"Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 11:2-3
Good morning, ladies. Let's seek the Lord.......
Dear Father, I come here today to ask You to be with us during this study. You know this verse was hard fo rme to learn over the years, but please help me to fall in love with Your word and treasure it in my heart that I might not sin against You.
Teach me Your statutes and teach me to declare them. Help us here to hide Your word in our hearts and keep our feet on Your paths.
I seek forgiveness of my sin this day so that I may hear from You. Blot out my trangressions, cleanse me, purge me with Your hyssop. Create in me a pure clean heart like Yours.
In Jesus' holy name, amen.
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Today's passage:
Prov. 31: 15 "She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household,and a portion for her maidservants."
"Rising while it is yet night"..........not an easy concept for me! This verse and others in the Book of Proverbs has always been hard for me because I am not one to rise up early in the morning unless I absolutely have to. Were it not for Nathan having to get to school on time, I would probably sleep late all year. Summers are hard for me because it is tempting to stay up late and then sleep in the next day. I have been learning to make sure I have something to do each day for motivational purposes otherwise sleep comes easy.
At least I am not as bad as my brothers were. They would sleep until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I could NEVER do that!
So, to read about this wise woman who rises while it is yet night offers us some encouragement.
Please read:
Prov. 14:1
Prov. 19:14-15
Prov. 20:13
This verse echoes in my head sometimes when I am lying in bed trying to wake up. I have a love for sleep that goes back to my childhood.
My early childhood was great fun. My parents were new Christians when I was 7, so I was able to see them act loving toward each other and become involved in church. But my early teen years were another story. My parents' marriage was deteriorating and causing much strife in the home. I think that is when I hated to wake up and face the day. Sleeping offered a solution to our problems: denial. There were no troubles in my dreams, so I loved to stay asleep as long as I could.
My life is great now, but old habits do die hard. Children who grow up in bad environments usually have wild fantasy lives inside their heads because reality is sometimes too hard to face.
But here we see that in Scripture, we are warned that to love sleep leads to poverty. You cannot do the works you have been given to do while sleeping.
Please read:
Rom. 12:10-11
How are we to serve the Lord?
Prov. 21:5
We are to be wise and diligent with our time.
Prov. 21:25-26
Prov. 13:4
Prov. 10:4-5
Diligence is defined as:
"Perservering and careful in work; hardworking"
Let's revisit Ruth.....
Please read:
Ruth 3:1-11
Ruth was a diligent woman in that she perserverd through hard times (loss of her husband, traveling...) and was a hard worker who was careful in her work.
What did she earn as a reward?
What, do you think, would have happened to her had she disobeyed and slept through the harvest?
Prov. 12:4
What is an excellent wife?
Exactly.
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Life Application
Serving the Lord often requires a lot of time and strength. We do not always "serve the Lord with gladness" coming before His presence "with singing." But we should if we remember Whom we serve.
Rising while it is yet night is admirable to those like me who love to sleep. My husband gets up at 3:30 each morning to get ready for work. He doesn't have to be at work until 7am, but he likes to have his quiet time in the morning hours alone.
I recently participated in a woman's Bible study about the extraordinary women of the Bible. One such woman was Mary Magdalene.
Please read:
Luke 8:1-2
How is Mary described here? Imagine her before her healing.......
Do you think she had scars on her body from the demon possession? Have you ever seen someone who has been on crystal meth for many years? They often have hallucinations that there are bugs under their skin, so they pick and pick at their faces and arms trying to get the "bugs" out. As a result, they have deep scars all over their faces.
I can imagine that after having 7 demons in her for years, she had physical scars from their torment.
Yet, in her imperfect state, she was still a faithful servant to the Lord. She was precious in His sight.
Continue reading:
Matt 27:55-61
Mary was present at the death of Jesus. She was one of His most faithful disciples in that she followed Him in life and to the cross and to the tomb. No other disciple, not even John, did all that.
John 20:1-18
Many of us have seen a loved one die. I watched my grandmother pass on in the hospital. It was very peaceful.
But I am almost certain that none of us have ever watched a person die such a brutal death by flogging and crucifixion.
Here Mary was present while Jesus hung on the cross all battered and torn with His blood pouring. Then she watched Him die a slow painful death as He cried out to God.
Here we find that after all that stress and sorrow, she went to the tomb "early while it was still dark..."
Amazing. I am sure her body was running on pure adrenaline and she probably could not sleep, yet she was there to prepare Christ's body in remembrance....in obedience.
When I studied these verses a few months ago, it really spoke to me. If Mary, a woman healed from the torment of 7 demons, could rise up early while it was still dark to serve her Lord even after all that she had endured.....then surely I can rise up early to serve the same Lord.
Convicting isn't it??
Please read:
Matt 27: 14-18
What was Mary's reward for her faithfulness to Jesus that the other disciples had not earned?
Presence with the Lord is the greatest reward for us. Everything else is temporal. Look what she was able to experience that even Peter and John did not: Jesus chose her to be the first to see Him risen.
Praise God.
Until next time.........
Phil. 3:12-14
"Not that I have already obtained it, or am already perfected;
but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have laid hold of it;
but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
"Once you have set your goals for your lifelong persuit of serving God, you will undoubtedly want to do your best and give your all to achieve those goals. Like Paul, you will want to press on and hold nothing back."
-Elizabeth George (Loving God With All Your Mind, 1994, p. 105)
Blessings,
Ruth
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