Bible in 90 Days – Day 69

Bible in 90 Days – Day 69

Matthew 5-15

Words

Matthew 12:36 Careless: Lazy, shunning the labor they ought to perform, from which no profit is derived although they can and ought to be productive. Purely temporal

Wonders

Matthew 7:6 Pearls before swine. I need to study up on this some more.

Principles

Matthew 7:14 This will not be an easy journey.

Matthew 7:25 The one who acted on His words didn't fall in adversity because the Rock was the foundation. Acting on His words = Built on. Not just thinking about or reading His words, but doing them.

Matthew 8:26 Faith leaves no room for fear.

Matthew 9:36 He felt compassion on them because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd:
Without Jesus, our Rest, we do get worn out.

Hugs

Matthew 8:17 "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." (See also Isaiah 53:4)

Matthew 9:36 He felt compassion on them because they were weary and worn out.

Mirror

Matthew 10:34-37 We must not idolize relationships over Christ

Matthew 12:36 People will have to account for every careless word that they speak (see careless, above)

Matthew 6:9 Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 15:8-9 On worship vs. tainted worship. How do we hallow God's name in the present day? With pure and untainted worship (See Malachi 1:6-11, Malachi 3:16)

Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15 Prayer! Don't babble. Pray in secret. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Matthew 15:21-28 Persistence in Prayer

Bible in 90 Days – Day 6

Bible in 90 Days – Day 6

Exodus 15-28

Words

Exodus 17:15 Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord is My Banner. This was when Moses’ hands were lifted for victory – God is the Victory!

Exodus 20:5 worship – H5647 To work for, to serve, to make oneself a servant to, to serve as subjects

Exodus 20:12 honor – H3513 heavy/weighty (Hebrew idiom designating significance)

Wonders

Exodus 16:4 The last thing that was recorded to be rained down (Exodus 9:18) was for destruction, but this was for life.

Principles

Exodus 16:29 God provides the means for us to obey. He provides the means for us to please Him.

Hugs

Exodus 16:24 Imagine the reality of Sabbath – with a weekly miracle: the food did not spoil as normal.

Exodus 18:10-11 The first retelling of this (Exodus 10:1-2) recorded here.

Mirror

Exodus 23:1-7 You must not spread a false report, and stay far away from false accusation.

Bible in 90 Days – Day 1

Bible in 90 Days – Day 1

Genesis 1-16

See my first post about this Bible reading challenge here

For now I’m going to structure my posts like this. This is a new way for me to study so I may change it as I go along. I found that I’m easily distractible as I’m reading, because I have such a bent toward “study” in place of “reading”. This takes exponentially longer, and since there’s so much reading each day, I decided to jot notes in a separate journal as I go along, so I don’t stop. Kindof like taking sermon notes during a sermon, as I can’t very well raise my hand and ask my pastor to hang on while I go and research this or that.

Here’s my structure for today.

Words: Words that popped off the page for me

Wonders: Things I sortof wonder about, that I’d have to go and read some commentaries or study up a bit farther – if there’s even any complete explanations out there. God does love a good mystery, after all.

Principles: Maybe a little theological one-liner that one could infer from the text.

Hugs: Warm fuzzies for the romantic in me. When God’s tenderness and faithful love is especially evident to me.

Mirror: When I see myself in the characters. God’s word is like a mirror (James 1:23-25)

(Also, I’m going to be using the HCSB. I love the HCSB Notetakers Interactive Edition Bible for its huge margins, lots of study info and cross references.)

Words 

Gen 2:18 helper – 5828 One who helps; from 5826 to help, support.

Note: This is the first job description for a wife, before woman is even created.

Gen 2:24 bonds with – 1692 To cling to, to stay with

Note: Marriage rules determined as soon as marriage is established.

Gen 2:25 no shame – 954 (Not) put to shame, disconcerted, or disappointed. (Not) acting shamefully.

Note: Shame and Audacity cannot coexist.

Gen 8:21 pleasing aroma

God was well pleased with the performance, v. 21. He smelt a sweet savour, or, as it is in the Hebrew, a savour of rest, from it. As, when he had made the world at first on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed, so, now that he had new-made it, in the sacrifice of the seventh he rested. He was well pleased with Noah's pious zeal, and these hopeful beginnings of the new world, as men are with fragrant and agreeable smells; though his offering was small it was according to his ability, and God accepted it. Having caused his anger to rest upon the world of sinners, he here caused his love to rest upon this little remnant of believers. –Matthew Henry

source

Wonders/Meditations

Genesis 12:1 This seems a little out of nowhere. Why Abram? Perhaps because God knew he would obey? Perhaps God saw Abram’s faith even before He called him, before we get the chance to see his faith recorded? God looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Principles

Gen 4:12-22, 6:5-8, 8:18, 10:1-32 Righteousness is more important than knowledge or skill. All (or perhaps many) of the makers, music makers, thinkers, etc were washed away in the flood.

Gen 12:7-8 Abram worships. Even though he doesn’t know where he’s going, and there is no hope of fulfillment, he worships.

Hugs

Gen 13:17 “Get up and walk from one end of the land to the other, for I will give it to you.” (This reminded me of a daddy excitedly giving his child a new car, or house, or something amazing, and saying “Push all the buttons, give it a try, test drive it, look in all the doors and cabinets! It’s yours!”)

Mirror 

Gen 15:2, 16:2 Abram and Sarai are trying to figure out how God could keep His promise, and they’re trying to come up with a solution for Him, praying with this finite solution in mind. A solution born of finite understanding, when God has something better and more amazing in mind. It’s hard to believe in the supernatural when our minds are so human. See also Romans 8:26 – when we don’t know how to pray, and Eph 3:20 He is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or even imagine.

Stay

It’s hard to fully express what I felt God working in my heart last night when my husband was reading the Jesus Calling Bible Storybook to the kids. It was the story found in Acts 16:24-40, where Paul and Silas are in prison. Worshipping. And then God worked, and removed their chains, but they stayed.

First, I must recount the definition I read this week for ‘trial’. It has really stuck with me and resonated with me.

“Trial: from the Hebrew sara or srh, which means to bind, tie up, restrict. Thus the noun comes to denote a narrow place in life where one is bound or restricted.”

I also read the truth that stated “we listen, we praise, we walk in the direction of God’s voice and we obey. It’s that simple. Sometimes that means we get to unbind and celebrate. Sometimes it means we don’t.” (Both quotes from I Will Carry You by Angie Smith)

So God tied these thoughts up together with a bow.

We are grieving. We are grieving the loss of a much loved one taken too soon by cancer. We’ve been praying that we get to unbind and celebrate the healing that we’ve been praying so desperately for. But God had other plans.

He did unbind.

He did answer.

Just not in a way we were planning.

So do we run? Do we flee? Hide? Do we turn our backs?

I’ve been feeling in a prison. That seems funny to say. But it’s a mind-picture I made even before bedtime stories last night. A prison where someone we love has cancer. We are bound, our hands are tied and unable to even help him get comfortable, much less find healing.
It has made me go mad and feel like running. It has made me get mad and feel like doubting. But I’ve given in to neither.

I stayed in the prison.

But did I worship?

Maybe. Sometimes.

Did I pray for deliverance? You bet.

But did I worship and sing hymns, focused solely on my great God, not expecting anything in return?
I’m not sure. Only God really knows.

But then, now that it is finished – as finished as that part of the trial can be this side of Heaven, for we will always feel the loss and the pain of separation – do we move on? Or do we minister?

Paul and Silas could have left to finish ‘their’ work, the mission they had planned, but they stayed where God placed them.

God penned their story, putting them right where He wanted them to serve. And so they did. And a household of people came to know Jesus because of it. (And we will get to meet them in Heaven one day!) They served in a way they never could have had they never gone through this trial. Only when their work was done there did God move them on, blessing their freedom.

So I must keep reminding myself, when I feel trapped, or bound, going through this trial, or any trials I have yet to encounter that only God knows of:
Worship.

Stay.

Serve.


See also this post about unanswered prayers

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