis 3:15
A glimmer of hope has already been revealed! Here God speaks to the serpent and says that there will rise an offspring from Eve. The serpent will bruise His heel, causing Him to suffer, but the offspring shall crush his head, killing him with one fatal blow. However, throughout the chapters, we see Adam and Eve's children fall into the same cycle of rebellion. They are unable to prove themselves worthy of combatting such a problem of sin when they have allowed sin to dominate their own flesh.
We then see a further unraveling of this "offspring prophecy" in the covenant God made to Abraham:
"'Now the LORD said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”
- Genesis 12:1–3
Keywords: "of all the earth". God promises Abraham that through his family, goodness and blessing will be restored to all of the earth, not just Abraham's descendants. Therefore, whoever this "offspring" is, He must be one not dominated by sin, and of great Divine authority to establish such hope for a fallen world.
“You shall, therefore, love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always." Deuteronomy 11:1
When Abraham's family becomes the nation of Israel, God establishes through Moses, The Mosaic covenant. This was after God had led them out of captivity from the Egyptians, and called the Israelites to remember how He freed them from those who held them captive. God presented a series of guidelines, or laws, on how they as God's people should therefore now act. By acting in obedience as God's people, He would in return bless them and make them His own nation- defending them from their enemies and being merciful and forgiving of their sins. However, shortly after the Israelites made the covenant with God, the Bible says that "they have turned aside quickly out of the way" and made for themselves an idol to worship and give thanks to for leading them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:7-8), rather than giving God Himself the deserved praise.
This law God gave to Moses, as epitomized in the Ten Commandments, showed us God's standard of Holiness.
Not to act as a means of how to gain salvation, but to act as a highlighter that would ultimately reveal our inadequacy of redeeming ourselves. Though called to be faithful, the Israelites were more in love with their sin than the God who set them free and did not obey the law He had commanded them to follow.
We still needed a Redeemer. One who is not tainted by their own sinful desire, of Divine authority, and who is able to obey the law God commanded.
"'When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.'" -2 Samuel 7:11–13
Here the tribe of Israel has become a great nation and is ruled by King David. God begins to tell David that this offspring, the one talked about in Genesis and the one mentioned in the Abrahamic Covenant, will also come through David's royal line and establish a kingdom that will reign forevermore. However, King after King, Israel is captured and taken over by Babylon and there is no one else to take over.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth."
- Isaiah 53:5–7
During these dark times, God would speak through prophets about this coming Messiah that would redeem His fallen people. Those who have rebelled and have been unfaithful, He would make a way for them to be reconciled to Him. In this passage, the prophet Isaiah speaks about why the offspring in Genesis 3 was bitten, and why He had to suffer.
"By His wounds we are healed"
This coming King would bring blessing to the rebellious nation, and redeem us from our sinful ways. Giving us hope and a new life as God's chosen people.
Oh, how we need a redeemer to free us from our continuous cycle of disobedience!
After many prophecies about this coming Offspring, the Old Testament ends. Leaving us on the edge of our seat waiting.
But if there is one thing we know about God, is that He is ever faithful and keeps His promises!
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
- Matthew 1:1
The very first verse of the New Testament should bring a smile to your face. We are introduced to a man named Jesus Christ, who is from the line of David and is a descendant of Abraham. Throughout the Gospel's of the New Testament, we don't see this man getting swallowed up in evil, but rather confronting evil by healing those around Him who are oppressed and forgiving people of their sins. Surely this is no mere Human, but rather God who became human.
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."-Hebrews 2:14–18
Jesus came to this earth to die, and by dying He claimed power over death by resurrecting. With one fatal blow, Jesus Christ renders Satan powerless and extends this hope to all who believe and follow Him.
The Offspring of Abraham, the faithful Israelite, and the King that reigns forever- Jesus Christ was the faithful covenant partner we failed to be and extends those blessings to all who repent of their rebellious ways and follow in His righteousness.
Through Jesus, we are now able to partake in a partnership with God.
At the beginning, when I asked you to put yourself in Adam and Eve's situation, did that scenario feel a little too familiar? The whole thought of you being disobedient to the very One who created you- I know for me I felt uneasy typing it and felt conviction on my own part. We will never be perfect, and although God conquered the power Satan had over us, it doesn't mean we won't struggle in this world. We still have our sinful flesh, and there is still a battle to be fought.
But we aren't fighting alone. The same power that rose Christ from the dead is now at work in those who believe in God and call upon His name. We now have the power to say no to what is dominating us and run with open arms to Jesus.
Our story doesn't end in guilt but in grace.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."
-Ephesians 1:7–10
Suggested Readings: 2 Samuel 7, Jeremiah 23:5, Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 1:32-33
Have you ever read the Old Testament and thought to yourself, “I really just don’t see the point. Why am I reading this?” I know for sure that I have felt that way before, especially when reading about the covenants. However, reading and studying these stories for this series has opened my eyes as to why they actually do matter and I hope that you will be able to see this too by the end of this series!
So, this week we pick up with King David. This is the final covenant within the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel 7, this is the context in which God establishes His covenant. If you read closely, you will see that once again it is God who is doing the establishing, never the human. God calls to David and promises several elements throughout 2 Samuel 7, and they consist of a place for Israel to dwell, rest from their enemies, offspring from David, whose kingdom shall be established and will build the new temple, He promises that God’s steadfast love will not depart from him, and that his kingdom shall be established for eternity.
Something that always strikes me as interesting when seeing these covenants and the promises that the Lord gives people, is that God is faithful to His promise, and all His promises are unconditional. God is not stupid either; He makes these promises with the full-knowledge that the human side of it will not ever be held up. If that doesn’t show you just how amazing and gracious our God is, I’m not sure what anything else will. We even see this mirrored in our lives today. God knew then and knows now that we are sinful and we are going to sin continuously till the day we die, yet He still offered his Son as a sacrifice so that we might be with the God in heaven. I just think that is the coolest thing!
Finally, let’s continue in the story of the Davidic Covenant. Flip on over in the Bible to Jeremiah 23:5 where it says, “‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.’” If you recall back to one of the promises God made with David when establishing His covenant, was that His kingdom would be established forever. David obviously dies, so does Solomon, and so on and so forth. Could it be that this promise was pointing to something bigger? Something as big as the Savior of the world, someone who will rule for eternity? Yes, it is absolutely possible. In fact, that is exactly what God meant, and Jesus would soon enter the scene, born from the line of David, The Messiah to rule for eternity. Jesus would be the righteous branch mentioned in Jeremiah 35! Jesus as the everlasting King is not just mentioned in Jeremiah but also in Isaiah 9:6-7,
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
How incredible is that! This one covenant was established, prophesied about, and fulfilled over hundreds and hundreds of years! Next flip to Luke 1:32-33, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” The context in which this takes place is an angel of the Lord telling Mary, the future mother of Jesus, the nature of the Son she was carrying. Jesus was born in chapter 2 of Luke, from the very line of David. Yes, He would die, but He would also rise from the dead, and He is alive even as I write this today. He is the true and better David, the King of the everlasting throne!
The greatest thing to me while studying these covenants is getting the chance to see how Jesus is really the center of it all. Each covenant is fulfilled and everytime, each promise points back to Jesus and the Gospel. What an incredible reassurance of my faith this truth is. I hope that anyone who reads these passages will be as awe-struck as I have been. God is so good, and truly the definition and inspiration for what it means to be always faithful.
Resources:
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/gods-covenant-with-david
Scriptures to Read: Exodus 19-34, Deuteronomy 11:1, John 1:17, + Psalm 145:8-13
“You shall, therefore, love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always." (Deuteronomy 11:1)
Obedience.
Have you ever felt how incredibly hard is it to obey God in a season of unbelief?
There have been numerous times in my life that I have questioned God's purpose in certain situations and I have found myself weighed down by doubt and caught up in the storm of disobedience. I am sure the Israelites felt similarly when they were in miserable bondage and slavery in Egypt. I can imagine that the weight of disobedience and disbelief in God weighed heavily upon their shoulders.
However, it was completely and entirely God's plan to walk them through those years of hardship and torture; their trouble and toil were not in vain. God called, appointed, and raised up an obedient leader for them, and his name was Moses.
Through Moses, God would faithfully lead them out of the darkness and liberate them from their pain and captivity at the hands of the Egyptians. With God, they miraculously crossed the Red Sea, they received literal bread from the sky, and they even drank water from an actual rock.
Eventually, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1), and because of Moses's obedience here at the Mount, God graciously made a covenant with His people.
We see in Exodus 19, that Moses goes up the Mount to God and He called out to Moses and said, "‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation...'" (Exodus 19:4-6)
God called Moses and the Israelites to remember what they saw Him do in Egypt, and how He liberated them from the hands of their captors. He also reminded them that His covenant relationship with them is absolutely fundamental to their living as His own people. What is extremely crystal clear about God's covenant with them is that He desired obedience from them, and in turn, He would make them His people.
He promised five elements of the Mosaic Covenant:
A. Israel will be God's own prized possession. (Exodus 19:5)
B. Israel will be a kingdom of royal priests. (Exodus 19:6)
C. Israel will be a holy nation. (Exodus 19:6)
D. God will defend Israel from all of their enemies. (Exodus 23:22)
E. God will be merciful, gracious, + forgiving to the Israelites.
(Exodus 34:6-7)
We see in Exodus 24 that Moses led the Israelites in sacrifice and a reestablishing of the covenant with the Lord. Moses, Aaron + his sons, and the elders worshiped and ate before Him, and finally, Moses and Joshua hiked further up the Mountain and entered the cloud in the Lord's presence, and Moses stayed on the mount for forty days and nights. While Moses was absent for that time, the people of Israel broke their covenant promise with God and disobeyed Him by making a golden calf to worship instead.
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (Exodus 32:7-8)
I know for me, it is so easy to sit back and scoff at the pathetic Israelites. They literally JUST made a covenant with the King of all Kings and in only forty days they already made a golden cow out of their own jewelry in order to just have something to worship. How silly is this? ...But then I remember the idols in my life. Money, time, clothes, relationships, my outward appearance, my career, success...the list goes on and on. How often do I claim to obey, love, and honor my Lord and Savior and in a few moments (way less than just forty days), I turn back to my sin and idols?
"Then God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them...'" (Exodus 20:1-4)
The Lord is a loving God, but He is also a jealous God. He takes His Lordship very seriously, and so like the Israelites, when idols consume, distract, and cause us to disobey our King, this makes God very angry.
So, on that day on top of Mount Sinai, The Lord is ready to unleash His burning hot wrath against the Israelites and their disobedience. Moses implored the Lord and says in Exodus 32:11-14, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people."
We now find ourselves in Exodus 34 after Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites and their disobedience towards God. God then allowed Moses to make new tablet stones and He descended in the cloud before Moses and proclaimed His name in verses 6-7, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." The Lord restored and renewed the covenant with the Israelites once more.
First, the Mosaic Covenant is not a picture that says if we disobey and commit a sin against God then the covenant is permanently lost to us, It is a reminder of God's sovereign grace, a foreshadowing of the redemption we find on the cross through Jesus, and a display of God's loving, kind, just, but forgiving character.
Next, the Mosaic Covenant is a reminder to us to trust. Without trusting that the Lord will indeed forgive us of our iniquities through the loving work of His Son, we will not receive forgiveness.
Finally, the result of faith in God is obedience. If we trust and have faith that He will do what He promises, we will, in turn, strive to obey and love Him always. (Deuteronomy 11:1)
May we now always remember God's sovereign hand over the Israelites, even in the midst of their disobedience and unbelief. The God of the Mosaic Covenant is the same God today in 2018, and His gift of mercy to the Israelites is attainable for you and me through the cross. May we rejoice and sing praises always, for, by putting faith in His Son + His gracious sacrifice, we can be confident that He has forgiven our disobedience + disbelief forever, and for eternity we too are His prized possession.
Praise the King!
"The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, And Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power; To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations." (Psalm 145:8-13)
Sources:
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ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2016.
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https://www.desiringgod.org/
Scriptures to read: Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-21; 15:6; 22:1-24; Proverbs 16:9; 2 Cor. 4:18; Romans 4:1-12; Hebrews 11:8-12; 17-19
"Ye of little faith".
The title we often see Jesus calling the disciples in the New Testament. I have to be honest, reading the stories of how they doubted His wondrous works, or how they would see him feed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread, and then later would be worrying about not having food (Matt. 6:8-9)- it makes me internally laugh.
Like, really? Are you guys not seeing what is going on?
Then I am automatically humbled when thinking about the many times my name has been "ye of little faith".
That moment of worrying I look back on and humbly realize, "oh, that's why God had that happen."
Again, I arrive at the conclusion that God is in control. All I know and have access to is what is in the past and what is happening right now.
But God is above time. He see's everything, knows everything, and establishes our steps before we know where to place our feet (Proverbs 16:9).
It is our lack of faith in Him that blurs our purpose and mission as followers of Christ; causing us to dwell more richly on the temporary things we see, and not the eternal things God is orchestrating behind the scenes (2 Cor. 4:18).
One man that stands out in the Bible for having great faith is Abraham. God had made a covenant with him, one that today is even being fulfilled before our eyes! The Lord promised to provide the following three things:
- Land- That God would make for Abraham a great nation. (Gen. 13:14-15)
- Seed- God promised a great prosperity of offspring (one being the Messiah). (Gen. 3:15, 15:5)
- Blessing- These blessings are not just for Abraham, but are to be enjoyed by all the world. (Gen. 12:1-3)
What does God ask for in exchange?
To do what Adam and Eve didn't do - live by faith revealed in the actions of obedience.
Not only did Abraham have to wait twenty-five years for the covenant to be made after it was introduced to him, but Abraham's faith was to be stretched even further when God told him to offer up his only son as a burnt sacrifice to The Lord (Genesis 22). Take a brief pause and put yourself in Abraham's position- God had made a promise to you that through this son He has given to you while you were of old age, a nation would be made and a great prosperity of offspring would be born.
Seem's a bit contradictory, doesn't it? How would these promises begin to be fulfilled if his only son was to be sacrificed?
But Abraham had such great faith that God was going to fulfill the covenant in which He had made. Not only believing, but acting on the truth that God is not limited to human efforts to bring about what He promised. Abraham didn't rely solely on what he could see in that moment but rested his faith in who God was, knowing He had a purpose and a plan.
I love how John Piper puts it when he says, "He (Abraham) abandoned himself to the utmost trustworthiness of God to where he was ready to slay the heir of the promises."
"But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' He said, 'Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, 'The LORD will provide'; as it is said to this day, 'On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.'” -Genesis 22:10-12
Abraham's faith showed through his obedience, and God counted it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6).
Although the dialogue is between God and Abraham, we see that God didn't just make this covenant for Abraham and his close descendants- but for the world.
"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'In you shall all the nations be blessed.' So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."
-Galatians 3:7-9
As followers of Christ, WE are the heirs.
The idea is that God established His eternal Covenant with the Offspring of Adam and Eve, which was Christ and we enter into this Covenant when we are placed "in Christ." The Covenant is between God and Christ and we are the beneficiaries, not the object of it.
"'And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.'” -Genesis 17:7-8
God established His covenant between Himself and the coming "offspring" promised in Genesis 3:15 who would crush the serpents head. The keyword used in Genesis 17:7-8 is everlasting covenant. Already we receive a foreshadowing of the New Covenant Jesus was going to establish with us when He came to be a substitutionary atonement in dying for our sins. Therefore whoever that person (offspring) is, they will have an agreement with God the Father that is everlasting.
"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:27-28
There are many moments when we are put into a situation and our first instinct is to ask why. We become the "ye of little faith" and our pride causes us to doubt or question God's will for our lives. God answer's our "why" with "who"- He is God and He asks us to trust Him. Abraham had faith that God was to fulfill His covenant, and God used this small beginning of redemptive history to reach the world. He is at all times working for our good and for His glory.
Scriptures to Read: Genesis 6:5-22, 9:1-17
First of all, let’s talk about what a covenant is and why it is so important even in modern times. We will see all throughout this series different stories, covenants, and signs and how they are all symbols that will point towards Christ and the covenant established alongside that. Covenants are simply a binding agreement between two or more parties. Marriage for example is a covenant or agreement between a man, woman, and God. Covenants are important to us now because they are incredible reminders of God’s fulfilled promises, faithfulness in the midst of our wandering, and hope for a future promised with God under the new covenant. This is why we have chosen to study these stories. We are not theologians and by doing this series it forces us to examine the scriptures at a different level. It has already been so rewarding to be reminded of my hopeless state but in light of how wonderful God is to keep His promises in and through his administered covenants!
This past year I have really gotten to examine some of the covenants in the Bible and every single time I am left bewildered at how Christ and redemption ooze from the pages of Old Testament heroes. Now, most of us are pretty familiar with the story of Noah and the flood. However, I do not think that the greatest part of this story is as commonly known- The Noahic Covenant.
You can certainly read Genesis chapters 6-9 to get the full context and story of what the Noahic covenant is all about, and strongly encourage you to do so. Let me see if I can paint a brief picture of these chapters to shed some light on what I am talking about here.
Life on the earth had grown increasingly evil over time. So evil that the Bible says, “that every intention of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5b) However, Noah had found favor in the eyes of the Lord and God commanded him to gather up two of every kind of animal and his family and to build an ark. For God was going to send a flood to destroy all of earth and wipe out mankind. Noah obeyed and the Lord sent the flood. The flood finally subsided after 40 days and Noah, his family, and the animals exited the ark onto a new earth. Then Noah offers a sacrifice to God and God establishes his covenant with Noah.
Again, that was a very brief synopsis. I strongly encourage you to just go read the chapters for yourself cause there is so much more there than just what I skimmed over.
Something interesting that I learned while studying this covenant is the concept of grace. After Adam and Eve sinned God was under no obligation to establish any type of covenant with humanity, but yet he still does. These covenants are referred to as covenants of grace because how great is God to establish a covenant with an undeserving, sinful people! We see that exact concept in this story here. All of mankind was sinful and God deemed Noah worthy to build the ark and God picked Noah to establish his covenant with him. Noah did absolutely nothing at all. God laid everything out and all Noah did was obey and have faith in God[1].
Hebrews 11:7- “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness that comes by faith.”
Genesis 9: 9-11- “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
In Genesis 9: 9-11, God establishes his covenant with Noah. Noah in a sense becomes the new Adam. Something that you will see that is unique about this covenant is it is universal. It is for all life upon the earth not just Noah and his family. The coolest thing to me in studying the covenants is the Gospel parallels. You can so easily see a cycle of creation, rebellion, redemption, and consummation in them all[2].
God had created everything as we see in the early chapters of Genesis and it was good. Mankind became so entirely corrupt and the Lord erased mankind starting over with Noah. Noah had faith that God would save him and the Lord did. Then he sets his covenant with Noah and promises to never blot out the earth by the flood again. He then provides Noah with a rainbow to signify his covenant. This parallels exactly to the Gospel. We are all created by God. We are all sinful, our hearts are entirely corrupt. God establishes his new covenant by Jesus. If we believe in this we can be saved too just like Noah. How incredible a shadow is that? When Noah offered up a sacrifice in Genesis 8 it says that it pleased the Lord. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice that satisfied the penalty God demanded for our sin!!
God is truly so amazing. I would argue that while the flood is a magnificent story, a greater story lies in the truths behind the covenant of grace established by God to Noah and all living things. This is such a nursery time story, yet we often don’t even hear this incredible aspect of it. What a shame that we are missing out on such a message. God was faithful to his covenant with Noah and we see that here today. God is truly so deserving of our praise and trust, and I am increasingly thankful we have the covenants to show for that!
[1] https://www.ligonier.org
[2] ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2016.
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 7:14, Luke 2:1-20
O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth
O Holy Night…. this song is just another classic Christmas song we always sing. I never really thought deeply into its lyrics until a good friend of mine mentioned how the Gospel is literally in every line sung.
We have heard it a million times that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and that reminder has turned into yet another cliché. Christmas is so much more than that though. Long lay the world in sin and error pining; just think about that one line. The world was and is a place of sin and darkness.
“for at one time you were darkness” Ephesians 5:8a
There is no need to even prove this point because if you even do as much as scroll on Facebook, man’s depraved heart screams through even our fingers as we post things on social media. But praise God the song does not stop there.
The song continues, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. The soul felt its worth. Jesus Christ is our Savior and his birth is more than a Christmas song or any gift we could ever receive. The birth of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift to humanity; it gave our soul worth. It saved our souls from that very same darkness that rotted out any life in our hearts.
“but now you are light in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8b
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Fall on your knees
The first and second line to this second stanza get me. If anyone has ever seen a weary person rejoice it is an incredibly touching scene. I often think of the scenes in movies where danger and death are right on the horizon. The people have fought all night long to survive and some have even given up. As dawn approaches so does death. There is NO hope. But then, help comes and destroys the darkness and causes a celebration to be brought forth and dawn is no longer a symbol of death but of life. There is now HOPE. That is the emotion that those two lines stir in my heart, but not for some movie scene but the actual reality of my life because of the birth of that little baby, Jesus Christ.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; shall not be greatly shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2
Now, fall on your knees. While I am typing this I am completely in awe of our Savior, but when I get up tomorrow will I still be? If I am being honest probably not, I will be in a terrible mood that I have to go back to work. Praise God that his redemption or providing my soul with worth came before the falling on my knees otherwise I would still be lost.
O night divine
When Christ was born
As I conclude this, let those words sing like a chorus of angels in your mind. What truly a divine and holy night it was; the night our Christ was born. I pray that as we celebrate Christmas, we look out to the horizon that once screamed cries of trouble, pain, and death to rejoice and fall on our knees in adoration, as it now is a beautiful reflection of our hope and the Gospel, because of that little baby’s birth on that holy night.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."
- Ephesians 1:3–6
Scripture Readings: Luke 1:26-38, 2 Samuel 7:11–13,
I love thinking about hypothetical scenarios. I find myself asking a lot of "what would you do if ______ happened?" questions to my friends and family. Most of the times the situations are completely far-fetched and would never happen, but they would all point to an extreme outcome (whether hilarious or bizarre). Through this, although the situation itself is unreal, I get to see a small glimpse into that person's character when hearing about how they'd react.
During this season of celebrating the birth of Christ, I can't help but to figuratively put myself in Mary's shoes. While reading the story of how the angel Gabriel visited her and told her she would conceive, not just a baby, but the SAVIOR Jews have been eagerly waiting for- what would I have done? What would you have done? What is our first inclination when God calls us to do something completely out of our comfort zone? This question is so important and can reveal aspects of our heart that we have yet to face.
How did Mary react and what can we learn from her response?
Keep that question in the back of your mind while we dissect some verses for context!
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. "
- Luke 1:26–27
Here we have introduced not only Mary but also Joseph, the one to whom she is betrothed to. Why does Luke, the Author, put emphasis on him being from "the house of David"?
Already in the beginning of the story, God's promises in the Old Testament are rising to the surface again, and the consistency of Scripture is shining through.
In 2 Samuel 7:11–13, God promises to King David that from his line of descendants, someone will build a house for God's name and establish the throne of His kingdom forever.
"When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
This little fact is immensely important because it was a crucial marking for the coming of the Messiah.
Another important factor that we see in Luke 1:26–27 is that Mary was a virgin. That "virgin" specifies Mary as a young girl of marriageable age, and as one who has not yet partaken in any sexual relations.
Joseph is from the line of David, revered with an honorable title. Mary, however, does not have access to inheriting that title because she has yet to be married into his family. To others, she would appear least likely for God to use because of her seemingly insignificant role in society. However, God takes Mary from her lowly status and raises her up to play a crucial role in redemptive history.
"And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!' But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'" (vv. 28–33)
Here, she is referred to as "favored one"- isn't that amazing?!
Mary, the one who seemed to be measured low in class, gender, age, etc., who is currently residing in Nazareth, Galilee (a place that is known by others to be insignificant, despised and unclean), is called favored by God! One of the things I love about God's plan throughout The Bible, and even history, is that he uses people that society would pick out as having no real significance or ability. Yet God doesn't call us based off of the title we have been given by others, but by the identity he has graciously sealed us in through Him. When you stop looking to yourself and start looking towards The Lord, your reliance on Him makes you a top candidate for God to work through you for great, eternal significance.
"And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.' And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."
(vv. 34–38)
The response is astounding.
"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
No doubt there were horrible rumors that would inevitably spread after conceiving a child apart from her husband. And absolutely she would have had hard moments trying to explain to her friends, and even her betrothed husband what had happened. And even on her part, there were most likely days when she would wonder why she out of all people was chosen to carry out this task.
Yet in that moment, Mary completely embraces the purpose God had given her without regarding the cost to her personally. Knowing with confidence her identity isn't in others but in God.
Regarding herself as God's servant, Mary submits to God's plan.
Now let's think about this on a scale we all deal with every day- have you given up every aspect of your life to The Lord? If God called you to do something that completely took you out of your comfort zone, would you trust in Him? Would you be consumed in worrying about what others would think? Or is your identity in Christ alone?
Mary didn't know that she would later be standing at the foot of the cross, yet she submitted. And now we have access to spending eternity with our loving Father, who shows that He will go to any length in order to initiate His plan and fight for the reconciliation of His people.
When The Lord calls us, we don't look to the possible circumstances, we look to Him.
"Let every heart prepare Him room..." Luke: 2:1-7
Scripture Readings: Genesis 3:1–24, Isaiah 9:6–7, Matthew 1:22–23, Luke 1:26–38
This week, I was overly ecstatic to flip my calendar over to December, pick up my freshly cut tree, and jam to some overplayed music, because it's finally my favorite time of year.
Christmas.
Our culture has made it a month of family traditions, friends, good food, laughter, decorating, (hopefully) cooler weather, and a much-needed break. On the other hand, it can also be a month of extreme exhaustion from being overworked with job responsibilities, heartache for those grieving loved ones, stress from finals, loneliness, hopelessness, and overall pain.
As wonderful as it can be, it's a hard time of year, and it looks different for all people. However, as believers in Christ, no matter your current situation, the reason for Christmas, The Messiah, will always be our mutual hope. No matter what we are walking through, We must prepare our hearts this season for the hope of the Messiah. He has changed everything and has made a way for the greatest gift in all creation; He is the reason we rejoice.
As we "prepare Him room" this season, we must go back to the very beginning and remember our desperate need for a Savior.
"The Lord God said to the serpent,
'Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.'" (Genesis 3: 14-15)
That's it. Adam and Eve had wanted to be like God, and thus ate of the forbidden fruit, and then they were eternally kicked out of the Garden because of their mistake. All of mankind was cursed, and we are all born sinners because of it. The consequence of our sin is death, and by ourselves, we have no way of escaping the wrath we deserve, no freedom from our chains that bind us, and no hope whatsoever.
But God, in His great mercy, provided a way for us. He has given a gift of divine grace to all sinners.
"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
By His grace, it was prophesied that a great Messiah, Immanuel was coming through a young, virgin girl (Matthew 2:22-23).
"And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.'" (Luke 1:30-33)
This is Christmas. Without this prophecy, and without it being fulfilled through Christ, we would have no reason to rejoice, celebrate, and rest in the hope that we have this season, and all year.
So, are our hearts really invested in the meaning of this season? Are we too busy + "tired" to meditate and rest in the promises of the coming Messiah? I know for me, I fall into this all the time. I become too "busy" for my own good, and I start to resent this time of year. But, it's not about us; nothing about this story is. It is about our gracious heavenly Father, His plan to send His only Son, and in turn, through His death on the cross, we can dance free of the chains of sin that bind us. No matter our workload or life situation, let's remind ourselves where our hope lies, and may we be totally saturated in scriptures daily as we prepare to celebrate the magnitude of such a precious gift.
Whether we are on a mountaintop of joy or a valley of darkness right now, we have the greatest hope in all creation. May we find comfort in that, prepare room for our Messiah, and in turn be truly glad that it is Christmas.
Forgiveness.
This word can bring as much relief as it does tension. For me and my relationship with God, forgiveness is a joyous truth that I graciously am granted freely. But when the idea of "forgiveness" is paired with others who have hurt me personally over the years, it can be a tense subject that makes my heart heavy and my words few. The deeper the cut, the harder it is for us to forgive freely. Not only that, but it requires us to put aside our pride and show mercy to those whom we consider deserving punishment. It's so easy for us while considering forgiveness to make it an issue of "whether or not you deserve it." When quite frankly, if this was Jesus' attitude for us on the cross, we would be in a really big predicament.
"But Alexa, Jesus is God. He is able to forgive like that because He is perfect. He doesn't know what I've been through and how much ________ hurt me."
We as followers of Christ must stop using the "but that was Jesus" excuse. Jesus walked where we walked in order to show us how to walk and follow Him on this earth. He has never asked us to do anything that He hasn't already done. With that in mind, we need to pay more careful attention to what He calls us to do.
"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth."
-1 Peter 2:21–22
The word "example" means "writing under". Like a writing put on a piece of paper so that it may be traced to get the desired product with the same pattern. Jesus has set a pattern for us in how we are to live- especially in terms of suffering. He was the perfect one without sin, who came to save us from eternal death and yet He was mocked, laughed at, and crucified by those very same people He came to redeem.
We may think we have been treated unjustly, but no one has been treated more unjustly than Christ. And yet He still forgives.
"And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And they cast lots to divide his garments."
- Luke 23:34
We as Christians are called to not retaliate. That's not the Gospel. We don't pray for other's demise, we bless.
How is this possible?
"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For 'Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.'"
- 1 Peter 3:9–12
Peter writes this because he knows it's hard. He knows himself, and he knows how the flesh works. Because we are sinful beings, it is not natural for us to refrain from retaliation. That self-control is a practice, deriving strength not from ourselves, but from the one who was able to conquer it. Jesus gives us the strength to fight this battle. He's there. He hears our cries, the deep groanings of the souls we cannot even hear (Rom. 8:26).
Jesus didn't revile the people who put Him on that cross. He asked His father to forgive them.
THIS is the strength Christ gives us.
THIS is the hopewe have in Christ.
He knows that person who has wronged you in the past. He knows how much hurt you went through in that moment and how impactful it was to your life. That same strength He used in forgiving those who crucified Him, is the strength He gives to us in forgiving those who have wronged us.
And that's a truth we can rejoice in today. That our heartbreak, our hurt caused by someone else, or whenever we have been treated unjustly- Jesus can look at us and say "I know how that feels."
He's not just some "Holy being sitting on a cloud looking down observing your life from afar." He is a sympathetic God (Heb. 4:14–16).
He see's it, and He feels it because He's walked in those steps Himself.
“Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.” -John Owen; The Mortification of Sin
Every morning I wake up and the battle begins. Every. Single. Morning. I reach and hit the snooze button probably 5 or 6 times and then finally open my eyes later just to scroll mindlessly through Facebook for the few minutes I have before getting ready. I have already sinned and I’ve been awake 10 minutes. Instead of choosing the life giving Word of God I chose sleep. Instead of choosing to spend my morning praising the God who allowed me another breath I chose instant gratification through a stupid piece of plastic. So this pattern will continue all throughout the day- a vicious cycle of choosing my desires over the Lord. So what’s the point? How am I ever going to die to my sin as the Bible teaches if I literally always am sinning? Am I even a Christian if I continually fail at putting down my sin? Hopefully I can provide a few scriptures and words of encouragement that can answer those questions.
Fighting sin or dying to sin is by no means an easy battle. I will be the first to raise my hand and say I have struggled with all the previous questions. It can seem so impossible when sin leaps right on your back to find strength in the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 6:12, “ Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” However, even then hope shines through those words whether it is apparent at first or not…the fight of faith. To me those words sing of God’s praises! Praise God that those words are not and will never be to fight the fight of becoming sinless human beings. To fight our sin is to simply have faith in our Savior.
Obviously, we won’t ever be perfect. It just isn’t going to happen, but we have something different about ourselves that we didn’t have before God revived our souls. We, as believers in the risen Son of God, now have the power to fight against our flesh. Anyone who is apart from Christ can never please Him. This is why it is a fight though, when we became sons and daughters of Christ, God didn’t just zap us and make us completely new and perfect people. We still are suffering the consequences of sin- the very fact that we do still sin is proof of this. Every single day when you wake up this is why it is important to saturate your mind with the Word of the Lord and his truth because the fight has already begun. When you are alone and want to watch pornography or want to sleep in a little more and skip devotion time or you want to gossip to a friend about someone else, you must FIGHT! “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:6) God saved you that you may be set free!! In the moment our sins manipulate our minds and flesh in this way and that way, but one thing must remain on the forefront of our minds- fight the fight of faith. Struggle to die!
Brothers and Sisters, I must add that this fight is actually impossible for you. You will 10 out of 10 times fail. God is the only reason that you will ever be able to conquer your sin.
“For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” (2 Corinthians 13:4)
If I don’t remind myself from the moment I get up of the Gospel and the fact I can’t fight sin on my own I am consumed with not only my sin but the burden to bear it on my own. “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23)
In context of fighting sin there are two distinct categories for me: when I try to fight my own sin and when I have faith in God to save me from them daily. If I try to be the hero of my story I most certainly fail, but when God is my hero, who shall stand against Him? So when you fail at fighting your sin ask yourself who is doing the fighting. Is it just me or am I putting my faith in Christ and trusting He will give me the power to stand? I know when I ask myself, am I even a Christian because I fail at fighting this sin over and over again, I am using an incorrect equation to solve a very real problem. The questions assumes that if I can fight sin perfectly or even a little bit better I still hold my title as a Christian. What a sad and meaningless burden this is to bear. Run from this as fast as you can, because it will only lead you further from peace and rest in the Lord. So again, I must remind myself that the Lord will give me strength to stand and put down my sin because He is perfect and strong, not because I am or can ever be. God is my Savior and I must continually trust that He will indeed save me or I don’t struggle to die to sin, but struggle to earn my own salvation and will not taste the sweet, everlasting satisfaction of Christ’s grace and power.
“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." Colossians 2:6-7
"So walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him.."
Let's just dwell on the above verse for a moment. This tiny phrase holds so much weight and meaning. What does "walking in Him" mean for me? As a professing believer in Christ, do I faithfully walk in Him every moment of every day? Certainly not. If someone were to look at the way I live, would they find that this verse is the constant theme of my life?
To walk rooted and built up in Him requires daily obedience and constant abiding in Him and His Word.
"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" -Luke 9:23
During the time Jesus was preaching this, the cross was more a symbol of death than of suffering. He was telling His people to deny themselves and to daily put to death their own desires and dreams to fully surrender to His will. This verse still applies to us today. We are called as His children to regularly and habitually surrender in obedience to Him. We cannot let our own passions and selfish motives drive a rigid wedge in our walk with Him. We must constantly shield our hearts from selfish idols that will keep us from fully surrendering.
In 1 John 2:6 it states, "By this, we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." We must follow in the footsteps of our Savior. We can never replicate His saving sacrifice, but we can strive in obedience to imitate and mirror His example of love, faith, selflessness, devotion, etc. because, by this way of living, we will know that we are walking in Him.
Let's be real though, truly obeying and surrendering daily to God is tough. We will fail constantly, and as long as we live on this broken and sinful earth, we will struggle to do this. John 15:10-11 says, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." Just as Christ, even in opposition, joyfully fulfilled His Father's will as our only hope and true sacrifice, our obedience to our Father should also be done with a joyful and glad heart.
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." John 15:4
As we joyfully walk in obedience, we are also called to truly abide in Him. To "abide" means to daily continue in a personal relationship with Christ defined by prayer, trust, submission, and time in His Word. The Bible is our guide and instruction manual to life. How can we truly "walk rooted and built up in Him" if we aren't daily studying and abiding in the truths of His Word? As Alexa wrote last week, it is so hard to find time and consistency in the Word. If you would like to read her blog about fighting for time with God, check it out here. She writes, "What an utmost honor it is that we have the ability to hear and study the words of the One who is our intensely personal Father and our infinitely powerful Creator!" How true she is as we should never take for granted the opportunity to truly abide in His Word. As we daily strive to read and study more about who He is and what he wants for us, we will be established in His truths and constantly encouraged in our relationship with Him.
As His Beloved and those who have received Christ, may we persevere daily to take up our cross in obedience, surrendering fully to His will. Let us also abide in His marvelous and glorious truths so that the theme of our life is to walk, rooted deep and built up in Him.
"We must keep to Him, cling to Him, never let Him go, but live and have our being in Him."
-Charles Spurgeon
"I don't have any time."
This phrase, unfortunately, sounds too familiar to us.
It can be as innocent as a reply to someone wanting to hang out, or it's paired with a helpless sigh when the world gets a little too overwhelming and we feel like collapsing right then and there.
It is during these busy times that we end up compensating. Out of haste, we tend to put the urgent above the important. Usually, the more "urgent things" that need to get done are at the top of the to-do list, and the things of importance find their way towards the bottom, or not on it at all. We have the tendency to take charge. Because when _____ is on the line, we need it done now and we need it done right (fill that blank in on your own).
If not handled wisely, our sinful flesh takes the steering wheel. Instead of trusting God for being Sovereign over all, we subconsciously live in the mentality of, "I trust you and put my faith in you being in control over everything... just not over ______."
This is especially seen in our consistency in The Word.
With "so much to do and so little time", we wake up automatically knowing how busy our day is going to be, and end up feeling stressed before our feet even hit our bedroom floor. We justify "having a quiet time later when things aren't so busy", and somehow convince ourselves as to why we don't need to spend quality time with the one who is giving us the very energy and means of life to partake in the busy day we had scheduled.
By putting off time with our Heavenly Father, we are not only saying He isn't as important as the seemingly important thing we have to do that day, but we are also accepting discouragement. We let our guard down, which in turn, makes it incredibly easy for our selfish, sinful thoughts to swallow us up throughout the rest of the day.
On the contrary, this precious time is something we must fight for. Our days are not going to magically line up to give us the allotted time every morning to where we can wake up slowly, brew coffee, and sit in an aesthetically pleasing room with ambiance lighting. Just like anything we schedule into our day, time with The One who graciously allowed us to wake up another day must be our highest priority. This must be an urgency in our daily lives.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
-Jeremiah 17:7-8
Like water to a dried up plant, we must have our roots so saturated in God's word that we can withstand the hardest and the busiest of days. Because on the days when we have no time at all, are the days when we need to speak to Our Lord the most. By fighting for that time, we then get into a routine of setting our minds on the things above (Matt. 6:33) from the very beginning of our day.
I remember one time reading the story of Job for my quiet time. Seeing how he lost literally everything, I was taken back and personally convicted to read him say, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21-22). Throughout that day, suddenly me burning my piece of toast or getting a bad grade on a test I studied really hard on didn't upset me as much. The Lord used that precious time in the word that morning to teach me and to reveal to me Himself throughout that day of how silly my grievances can be, or how none of my losses can compare to what I gain in Christ. How much more glory does He get out of that realization then for me to be blinded by my business to talk to Him!
"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 4:6–7
The Lord want's you to talk to Him (1 Thess. 5:17). Like a father kneeling down to hear His child speak, our Heavenly Father inclines His ear to us and teaches us His truth from His word. What an utmost honor it is that we have the ability to hear and study the words of the One who is our intensely personal Father and our infinitely powerful Creator!
Let not the ease of access rob us from the awe of privilege.
It’s easy to follow Christ when everything is simple and comfortable for us.
The “worldly pursuit of ease” has become an idol before God. It’s not the idea of convenience that is the problem, but rather ourselves. Ryan Lister said, “The problem, then, lies not with convenience, but with what our hearts make of it. The dark appeal of temptation is to twist good things into idols. Convenience steps in front of God and steals his worship. The world’s empty promises silently hijack our affections. We let cheap knockoffs of fulfillment obscure the true beauty of our nail-torn Savior.”
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) If we are pursuing security in the appealing comfort and convenience of the world, His commands for us to daily take up our cross for Him will become ignored. So how do we flee from the idol of comfort? We have to begin knowing that we can’t do it on our own strength. God has already sent His only Son to carry the cross we deserve to bear, and to die on it in our place. We see in the bible that even Jesus was tempted by the appeal of convenience. When Jesus came, He was tempted by Satan over and over to choose His comfort over God’s will. Every time, He chose instead to rest in God’s faithfulness + promises to make a saving way for humanity. This is the example that we should strive after; to be more like Christ as “we fight the good fight” for His eternal + ultimate kingdom, mission, and glory.
This concept is much easier said than done. We live in a world where modern comfort is wrapped up in a fancy little bow and handed to us on a silver platter, and It’s so easy to worship when it looks so good, appealing, and right. We have to remember that we become like what we worship, so when comfort becomes greater than the exaltation of God, we need to immediately reconsider where our heart is.
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:3-6)
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!” (Psalm 135:15-18)
“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” (Jonah 2:8)
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
We should not settle for anything other than Him. God has promised His children that choosing to worship Him over the fleeting passions + idols of this broken world will always lead to a greater, eternal reward that is awaiting us in Heaven. May we turn our eyes towards our eternal home and remember that our comforts and conveniences here are but a breath, but our King is eternal.
“But as for us, we will bless the LORD From this time forth and forever. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 15:18)
Boldness and the Gospel. People pray all the time for God to give them boldness while they share the truth of His Word with others. As synonymous as you may think these two things are, I would argue that they are not natural. It is by the grace of God we can lovingly yet boldly proclaim the truth of His Word.
First off, I want to define what I mean by truth and boldness. Truth is something that does not change based upon the messenger or the situation in which the message is relayed. Truth is something that is /always/ true no matter what. Boldness is simply exhibiting confidence and courage while doing something. Hopefully, upon defining these a little, you can see why we often hear people pray for boldness as they share the Gospel. A fear of others while attempting to share the Gospel is a quick and easy to way to dumb down the importance of the message. Let’s look at two passages from scripture where we can see boldness and intimidation, and the result of both:
Luke 22:54-62- “Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, 'This man also was with him.' But he denied it, saying, 'Woman, I do not know him.' And a little later someone else saw him and said, 'You also are one of them.' But Peter said, 'Man, I am not.' And after an interval of about an hour, still, another insisted, saying, 'Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.' But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are talking about.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly.“
Peter was a coward and he feared others so much more than God, that he denied the truth not once, but three times. This is what it looks like to fear man more than God; without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are all Peter when the walls start to close in, and we need to speak up for the truth. Peter knew what he was doing when he denied knowing the Lord, and later he felt great remorse for that. However, in that moment he valued the opinions of a lowly servant girl more than he did the God of the universe. How foolish is it when we value the opinion of the creation rather than the Creator? Now fast forward two years later of Peter in a temple courtyard in Acts 5, and see the magnificent work of the Lord in his heart.
Acts 5:17-32- “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 'Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.' And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Now when the high priest and those who were with him came, they called together the council, all the Senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 'We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.'
Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, 'Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.' Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, 'We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.'
But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.'"
The contrast between Peter in these two scenarios is so stark it hardly needs explanation. The cowardly man who was scared of a girl now has the courage to stand before a court and proclaim his loyalty to the Gospel, God, and no other? How could this possibly happen? The Holy Spirit is the only possible way. God commands our obedience in proclaiming his word to the nations, and as a result, we are given the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim it with boldness.
It can be hard to be obedient. Especially when sharing with those hostile to God, it can leave you feeling awful and rude. The Gospel in and of itself is offensive, and no matter what, to those whose eyes are closed and hearts hardened, they will take offense. This was always so hard for me because any type of disagreement made me feel unloving and hurtful. I had to learn that my feelings of uneasiness did not actually dictate whether I was being unloving or not. Those feelings are what the enemy uses to dissuade us from boldly proclaiming the Gospel. To boldly proclaim is to offend. If you read on in Acts 5 you see the court was enraged by what Peter had said and wanted to kill him. This is the type of hostility that arises out of a hardened heart toward the good news.
Obviously, when I say the Gospel is offensive, I don’t mean to encourage you to BE offensive. It was always said to me, “don’t add your own offense to the Gospel.” I don’t peg anyone to be as naive to think I was suggesting go out and scream and yell at people that they are condemned to hell, etc. The Gospel will offend people, but the way you convey that message should not.
I believe it is so important that we as Christians earnestly seek after the gift of boldness in our obedience because otherwise, you find yourself sharing non-truths out of fear of man. Peter is an incredible example of a cowardly man who God changed to become a bold leader of the faith. God can do this in all of us, but we simply need to be obedient.
“We must obey God rather than men.“ Acts 5:29
“It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.” - John Calvin
Have you ever doubted whether or not you are a true Christian?
Especially while growing up, the validation of my salvation was a lingering fear in the back of my mind. Questions like "what if I get to heaven and realize I didn't do something God required me to" or, "what if my faith isn't big enough", would find its way into my young imagination, causing my thoughts to take some scary turns. Sometimes "just having faith" would seem too simple and without a closer examination of context, some verses in The Bible may seem to agree with that.
For example, how am I to think when I come into contact with a verse like James 2:24?
"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." -James 2:24
How do we know we're saved by just faith? What does that all entail?
Because according to this verse, it would appear as if I owe faith... plus works?
But then we read what Paul said in Romans 3:28,
"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
So which is it? Am I justified or not?
Should I be starting on an overdue "good deed streak" to clean up my sinful behavior over the years, in order to gain a salvation I thought I already had?
Are these verses a contradiction in and of themselves?
While being faced with this question, we must be careful that we don't get too ahead of ourselves. Let it be a powerful reminder that The Bible is God's word to us and that He is a God of truth and order- therefore everything in The Bible must make sense and work consistently as a whole in order for us to count on it and base our lives off it. Knowing this, it would be foolish for us to get discouraged and stop digging around at the possible reasons for these verses.
Context is Key:
Once studied, we find the connection between the two verses harmonious. While appearing at first to work against each other, the authors each point to two crucial aspects of regeneration: the root and the fruit.
In Romans, Paul speaks of the root- the means by which we are saved. We are saved by Faith alone, through Christ alone, without any credit bestowed to ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9). My Justification is in God's complete control. And by faith, righteousness is declared in my life through what Jesus did on the cross. Through faith in Jesus Christ, I am saved.
And by works, that righteousness is demonstrated.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." -James 2:21–26
Rather than have works be the basis of my salvation, it is the evidence of it. If one is genuinely saved, there will be evidence in their life.
You cannot have a relationship with Christ and have Him living within you, and live in this world for yourself and for the content of the world. It’s is not possible. Any type of faith that results in an unchanged life is a false declaration. In other words, it's dead faith. Dead faith is only intellectual- one might have all the knowledge of the doctrines of salvation, but had never personally given their life to Jesus. Faith in Christ brings life (John 3:16), and life produces fruit. Dead faith produces an illusion and false promises of eternal life, which is extremely dangerous and something we must be aware of, while also making others aware.
Unfortunately, many people today fit the description given in Titus:
"They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work."
- Titus 1:16
Let us be on guard for this deception. It is far more dangerous for someone to think they are actively walking with Christ when their life bears no fruit of it than for someone to be living a life not knowing Christ.
Dynamic faith is saving faith. This affects our whole being: we grow intellectually through studying The Word of God, and as an overflow of our heart, we act upon it. Our faith is demonstrated by our works. Just like if I profess to be compassionate, and act opposite to my confession, what good is the statement in which I have made? It's worthless- not binding to anything and without true conviction.
Let us examine our own hearts by considering these questions-
-Do I actively seek to share The Gospel with people? Or am I ashamed of it?
-
Have I truly repented of my sins, or do I secretly love them and don't want to let them go? Have I given God complete control over my life?
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Do I wholeheartedly believe in The Gospel? That Jesus died for me and rose from the dead? Do I live in this truth?
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Do the people around me know I am a Christian? Has there been a change in my life?
Not faith plus works, but faith that works.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
"Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided- Great is Thy faithfulness."
This hymn has been replaying in my mind all week. Growing up, throughout middle school I struggled with depression and everything that corresponded with just being a middle schooler (I’m sure we can all relate). One of the most influential people in my life was my principle. She is so wise and has an incredible heart for the Lord- truly a faithful servant. I remember standing in the auditorium after receiving news of her cancer and everyone breaking into song singing, Great is Thy Faithfulness per her request. This past week I received word again that the time is coming and at the rate things are progressing she may not be with us much longer, but still I hear the words, Great is Thy Faithfulness.
"His faithfulness is a shield and buckler." Psalm 91:4b
What an incredible woman she is and a remarkable example she has been during the middle school years of my life and even now as she prepares to see our Savior. When I reminisce upon singing the song, and hear it today as I type I think of her example and life of service to our God and its impact to me, it all fades into the shadows and exemplifies the light of his greatness. I don’t sit here and sing this song because of anything she ever did, anything I did, or anything anyone did. I can sit here and sing this song because of what Jesus did on the cross; the perfect example of faithfulness.
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful**." Hebrews 10:19-23
The Scriptures have themed all throughout them stories of God’s faithfulness always to sinners like us. The truth and ever present reality of this attribute, of me and my principle’s Savior, is the reason I can sit down and ponder the lyrics to a hymn or sing with a congregation of people in light ofpossibly losing one of the greatest examples in my life. I know that God is faithful and will keep His promises. God has promised us life with Him if we put our faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and I know she has done so. If the Lord chooses for her to die then he is faithful and she will spend eternity in the presence of Him, and if not soon then one day eventually all who believe will as well. What an incredible gift is that and because of this I will continue to sing with many others, Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4)
Just a few weeks ago we watched as Texas was devastated by Hurricane Harvey, leaving families and individuals helpless, in need of rescue, and even fighting for their lives in some cases. A few weeks following, and just days ago, another Hurricane came wreaking havoc on Florida and the South East. These two storms are not the only ones we will see in this life. Adversity and hardship is a result of the fall of man, and as long as we live on this earth, we will see sin take its toll daily all over creation.
It’s extremely difficult to have joy in a world where death, suffering, and pain envelops our life, but God calls us as believers to take heart and to rejoice always in Him despite our circumstances. We can truly have joy when we rest in two things; the fact that He has overcome the world, and the hope of the inexpressible joy that is awaiting us in Heaven.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus tells His disciples this in John (16:33) to assure them that in the midst of the pain and suffering that was to come to them and His other followers, that they could have hope and peace in their hardships, because of what Christ has done. “Peace” in this sense has a much richer definition than our English language. It means, not just “peace” in the way of the absence of tribulation and unrest, but also the idea that “all is well” in one’s life because of God’s control in all circumstances, and that He has defeated death through His Son, Jesus.
David Mathis from “Desiring God” says, “Our joy will not be perfect in this life; we will always strain and struggle. We will have our angsts and anxieties. We will have our ups and downs. Yet even here we have tastes. Not only is indomitable joy coming, but even now we sample the sweetness, especially in suffering. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Peter 1:8).” Aside from the security and hope in knowing that as believers in Christ, we are His, and He has overcome death, we have the indescribable hope of what is awaiting us in Heaven.
Revelation 7:16-17 says, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’‘ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” Can you imagine what that will be like? No pain, suffering, tears, or broken hearts. Our joy will be complete and perfect in His presence. Just as Mathis said, even now on this earth we can “sample the sweetness” of what’s to come, even in our suffering. Jonathan Edwards said, “The enjoyment of (God) is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows, but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.”
Friends, this is not to take lightly. Joy is not optional, and as believers, we have been given the most precious gift we could ever receive; freedom to walk without shackles of sin because of Christ, and the priceless gift of eternal life + future perfect joy.
“Those of us who know ourselves, and are learning to be honest with reality, own up to how little we are truly joyful, and ask our Father again and again, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12).” -David Mathis (desiringGod.org)
Whatever “storm” we are walking through today, or future battle we will face tomorrow, let us be thankful for the joy that is present in our King, and may we rest in the fact that we are never without hope.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
"If only I had an iPhone. Then I'd be satisfied."
As silly as that sounds, I vividly remember 15-year-old Alexa having that mindset. I was sitting on my bed, looking at my outdated, plastic phone feeling dissatisfied and completely convinced that once I had a new phone all my worries would be gone. Looking back now, I laugh. Not because of how badly I wanted a new phone, but how completely untrue my prediction was. Once I got the iPhone, it was only a matter of time before I would have new desires for something else; wanting something bigger, and something better.
Maybe for you, the desire wasn't a new phone. But at a time in all of our lives, it isn't uncommon to find ourselves thinking, "if only I had (x), then I would be content". Whether it was a boyfriend or girlfriend, a new car, a different job, or a new house.
However, just because we find ourselves thinking like this from time to time, does not make it right. Let me remind you that dissatisfaction, the constant crave for "more", is a desire formed from the mutated DNA of the fall. We all have it, we all struggle with it, and we all desire something more than what this world has to offer- whether we have come to grips with that reality or not. Throughout the Bible, we are given examples of people feeling like this- putting a focus on the things of this world, and not of the things above.
One person in particular we notice is David's son Solomon. After Solomon received a "wise and discerning mind" from The Lord (1 Kings 3:7-12), his reputation of being wise became well known to all the kings of the world. Solomon had access to anything he wanted with his wealth. Think about it- this man drastically surpasses us in terms of wealth, education, and power. If he wants something, he gets it- no questions asked. The details that are given in 1 Kings 4:22-23 show that Solomon was throwing parties for 15-20 thousand people. Imagine- the finest food, most expensive wine, incredible entertainment- the best of the best. What more is there? People today still chase after this lifestyle and what it has to offer. Unfortunately, what it offers isn't substantial at all. And Solomon, being the wise king that he is, begins to quickly realize that.
With the partying lifestyle not being fulfilling, Solomon tries to "make something out of his life". Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 says that he built houses and parks, planted vineyards for himself, made pools from which he used to water a huge forest of trees he made (not a mere garden- a FOREST).
Even with all of this available, we see in Ecclesiastes him reflecting on squandering God's blessings on his own personal pleasure rather than God's glory, and going so far as to warn subsequent generations to not make the same tragic mistake.
"I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after the wind" -Ecclesiastes 1:14
This is coming from a King who was richer than we could even dare to dream. He had everything- and what does he say about it? It's vanity. All of it is vanity. The luxury palace he built, the insane parties he threw- all of it is just chasing after the wind.
The Hebrew word translated "vanity" expresses the futile attempt to be satisfied apart from God. All earthly goals and ambitions when pursued as ends in themselves produce only emptiness, and like the wind, much of what is desirable in life cannot be held in a hand. Because of Solomon's experience in the Bible, it is hard for us to make claims such as, "I bet if I was rich I wouldn't feel this way", or "If I only had (x), I would be satisfied"- because that mindset and way of living is already exposed as being faulty through Solomon's experience.
So where do we find the true contentment every human being longs for?
In Philippians, Paul writes to the people of Philippi while being in prison. Again. With the threat of his life on the line, we see a peculiar optimism within his letter. Rather than speak about his sufferings, Paul writes with joy about how the Gospel has spread throughout the entire imperial guard, and how others are encouraged to boldly proclaim the Gospel all the more (Phil. 1:14). Paul regards his life as a sacrifice in order to bring others to Christ. He has lost everything, and yet counts nothing as lost. The core of Paul's desires isn't focused on material items or fleeting feelings, but rather the unshakeable truth and majesty of The Lord. Paul is stressing that true contentment is not in any way related to circumstances. True contentment is in centering your reality on seeking the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:32-33).
"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
-Philippians 4:11-13
True contentment is being satisfied with the Giver, not the gifts. Because Paul found his worth in Jesus, and not in materialistic things or people around him, he was able to constantly turn to a divine sufficiency for his strength. The accumulation of satisfactions other than Jesus will never satisfy. We see this growing desire in Solomon, and we have felt it vividly in our own lives at one point when we seek things of this world and not the Creator of the world.
"Restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee" -Augustine
We aren't born with the ability to be fully content. Contentment in its truest form is a discipline. We are sinners living in a fallen world and are constantly being fed lies of what the world calls a "true" or "fulfilling life". Putting our satisfaction in Christ must be remembered, practiced, and put into effect through any given circumstance we come into contact with. Until then, we are feeding a never ending hole, trading temporary happiness for eternal joy and contentment in Christ. He is enough.
One of the most prominent issues in the American society today is the fight for the “rights and equality” of the LGBT group. As Christians it is important to be taking a stand against this and being able to clearly articulate why we believe it is wrong.
First and foremost we fight against the LGBT community’s stances not with words of hate and anger, but with truth and love. Not the type of love that the world resonates with but a love that is from God. A love that seeks to share the truth because of our desires to glorify God. We seek for this because any sin, yes the LGBT group is living in sin, is an attack upon the Gospel itself.
The Gospel is the truest form of love that there can ever be. An all-powerful God sending his son Jesus to die the cruelest death and rise from the dead, for an underserving people, so that we may be free from our bondage of sin and trust his sacrifice is the only way we can be reconciled to God. If Jesus’ death was our release from the chains in which we were bound, why would you want to promote or support a sin that the Lord has commanded against and is the very thing that separates us from our Lord.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:7-12
I have seen many arguments for why people think that the Bible doesn’t command against homosexuality, and they all fall incredibly short.
The first one I have seen is that the Bible only condemns homosexual activities and the lifestyle in the Old Testament and since the O.T. also condemns things like: wearing certain fabrics and not eating certain foods it no longer pertains to this day in age etc. First off, homosexuality is condemnedthroughout the entire Bible, Old and New Testament alike, with even the smallest amount of research this claim is shot down. (1 Timothy 1:10, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27)
The second argument I’ve heard was actually circulating on Facebook and claimed that homosexuality was once forbidden and sinful ,but as time went on we understood that the forbiddance of homosexuality along with other laws and consequences were inhumane and cruel. This argument is ridiculous for one reason and one reason alone. God does not change, not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. He is an all-knowing and all-powerful God who created the very laws this group claims are inhumane and unjust. God did not wake up in the 21st century to the cries of the LGBT community for American equality and suddenly realize his laws and standards were unjust. His standard does not change, the standard is holiness and perfection, nothing less.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2
Honestly, any argument this community has or had for why the LGBT movement is upright and noble is easily buried by the truth of the Bible. It is not a hard topic to research or even a grey area, with the smallest amount of searching and understanding you can at least understand the Bible’s stance on the LGBT movement. At the end of the day if you are calling yourself a Christian but supporting this movement you are not honoring God and are living in sin and need to repent. The Bible is incredibly clear on this subject and as believers you are called to put off your old self and live in the new. Jesus Christ demonstrated the greatest love ever on the cross, and to manipulate the word love to mean accept all sins is a mockery of the Gospel. If you are struggling with the laws and standards that God made remember that His laws are good, just, and holy! These laws are never there to prohibit “fun” but they are for our good and His glory! By taking a stand against the manipulation or blatant disobedience of the truth of the Bible you are loving this community and others who may agree with their standings. It can be hard to combat cultural issues when you feel like the truth is outdated or harsh, but stand firm in the truth and trust in the Lord that your obedience is not in vain!
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
“Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” Psalm 119:89
“Rest.” Doesn’t that word on it’s own just sound fantastic, and really just a little foreign? Do you rest often? I certainly don’t, and the fact that I am writing about this topic makes me laugh, because I am known for being the worst “rest taker.”
Just to sum it up, I am currently planning my own wedding that’s happening in a little over a month (what. where has time gone?), working full time, and completely changing seasons of life. I am usually busy—so busy to the extent of being left exhausted and extremely drained. That being said, this blog post is not only for all you people that need to make time for rest, but mainly for me, because I’m majorly preaching to myself.
Exodus 20:4 says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” We live in a culture where busyness is almost encouraged and even welcomed into our daily lives. I mean I get it, it feels good to have places to go and things to get done. Being determined and driven is not an unhealthy thing, but it’s when busyness becomes bigger than our relationship with God—when it becomes an idol, that it becomes highly dangerous. I have struggled a lot with letting busyness become an idol before God, and I have even made “being busy” into an excuse for not spending time with God in prayer and in His Word. God tells us many times in the Bible that anything that comes before our relationship and time with Him is an idol, and we must flee FAR from it. I don’t know about you, but when I am not investing in my time with the Lord, my kingdom perspective is clouded, and I treat others way differently than when I am filling my head with wisdom, truth, and knowledge from His Word. Aside from idolizing extreme busyness before God, it can also distract us from loving those around us well. Many times I have found myself sacrificing time with my family and friends because I choose my work or busyness as more important to me, than my relationships with them. How selfish is this? Valuing my time more than my family and friends needs is completely wrong. We should be striving always to love others as Christ has loved us, so that truly means setting our own busyness aside.
Let’s go back to that unfamiliar word—“rest.” How do we make this a normal practice in our lives, and how do we seek it on a normal basis? Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It is in Him that we can truly find rest. We can’t do anything in this life on our own, and that includes all burdens we may bear—even busyness. We must strive everyday to lay all of our burdens at His feet. This means taking all of our stress, anxiety (because of our workload), and all that comes with being busy to the Lord in prayer, acknowledging that He will provide in all of the busy times. Resting at His feet by being in prayer and in His Word daily leads us to worship, and I’ve noticed that it does my heart a world of more good than pushing myself so much that I reach a breaking point. So today, make an effort to slow down and defy the odds of our culture. Take a break, a walk, a deep breath, a cup of coffee, whatever “rest” looks like for you. Ultimately, spend time with God, trusting that He is faithful in the busy seasons, and rest is 100%, completely worth it.
"The heart of the man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps" -Proverbs 16:9
The older I get, the more this verse resonates with me. I'm a big dreamer and planner. This time two years ago I thought I had my whole college and business career mapped out. I could tell you my goals, aspirations, and what I hoped to do once out of college. Fast forward to this year and nothing is the same. The Lord continually placed on my heart a new passion and new aspirations late last year that in turn, changed everything around me- including the college I was attending at the time.
One of the things I've had to face while embarking on this journey of my life is that God cares more about my character than my comfort. I really wanted to find reasons for my life to stay the same. I liked it! I was comfortable, felt content at my university, had my own community- why start over?
God was relentlessly showing me over and over again that He had different plans. And that's when I realized I was going to have to get out of my comfort zone if I was to be obedient and follow His Will.
One of the reasons why I love studying theology is because I get to learn about this All Powerful, Creator who is more than just a Holy God sitting on a throne in heaven.
I get to learn about His attributes, which especially in times of uncertainty, ultimately draw me closer to Him. Soon the idea of Him being sovereign, all knowing, and loving become radically enhanced.
To know that in every season, God, in His love, is actively working and is at all times involved in what goes on/is going to happen in my life-
this is what my nervous hands can cling on to.
And this is the beautiful silver lining of "change" that God uses.
How much more I am relying on Him!
But it's more than that.
Humans change so often. In high school, I wanted to be a heart surgeon and now I can't even hear the word "blood" without getting nauseous. This time last year I didn't like broccoli, and this semester I ate it for almost every dinner I loved it so much.
Last year I also thought I was going to graduate from GCSU with a four-year degree in Mass Communication, but now I'm booking an airplane ticket for New York to study The Bible.
We don't know what our future holds. We don't know the passions we have yet to discover, the desires we have yet to have, or the feelings we have yet to feel.
But God does. He knew it all along. He knew I would be faint at heart and would not want to be a doctor, he knew I would grow to like something I used to avoid, and He knew before the foundation of the universe that I would be going to New York this fall.
And to realize that the one who knows me, TRULY knows me, is the one in charge of what happens in my life- is the greatest peace I could ever have.
Our ultimate goal as believers is to make much of Christ and glorify Him forever.
And if God, being sovereign over all, moves us from our comfort zone in order to give Him more glory- what an honor that is. Better to have a strengthened character built on Christ's decree than to hide in the corner scared to carry out His unshakeable plan for your life.
Because believe me, it is better than what you thought you would need.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" -Romans 8:28
Granted that doesn't mean your life will be all daisies and roses, but through any circumstance that comes you are able to glorify God through it. Having His power made perfect in your weakness- ultimately magnifying Him as being the all knowing Creator God who, in His love, is active and with you every step of the way. The King of the Universe is mercifully preparing the steps in which you are to walk in.
Recently I have really struggled with what to write. Every time I’ve sat down to type my mind has come up blank.
College has not been something I have enjoyed. This last year was hard and I don’t look forward to going back. I got to spend the summer overseas and now I am home, but all I want is to be back there. My boyfriend is always busy with Army ROTC stuff and working hard in school when all I want is to spend more than a few days together with him…. I could go on and on about things and the way they are and the way I wish they could be but I think you probably can relate or get my point. I am always wanting something other than that which God has given me.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
That verse is a real wake up call for me. I don’t submit to the Lord with my plans. Instead of laying my ideas and plans for life at his feet and insisting upon his will, I come creeping up turning back time after time with an un-relinquished grip on what I want. The funny thing is though- time and time again the Lord shows me how his plan is best and yet I still rather have my own way. But seriously, what is the big deal? Why does it even matter that I trust in him?
In Isaiah 30:15 it says, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” In my first blog post I wrote about how the Lord is truly my strength and apart from him, I have none. This is why I have found trusting the Lord to be so important. If you do not trust in him and his sovereignty how can he possibly be your strength? How can I say that the Lord is my strength and boast in that when I am not willing to even trust him with the plans for my life? I can’t. It is a lot easier to say “I will trust the Lord” than it is to actually do that. Praise God though, as believers, he has made us a new creation and can redeem us from our wayward and short-sighted hearts.
When I look back at the things I wish God had planned differently in my life I am completely humbled. If I wasn’t at this college I would have never had a chance to travel to the Middle East this summer, and to make lots of incredible friendships. If I was still overseas I would have missed out on some incredible ministry opportunities that the Lord ordained to happen here. Lastly, if I got to spend every waking moment with my boyfriend I don’t think we’d have as great communication as we do now and I think I would’ve missed opportunities to grow in friendships outside of our own.
Honestly, praise God that my ways are not his ways all the time. His sovereignty becomes an extraordinary gift when I take a second to look at how his plans truly give him the most glory and mine simply would exalt myself.
The definition of wisdom is, “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.”
“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed." (Proverbs 3:13-18)
I have been privileged to be in a bible study this summer with my sister and some sweet friends. We have been learning a lot about wisdom and what it means for us as followers of Christ. This week, the subject of gaining wisdom has been heavily on my heart. Of course I want to be “wise,” who doesn’t? How do I gain wisdom? The big, convicting question is, where am I seeking and searching for wisdom? From God’s Word or from this world?
In this study, I have been learning a lot about Proverbs and how it was written. Although “wisdom” is personified as a woman in the book of Proverbs and the passage written above, it is a body of principles, not an actual woman. It is portrayed as a human to give us a vivid picture of the principles that we should all (gals and guys) be striving after as followers of Christ.
So, how do we gain wisdom? Well, let’s go back to the One that created all wisdom and knowledge. First of all, Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” You may be thinking, “what does fearing the Lord have to do with wisdom?” Fearing God means that we have a reverential respect for God and His standards for us, based on our knowledge that God is the One and only God. As we are respecting His authority and trusting that His standards are purposeful for our lives as believers, we are able to grow in wisdom.
Secondly, we must be diligently seeking His Word for true wisdom and knowledge. Do I faithfully study God’s Word every day? No. Friends, it is SO hard to be in His Word daily, but we must do it. God has given us His Word as the most powerful tool on earth. The bible is meant to reveal, convict, teach, and grow us in so many ways. It is our essential instruction manual for life. We have to trust that He has given us this book for a reason. As we dwell on the words He has given us in the Bible, we will be walking in godly wisdom.
Apart from God’s Word, we begin to dabble on the shore of worldly wisdom, and will eventually find ourselves drowning in the sea of folly. Folly is the lack of good sense or foolishness, and comes as a result of following after this world. James 3:13-17 says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” As we stray away from God’s word and instead start listening to the “wisdom” that comes from this broken world, we will find ourselves in a very dangerous place.
Finally, we must surround ourselves with other followers of Christ that are looking to the Lord and His Word for wisdom. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” We need to seek relationships with people that will not be afraid to encourage us in godly wisdom. We can’t do this life on our own, and we will fail daily at walking in wisdom. Instead of being discouraged, may we be encouraged that the God of all wisdom is also a God of grace and ultimately, may we ask Him to guide us, teach us, and lead us as we are on this journey of growing in wisdom.
Why me?
We often find ourselves saying this whenever we're in a seemingly unfair circumstance. Sometimes we say it verbally and sometimes it's the thought process we go through during a specific, frustrating time. We are always wanting justice if we find ourselves getting the short end of the stick. Whether you're the only employee scheduled to work the shift nobody wants, the last person to get your food after 30 minutes of your friends eating in front of you, or the person that shatters their phone screen even with a heavy duty case on it yet your friend enjoys their slick phone with no scratches at all.
Why me?
In my reading recently, I found myself thinking that same thought. Except for this time, I didn't feel as if I deserved more. In fact, I would argue that I deserved absolutely nothing.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." -Ephesians 2:1-3
A child of wrath. This is who I am without Jesus. This is who we are without Him. We are spiritually dead in our sins. While death signifies no communication with the living, being spiritually dead means we had no communication with God.
Because we're dead!
Can you imagine how awful this is? No hope, no solution, we're just dead vessels deserving nothing but the wrath of the God of the universe. Rightly so! This is not something we can shake our fist at and yell "this is unfair!" From the moment we were conceived we wanted nothing to do with our maker. He gave us life, and we lived against Him. We have chosen to go against Him. We have decided to follow the course of this world, to waver and act on Satan's words and not the words of our Heavenly Father, and to willingly live in the passions of our flesh. We have rebelled against the King of the universe- and someone has to pay. God is a righteous, holy Judge, and we are the guilty person on the stand. We wholeheartedly deserve hell. Typing that even now still makes me have an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. To know what my life would have been like if it weren't for the following, glorious conjunction:
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (v. 4-7)
The only way a spiritually dead person can communicate with God is to be made alive, and that must be done by the One who is Himself alive. He is the living God, "who gives life to the dead" (Romans 4:17). He knew we would never be able to choose Him because of our state, so He came to us, lived a perfect life, died the death we deserved and rose again. God graciously devised a way that He can forgive our sins and grant righteousness without compromising His holiness (Romans 43:25). No one deserved suffering less, yet received so much. It was an inconceivably violent death. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia tells us the following about the crucifixion Jesus suffered through:
"The wounds swelled about the rough nails, and the torn and lacerated tendons and nerves caused excruciating agony. The arteries of the head and stomach were surcharged with blood and a terrific throbbing headache ensued...The victim of crucifixion literally died a thousand deaths...The suffering was so frightful that 'even among the raging passions of war pity was sometimes excited'".
Christ suffered to bring us to God and that through this hour of darkness the Father and Son may be glorified.
How is it that I, a former child of wrath having no hope, am now loved by the Creator God of the universe? I now have access to the deepest, strongest, and purest love in all of the existence.
This should bring us to our knees in humility and complete awe at how undeserving we are. It should leave us in an endless repentance to God, and to a constant exaltation of His rich, undeserving mercy and grace. Day after day we must dwell in this truth, tell of this truth, and rejoice in this truth. He suffered the death we rightly deserved and conquered it by rising again. Truly this is news everyone should know! This is indeed good news! There is hope and there is a glorious solution for followers of Christ! This is not news to lock up and seal in our minds, but to spread it so much that it becomes impossible to stop.
That Christ, being rich in mercy, came into the world to save sinners with a sacrificial love that ultimately leaves us astonished saying...
"Why me?"
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He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 8:8)
Evangelism. As Christians we know this word, we hear it all the time. Knowing and doing, however, is very different.
I’ve noticed over time that often the thing that stops people from sharing the Gospel isn’t out of mere laziness or lack of knowledge or by any means ability but rather comfort. Our comfort zone is what is familiar what is comfortable. I am not going to write this post to say that I have by any means conquered the struggle of getting outside my comfort zone for I have not. It is a really hard thing to do and without the power of the Holy Spirit, this task would be utterly pointless.
Whenever I’ve talked with people in regards to evangelizing one of the many things I’ve heard is, “Well I just don’t know much about what they believe so I don’t know if I could do it.” Brothers and sisters this is not a notion from our Lord. Nowhere in the Bible does God command we know everything about everyone else’s beliefs and religions before attempting to share the Gospel with them. For the man whose job is to identify counterfeit money, does he study all the possible variations of fake bills or the one real one? Of course, he is going to study the one real one so that when a counterfeit is present he will be quick to notice the difference between the two. This is the same concept I like to apply to studying the Bible and other religions. It is erroneous to think you must have a perfect or sub-perfect knowledge of every religion or belief system before even approaching them with the truth of the Gospel.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19,20)
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2)
In my experience, my ignorance to the full tenants of someone’s beliefs has been a really powerful witnessing tool. When you are in a conversation with someone and you don’t know what they believe, asking them and spurring discussions off of that is a great way to start having Gospel conversations. However, as believers with extraordinary access to the Bible, we need to be studying our faith so that we can provide answers for the unbeliever when they ask them. By no means am I saying you must know every single thing that is in the Bible. I’ve gotten really random questions about the most obscure things I had never even heard of from the Bible. It is ok to say you don’t know and get back to them with an answer. This is another thing that at first seems like a hindrance to sharing but actually isn’t. Not only are you already having Gospel-centered conversations when the unanswered question comes up, but now when you return to them with an answer. It is yet another immediate Gospel conversation you have the ability to have.
So when I say you need to study our faith I mean you need to be reading the Bible and growing in your love and knowledge of the Lord. The man or woman that does not abide in the Word will not want to or be led to share his/her faith.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4,5)
Last but not least. Your words will never be your words when sharing the Gospel. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict and soften hearts and open eyes, not yours. I’ve often struggled with feelings of inadequacy in my Gospel presentations and sometimes feeling like I knocked it out of the park. Both views are flawed. To think my words were not enough says that I think if I did better I could’ve changed their hearts or that the Holy Spirit only convicts when I give a Grammy-worthy Gospel presentations. The other view is flawed because it as well thinks my words can change their heart, that I have the power to do that. Brothers and sisters, you will never change anyone’s heart of stone to flesh- you could not even have changed your own. Only God can. Stop being afraid to exit the comfort zone because of your pride or lack of knowledge or eloquence. You have the truth of the Gospel in your hearts!! Share that with every single person you possibly can!! The urgency is needed and the importance of the message is real and alive.
The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Luke 10:16)
No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (Luke: 8:16)
Okay, I’ll admit it.
I am not a fan of change.
I have not been able to put a finger or word on how I have been feeling lately until recently; I have felt completely out of control. A lot of change has been coming my way in the last few months. Do not get me wrong, it has been a lot of joyful change that I am truly thankful for, but change that has honestly left me fearful of the future. Change that has made me question my adequacy and ability to handle it. Ultimately, I have not been relying on God, but relying on myself to remain in control.
The Lord has been slowly tearing down the walls of my prideful heart to remind me of my lack of trust in Him, and my sinful nature of wanting to be the one in control. He has been showing me how much I truly burden myself, that I forget the hope that is right before my eyes—the faithfulness of God in all seasons.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” -Matthew 6:25-30
Yes, that’s me. The one “of little faith.” I have spent my time worrying about every little thing, and I have ignored the fact that the God I know is all powerful, all knowing, and unchanging in every bit of change that new chapters bring. How often do I forget that He is the One that has allowed the change in my life. How quick I am to forget that He is the Potter that is molding me and refining in these seasons.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” -Matthew 6:33-34
If you are like me and you are walking through a new season, may we let go of our tight grasp of wanting ultimate control. May we melt our worries away as we stand firm in the Truth of His Word that He is the One in control, and that “change” is no surprise to Him. May we always trust that He is faithful on all mountain tops, in every valley, and sovereign in every storm. Thanks be to God for the hope of ourunchanging King!
“The seasons change and you change, but the Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of His love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.” -Charles Spurgeon
Scrolling online, I saw an eye-catching landscape photo with an "inspirational" quote on it:
"'Oh Beloved, you are more than enough' -God"
Besides asking where God says this exact phrase in Scripture, I couldn't help notice how "man-centered" this expression sounded. Imagine how many people scrolled passed that, read it, and believed it for all it's worth not knowing the Gospel. Who cares if they don't know the true, satisfying riches of a personal relationship with Christ? According to that post, God says they're more than enough.
Unfortunately, I have actually had conversations with people who live with this mentality. Who takes these "feel good" sayings and bask in them like someone who is content in a kiddie pool when there's an entire ocean in front of them.
It is dangerously easy for our sinful nature to demand the spotlight of God's attention rather than placing him at the core of our affection. Whether we believe the Bible is a love story written to us, Jesus died on the cross because he "felt lonely in heaven and wanted us there", or that the purpose of our existence is to love everyone and to enjoy the world He has given us. This phrase, among others so widely posted on social media, discredits Jesus and is a perversion of The Gospel.
We are not enough, and that's the point of The Gospel.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9
If we live with the attitude that we are "enough", we are stripping away any deserved praise and glory Jesus is worthy of because of the sacrifice he made. He knew we would never be enough, and the cross is evidence of that. Weaving any selfish explanation of The Gospel within our hearts is a recipe for idolatry. Exchanging God's glory for our own glory will result in our own despair and loneliness, and we will unknowingly be placing our hope in an ultimate sell out.
I thank The Lord that He is enough! While knowing the extent of our sinful and spiritually dead state, having absolutely no hope to reconcile ourselves to Christ, He died for us showing that He would go through any means to bring sinners to himself. Not for us and because we're enough, but for His glory. Mercifully enabling us to enjoy making much of Him forever.
Through Jesus' righteousness alone we are made enough. By the admission that we are spiritually dead apart from him. By praising Him for the undeserving grace and mercy offered the rest of our lives and to continually live as a vessel for His Truth. Only then can God look at us and say "Oh beloved, you are enough".
“Bless the Lord, o my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great.”
Recently the past few weeks I have been overseas and God has revealed my weaknesses in His perfect character more than ever. I have learned how I majorly lack self-control, but God is always in control. How I am quick to frustration, but the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in love. I am full of pride from head to toe and I view everything I am to be a result of myself. I sin continuously in distrusting that the Father’s will is good and glorious for His magnification. I do not say all of this to sound as some wounded bird caught in winds of self-deprecation, but to paint a general picture of who I am at my core. For those of you reading and don't know, I'm currently far away from my familiar niche in America, and in an area God has called me to that He may use me as a vessel here. I am far away from everything I used to be dependent on, and God is now teaching me to fully and completely depend on Him and Him alone. You can really forget who you are at the core until you are pretty far out of your comfort zone, kinda like I am now, and the ugly starts to show. The funny thing is I’ve heard stuff like that before and I have always thought my ugly rarely shows, but for me personally, my battle isn’t just always outward, a lot of it is internal. My thoughts are constantly sinful. It is in my thoughts that I really lack self-control, mercy, forgiveness, and a wayward heart. But the wonderful thing is as a believer in Christ Jesus, there is hope in this because of the God I serve.
“‘My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
I am not sharing my sins with y’all for any other reason than to say the God who I serve is greater than this, and his strength is the only strength I really have. I had always mentally acknowledged this fact but until these past three weeks, I don’t think I actually believed it. Over and over again, Scripture would appear about how the Lord is my strength or I’d read something, a book or even an article, and randomly that same fact would be included. By the grace of God, He’s shown me how I’ve allowed myself to take charge and attempt to blot out my sins by myself when I’ve failed every single day over and over. His grace has not been sufficient for me in my own mind, and as a result, I missed the greatness of my Lord when it was right in front of my very eyes.
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
While I was on the plane a few weeks ago this hymn kept coming up and normally I would have listened to it as just another hymn, but it struck me differently this time. Almost a strong conviction in how I had not been viewing my Savior. Read these words and be amazed at the Lord’s power and our weakness.
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee."
In the dictionary, grandeur is defined as "the quality or state of being impressive or awesome." The imposing grandeur is the feeling you have when you stand in the middle of the grand canyon, on top of the Andes Mountains, or while beholding a large, glorious waterfall. Something so grand that makes you feel so small and dependent. So big and overcoming that it stirs a respected fear in your heart. The purpose of studying Theology is to bring about worship- to bring us in awe of our Majestic Creator and to further our knowledge of Him.
Imposing Grandeur is the outcome of three college girl's dream to introduce theologically sound truth into the lives of those who crave to strive further + dig deeper in their relationship with Christ. Over the years, God has purposely given us the passion for learning His truth, teaching others, and building a community built on His Word for His glory. Surrounded in a culture that so easily suppresses the truth for feelings, we found ourselves in a sea of students and teens losing the desire to dig deeper on certain topics, or in their walk with Christ in general. Throughout this season of realization, God graciously cultivated in us the desire to play a part in the change. To introduce and uphold what was lacking across campuses and to show those students and teens that there are answers out there to the questions that they did not think could be answered. There are reasons why the Bible says x, and other attributes to God other than love, peace, and mercy. The more you study about God, the more in awe you become. He is our imposing grandeur.
Join us as we behold the beauty and majesty of our King.