Standing on the Promises

Today's Reading: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12

So let me once again remind you all that I am not a Bible scholar...just someone trying to read the Word, make some connections, and allow God to lead me. As I was reading the verses for today, which are moving and emotional (well, almost....we all know I am not an emotional person), I kept making the connection back to yesterday's reading. I continued to think about how God really does keep his promises (DUH, I know sounds so trivial).

Let me begin by saying that if you have never read this part of Isaiah,  you should stop now and go read it. What the Bible say is MUCH more important than what I have to say. Isaiah prophesies the coming of Christ and how he will be "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5). Isaiah tells how he Christ would die for our sins; God's ultimate purposes will be fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of His son. Amazing and humbling!

One thing that really spoke to me was in verse 10 of Chapter 53, "yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him". Haven't I JUST read that somewhere? YES!!! Yesterday in Genesis 3:15 I read "it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel". In this verse God is speaking to the serpent. God promises the serpent that he would deliver the deathblow to Satan but he would also be bruised Himself. Now I don't know how many years separate Genesis and Isaiah but I do know that God kept his promise.

God promised it in Genesis, Isaiah propehesied about it and on over in the New Testament Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection fulfilled God's promise of being bruised Himself. Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave which I would say was a pretty big blow to Satan, fulfilling another promise! We are told that Jesus will return one day and deal the final blow to Satan... but I am really getting ahead of myself here.

Today I am so thankful that God used these two little pieces of verses to remind me that he keeps his promises...he keeps his promises to Satan, he keeps his promises to the Jews, and he keeps his promises to ME!!! Jeremiah 29: 11 says, " For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end"! "An expected end" has also been translated "a future and a hope".  How exciting that God promises ME peace and hope!!!

Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let His praises ring!
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing; standing on the Promises of God!

What was Adam thinking?!?!?

This blog post is going to be different than ALL of my other posts, which I do realize is not very many, but nevertheless this will be different. A little background: I have finished Read Through the Bible in 90 Days, Read Through the Bible in 6 Months, and have today started Read Through the Bible in 3 Years. I know big jump! I found an app on my phone and just put in today as my start date and took off. This particular app, Bible Base, leads you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament 3 times over a 3 year period. Hopefully, this will force encourage me to study a little harder and not just read words (I realize I am the ONLY one who does this)!

The rest of the story is that Micah and I are planning to go to Mexico City in November and I have to speak to a group of women (DEEP BREATHS!!!) I am so nervous about this that I start to feel sick just typing about it. I have never spoken in front of  a group of women (or anyone for that matter) and have no idea where to begin. So my plan is to begin this Bible Reading program and put down my thoughts about daily readings that really speak to me. And while doing this in a Microsoft Word document is a choice, and honestly I probably should, I figure I'll just put them on here and my parents, siblings, and in-laws can read them. Because in all honesty, that's probably the extent of my reader list!! So here goes...

Today's Reading: Genesis 3:1 - 24
This is the Chapter where the serpent tempts Eve, she eats of the fruit, offers to Adam, he eats of the fruit, they hide from God, God clothes them, God curses the serpent, Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden. Ok, that is the story in a nutshell. But a few specific things spoke to me in this reading.

• Eve gets most of the blame in this story, ok all the blame and rightfully so. But in verse 6 Eve "gave also unto her husband WITH her; and he did eat". It didn't say that Eve had to go look for Adam but that he was with her. It appears that Adam was watching this exchange and looking on. This could take a lot of directions here (wife not following husband, husband not leading house, etc) but the direction I want to take is that Adam was watching this sin. Watching his wife be tempted. He must have seen that Eve "saw that the tree was good for food... [and] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise". Instead of warning Eve of where she was headed, instead of discouraging her from eating, maybe Adam simply stood by and watched Eve head down the path to sin...and followed her. How often do I do this? Do I stand by and watch others be lured into the path to sin and say nothing? Do I watch people make decisions that are going to have a negative impact on the rest of their life and never warn them? Do I follow others down paths of sin when I KNOW better? As easy as it is to see where Adam should have stepped up and said something, sadly, I too have stood by and simply followed.

• Not to keep picking on poor Adam, but on down in verse 12, Adam tells God "the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat". How about this? How often do I blame others? How often do I say,"if God would not have done this then I would not have done that"? I may not say it out loud but I know I think it. God may have allowed them to be tempted but 1  Corinthians 10:13 says "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it". God doesn't promise that we won't be tempted, nor does he promise that he will jerk us right up out of the midst of temptation but that we will be able to bear it. It might not be pleasant...it will probably be very painful but God promises we will be able to bear it! (Maybe Adam didn't know this because the letters to the Corinthians were not written yet!?)

• Finally, I love that in verse 20, after all the two have been through, Adam calls his wife "Eve, the mother of all living". Although Adam and Eve had traveled down a road of sin, hid from God and suffered greatly for it, Adam still had faith and was looking to the future with hope. Adam had faith and trusted in the promises of God (verses 15 and 16). Thankfully, God still gives hope for the future. Thankfully, God still holds to his promises. He fulfilled his promise of sending our Savior, Jesus Christ. We must have faith to follow. No matter what road of sin we have traveled or are even traveling now, God is still calling us, seeking us, and wants us to turn back to him.

I do not profess to be a theologian or even know very much about the Bible. These are just a few things that spoke to me in this Chapter. I am just putting in writing what the Lord is speaking to me as I read these verses and try to study them. If I am off or out of line on anything, please let me know. And by all means, prayers for November are GREATLY appreciated!!