"When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men."
-Proverbs 8:27-31
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Hello again! Let's begin with prayer...........
"Father, our Lord Most High, I come to You to worship and adore You for You alone are worthy of praise and adoration. Teach me to forget myself and my self wanting and to want only You and Your word. Thank You for being the master craftsman of all we see.
I seek forgiveness of sins and pray that You will wash me clean with Your blood and Your word. Restore me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit this day.
I pray for all the ladies here reading this study. I ask that You give me the passages of scripture that You want them to learn. I pray that You will speak to their hearts and give them peace.
In Jesus' name............amen."
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Temporary satisfaction.
The world today teaches us that instant gratification is what we need. Why wait?? We are the "microwave" genertation. We want what we want in minutes....not hours.
I remember well when my mother would give us TV dinners when she had to go to school at night. I was little, so my older brother would take the dinners out of the freezer then put them in the hot oven. They would usually take an hour to cook.
It was torture sitting there at the table smelling the fried chicken and apple crisp cooking in the oven. But when they were finished, it was a great meal.
Now my son can put his favorite frozen pizza in the microwave and in 3 minutes it is ready to eat. Amazing!
When my husband served in the Marine Corps and had to be overseas, I longed to receive a letter from him. He would write daily, but the mail took a long time. I usually received his letters three weeks after he wrote them. One letter in the mailbox after work would make my whole week. Two was paradise!
Now, the men and women in the military can e-mail their loved ones and receive instant messages and pictures of their loved ones without having to wait hardly a minute. Amazing!
So, how is it that this generation of "instant" everything can wait for the Lord? It isn't very easy to pray and then sit back and wait.
I recently heard a radio commercial on a Christian station selling publishing services. The announcer said:
"You've written your book...now what? Are you going to pray to find a publisher or are you going to do something about it??"
That is the typical attitude of many people....including Christians.....today: Don't just sit there, do something about it!
Far be it for us to simply "pray" about something when we can do something about it.
John 4:13
"Jesus answered and said to her, 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.'"
Jesus points out that the water of Jacob's well is good, but not the satisfaction for which the Samaritan woman is longing. The water of men's wells with satisfy temporarily. Whoever drinks of it will "thirst again".
The Samaritan woman was drinking the water of the temporary....of the finite. Her thirst would be quenched for a time.....but it would return. We want satisfaction now, immediately, but then realize that satisfaction is temporary and unfulfilling.
Jesus knew this.
Please read:
Matt 4:1-11
Jesus was victorious over Satan's temptations because He knew of the fleeting satisfaction of temporary things of the earth.
Matt 5:6
Is 55:1
Is 65:13
1 John 2:15-17 What is happening to the world we know?
We are commanded and warned not to love this world because it is temporary and passing away.
Matt 6:19-21- earthly treasures aren't forever
Col 2:6-10- the philosophies of men are finite and imperfect
Col 3:1-4 -Therefore, set your sights on things above
Psalm 78:12-16- Be in remembrance of all He has done for us
Is 48:21-
Psalm 105: 39-41
1 Cor 10:1-4
The acts of God are eternal. The Hebrews wandered for 40 years....a long time to wait on the Lord. And many displeased God for their disobedience. But many did live to see the Promise fulfilled.
1 Cor 10:6-11
These were given to us as examples to learn from: do not be so impatient for answers that we willfully follow after evil and our lusts.
In other words....do not "do something" about it, but wait on the Lord and be faithful as He is faithful to give us that Living Water that will give us everlasting life!
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Life Application
Those who know me know that I would love to move back to North Carolina and live out the rest of my days there. But I also know the penalty of not waiting on the Lord and trying to do things "my own way".
It is tempting to try and make our move to NC happen at my timing. I would go tomorrow if I could!
But because I know the Lord and fear Him, I pray and I wait for His perfect timing. If it happens, wonderful...if it doesn't happen, wonderful. I am learning to be content where I am first.
Because we love and serve a living Savior who loves us and knows us, we are to seek Him diligently.
As Christians, we are told we will suffer for our faith:
Please read:
1 Peter 1:6-9
1 Peter 3:13-17
As we read about the Samaritan woman, we will discover how Jesus is preparing her for ministry. He knows she will suffer at some point for being a follower of His as He knew this about the Disciples:
John 17: 14-17
And as He knows this about us:
John 17:20-23
As I write this, 19 Christian South Korean hostages are being held in a Taliban prison in Afghanistan. They were in Afghanistan as part of the Samaritan's Purse organization which helps poverty stricken nations.
They went as a church group, but their pastor was killed first by the Taliban terrorists. Then another missionary was executed. Mercifully, two women hostages were released because they were very sick. Now, 19 remain in prison.
Each morning I pray for the enemy and lift up to the Lord these verses:
Psalm 83:13-18
"O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind!
As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm.
Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD,
Are the Most High over all the earth."
It is my prayer that everytime these terrorists enter the room where the hostages are, that they are filled with the fear of the Lord our God Most High. So that they would know the He alone is LORD.
I also pray that the Lord would bring scripture to the minds of the hostages there. I know they probably do not have their Bibles, so I pray that scripture would come to their minds fervently so that they would be comforted. That is what I would want people to pray about for me.
They are the Lord's and He is theirs. He knows them and their needs right now where they are.
Please read:
1 Cor 8:6
It is through Jesus that we live. Pray your favorite verse over the South Korean hostages today. Seek the Lord and ask Him to bless them with every spiritual blessing. They are His and He knows them. He is there among them.
He is with us where we are too. Never forget that He knows all about you and your needs. Yes, PRAY first then do wait on the Lord. Nevermind what that radio commercial says!
Jesus is the master craftsman. He was in the beginning and is to this day. Why would we turn to the finite and temporary things of this world when we have the eternal??
As Simon Peter said in John 6:68
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Indeed, to whom shall we go??'
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Until next time........
"The covenant of redemption is established immediately in conjunction with man's failure under the covenant of creation. God had bound himself to man by the special ordering of creation. Man ruptured that relationship by eating the forbidden fruit. However, God's relation to his creature did not terminate with man's sin. The wonder of the gracious character of the Creator manifests itself immediately. Judgment indeed must fall. But even in the midst of judgment hope for restoration appears. God binds himself now to redeem a people to himself. The very words that pronounce the curse of the covenant of creation also inaugurate the covenant of redemption."
-O.Palmer Robertson
(The Christ of the Covenants, 1980, p. 91)
Blessings,
Ruth
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