Chapter 6: veres 1-3... I think it is cool to see how God can work in the hearts of people to do complete 180s for His glory... and also how sometimes we think that we need to fight for God, but the very fact that God can fight for Himself just fine, is what makes Him worth fighting for. verse 4-12...The gold tumors and rats made me think of a couple of things... first, it made me think about how sometimes our kids give us weird stuff as gifts, but how we honor that because we love them and they are giving from their hearts... this lead me to think about how it is our hearts that God wishes us to give from, too... nowhere did God command these types of things for guilt offerings, but He also knew that the Philistines would not have that kind of knowledge, and it was their repentant hearts that He desired anyway (Psalm 51:17)... the second thing that I thought about was how the Philistines gave sacrifices of the very things that they were plagued by... how often to we give 'guilt offerings' to God for the things that plague us, like doubt, or fear, or rebellion, or pride, or bitterness, or lust, or envy,... the list could go on and on... the benefits of offering such things up to God would be two-fold, I think... first, we would have to examine ourselves to find out what we were 'plagued' by... this would free us from the grasp of such 'hidden' sins by making us aware of them, we can claim God's power over them... second, it allows us to become fully repentant for our sins and is a demonstration to God that we both recognize our sinfulness and desire to turn from it... to cast it away from us... to offer that part of ourselves up to Him so we can be cleansed and restored through and in His love. Maybe a cast of a 'tumor', or a 'model' of pride seems like a crazy thing to offer as a sacrifice, but that may be the very thing that we need to do. verse 13... I think it is awesome how the people rejoiced when they were reunited with God... I pray that that is our reaction everytime we are reunited to God in our thoughts, or our circumstances, or our actions, or whatever... I pray that in everything, we can see God and rejoice because of Him (1 Thesselonians 5:18) verse 14-16... makes me think about how people are always watching us to see what we do for God... how we are witnesses to Him even when we are not aware of it... it also makes me think about how the Isrealites did not even use the gold things for sacrifices, because they knew what God had asked of them... it is cool how God provided for each people group based on exactly where they were and what they understood... sometimes we can be so judgemental when people don't do things the 'right way'... yet God did not punish the Philistines for offering God gold idols and casts... if God does not condemn them then who are we to do so?...who are we to judge another's actions as though we know their heart (John 8:1-11, Romans 2:1, Romans 14:10, 1 Corinthians 4:4-5, Acts 15:7-11, Matthew 12:1-8, Galatians 2:6, Hebrews 4:12-13) verse 19-20... God will judge each of us according to what He has revealed to us (Luke 12:47-48) verse 21...it is so wonderful when we know that God is back in His rightful place in our lives! :)... I pray we all let Him stay there. sandJ
The IDEA: Romans 1:12-That we may be mutually strengthened, encouraged, and comforted by each others faith. Have you ever read the whole Bible before? We have never done it. We want to share God’s Word, but how can we if we do not know it.
The PLAN: Ecclesiastes 4:12-One person is easily overcome, but two can stand together and conquer. Three is even better, though, as a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. With each others help we can succeed-So, let us team up and read the Bible in a year.
The DATE: We will start Dec 26, 2009 - Dec 26, 2010.
The FYI: We will read 3-4 chapters each day, starting in Genesis, and post thoughts daily. If you do not have a Bible, you can access many translations at www.biblegateway.com. You can also download an audio for each chapter at: http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
Chapter 6:
ReplyDeleteveres 1-3... I think it is cool to see how God can work in the hearts of people to do complete 180s for His glory... and also how sometimes we think that we need to fight for God, but the very fact that God can fight for Himself just fine, is what makes Him worth fighting for.
verse 4-12...The gold tumors and rats made me think of a couple of things... first, it made me think about how sometimes our kids give us weird stuff as gifts, but how we honor that because we love them and they are giving from their hearts... this lead me to think about how it is our hearts that God wishes us to give from, too... nowhere did God command these types of things for guilt offerings, but He also knew that the Philistines would not have that kind of knowledge, and it was their repentant hearts that He desired anyway (Psalm 51:17)... the second thing that I thought about was how the Philistines gave sacrifices of the very things that they were plagued by... how often to we give 'guilt offerings' to God for the things that plague us, like doubt, or fear, or rebellion, or pride, or bitterness, or lust, or envy,... the list could go on and on... the benefits of offering such things up to God would be two-fold, I think... first, we would have to examine ourselves to find out what we were 'plagued' by... this would free us from the grasp of such 'hidden' sins by making us aware of them, we can claim God's power over them... second, it allows us to become fully repentant for our sins and is a demonstration to God that we both recognize our sinfulness and desire to turn from it... to cast it away from us... to offer that part of ourselves up to Him so we can be cleansed and restored through and in His love. Maybe a cast of a 'tumor', or a 'model' of pride seems like a crazy thing to offer as a sacrifice, but that may be the very thing that we need to do.
verse 13... I think it is awesome how the people rejoiced when they were reunited with God... I pray that that is our reaction everytime we are reunited to God in our thoughts, or our circumstances, or our actions, or whatever... I pray that in everything, we can see God and rejoice because of Him (1 Thesselonians 5:18)
verse 14-16... makes me think about how people are always watching us to see what we do for God... how we are witnesses to Him even when we are not aware of it... it also makes me think about how the Isrealites did not even use the gold things for sacrifices, because they knew what God had asked of them... it is cool how God provided for each people group based on exactly where they were and what they understood... sometimes we can be so judgemental when people don't do things the 'right way'... yet God did not punish the Philistines for offering God gold idols and casts... if God does not condemn them then who are we to do so?...who are we to judge another's actions as though we know their heart (John 8:1-11, Romans 2:1, Romans 14:10, 1 Corinthians 4:4-5, Acts 15:7-11, Matthew 12:1-8, Galatians 2:6, Hebrews 4:12-13)
verse 19-20... God will judge each of us according to what He has revealed to us (Luke 12:47-48)
verse 21...it is so wonderful when we know that God is back in His rightful place in our lives! :)... I pray we all let Him stay there.
sandJ