Minister Like a Girl

On one of my morning walks I noticed a line of insects in front of me, suspended in the air seemingly paralyzed. I looked as closely as I could to see what had the insects ensnared. They had wings- they were meant to fly and be on the move. So why were they stuck? The sun was just coming up- there was not enough light to reveal the web that had trapped these insects, one right after the other.

I finally gave up trying to see the web. There just wasn’t enough light. I continued my walk and noticed something strange. There was a worm in front of me. It was suspended in midair, but not paralyzed. This worm was busy.

I approached the worm for a better look. The sun was up and the light was shining, revealing the means the worm had for his strange positioning in the sky.

And there it was…the thread. This little worm wasn’t a worm at all, it was a caterpillar! It wasn’t paralyzed, it was using its thread to presumably escape a predator.

I thought about these things all week, and I marveled at all the lessons God had for me just by watching nature.

The flying insects stuck in an unseen web

This one hit me hard and fast. I immediately saw the church. How many of us worship somewhere with a group of people regularly? How many of us notice that most of the people who call themselves members aren’t anywhere to be seen? How many of us are those members who are never seen? How many of us go to church Sunday after Sunday but never accomplish anything for the kingdom of God? How many of us are simply paralyzed?

I know for the last few years I was stuck. I was happy to come to church every week without having anything required of me. Even when I started to serve, I literally did the very least that I could. I was stuck. In my case, I knew why I was stuck, but I wasn’t ready to hand everything over to the Lord and be used by Him.

But here’s what is interesting to me about that. Unless you were in my most inner circle of trusted friends, you would have no idea that I was even struggling. You would have seen me in the air with wings, presumably flying just where I wanted to be. Without the light revealing the web to you, you would have no idea I was stuck. You would have seen me at church every Sunday. You would have seen me serve. You could have easily assumed I was on the right track.

Unless we have the light to reveal the truth, we make our assumptions and act accordingly. Truthfully, I could have used a hand to pull me out of that web. But I was so good at keeping the light away, no one knew to reach their hand out to me.

And that is just a tiny bit of my own story. How many people are trapped in their own webs of unforgiveness? Immorality? Pride? Grief? Loneliness? Anger? Doubts? The list goes on and on. The truth is, we don’t know. We cannot see the webs with our physical eyes. But we can pray. We can ask the Lord to give us his eyes and see people as His children. We can ask the Lord how we can be used to minister to each other. And then we can follow through when He tells us, even when we don’t like the answer.

And what about that worm? First of all, it wasn’t a worm. It was a caterpillar. Secondly, it wasn’t trapped. It was escaping harm.

How many times do you look at other people and make judgments? I know I’m guilty of that. I think I know what is going on in someone’s life. I mean, I was trapped in midair. But I was trapped. The caterpillar was escaping harm. The caterpillar was free. It took having the light shining to show the difference.

These are just the surface lessons that God used in my life over the last week. It continues to run deeper every day. God can reveal Himself however He chooses to. For me, that usually happens when I spend time in His Word and in prayer. But don’t you just love the way God can use anything to show us more about who we are and who He is?

I try not to take my personal experience as total truth. I think it’s important to line it up with God‘s Word.

Here’s the funny thing about that. I landed in Job. And the book of Job is where I was when I first started this blog. If you have time, go back and read what Job’s friends were telling him. They could see that he appeared to be forsaken by God. They trusted all of their own experiences. Everything they had personally gone through. And they applied it to Job’s situation.

Most of the things they said to Job were completely wrong.

Maybe it’s time for the church to do less talking and more praying. Less judging and more time in God‘s word. Less accusing, and more building community.

Maybe you don’t need to hear that. But I do.

Reading for Day 6

I finished most of this post, and would you believe the power went out and zapped it all away?

Here is the funny part – this section in Job reminded me of a very specific time in my own life with a person speaking into my life like Zophar did to Job.  I wrote quite a bit about it.  Now I realize that revelation was for me – not something I should share with my vast readership.  (HA!) It is freeing and healing to read Zophar’s accusations and to read how Job handled it.  Boy I wish I would have thought to have said this one, “As for you, you smear me with lies.  As physicians, you are worthless quacks. If only you could be silent! That’s the wisest thing you could do.” What a comeback!! – God just smacked me with that same message – being silent is the wisest thing I could do.

So….you don’t get to read the story.  That’s okay.  You have Job’s.  His is way better anyway.  I didn’t have any cool responses.  I was mostly just saddened, angry, and confused.  Not so much with God, but with my friend’s response to my life.

Zophar really takes the cake.  If you haven’t read the passage yet, go back and do it.  Try it in the New Living Translation.  Job is firm with his friends, and he is turning a corner in his suffering.  He is ready now to “take on” God so to speak.  He still believes in his own innocence, and is still yearning for his suffering to end – even in death.

This is good stuff.  Oh to have the strength and resolve of Job.

Day 5 Reading

Job is hurting.  Job is ready to be done.  He does hold his friend accountable for speaking so poorly to him.  His other friend, Bildad, pipes up and insists that if Job is really innocent and righteous like he says he is, then God will make it right.  He’s right – if you’ve the text before, you know how it ends.  He has such an unkind tone to his words though.  Instead of sounding comforting and encouraging about the goodness and righteousness of God, he sounds accusatory and unbelieving of Job.

I don’t have much else right now.  I worked today (substitute teacher), learned that my husband’s grandfather is in his last days, and I’m getting ready to take our youngest (Gabe) to the circus.  It’s hard enough to connect all the dots in my own day – I don’t have it in me to connect the dots in these chapters.

Please post if you have more insight!

Day 4 Reading Plan – click here.

Let’s see….chapter one summary…..no good deed goes unpunished?

It’s interesting that these oldest passages contain so much mystery.  We see another reference to the Sons of God (now translated as angels), we see Satan having a name (not being the serpent, but the adversary), we see God seeming to bait Satan with Job, Satan wanting to prove that no one really loves God apart from the blessings and protection God gives, God agreeing to strip Job of everything and allowing Satan to harm (but not kill) Job (much to Job’s chagrin as he curses the day he was conceived), oh yeah – let’s not forget the random mention of the Leviathan, and the first example of a friend…a bad friend at that…or a good friend with bad advice.

Job’s kids – Should we conclude that they were not following after the Lord since Job was sacrificing burnt offerings on their behalf? I wonder how long parents offered sacrifices for their children? When did the children become responsible for themselves? Anyone know?

Job’s wife – By chapter two she is ready for Job to throw in the towel.  Why? And why wasn’t she killed along with everyone else? Did she tell Job to curse God in die out of anger – wanting to rid herself of the man that seemed to cause her so much pain and grief? (It  must be his fault, right? He’s the one covered in sores, not her.) Or did she say this in love and compassion – looking at the man she dearly loved suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally – wanting to see an end to his pain?

Job’s friends (collectively) – Wasn’t it nice that they came to be by his side? Wasn’t it nice that they remained silent for 7 days? Why oh why did they start to speak…….

Job’s friend (Eliphaz) – Nice one.  I cringed when I read his words to Job about accepting God’s discipline.  How quick are we to assume that people suffer because of their own sin? Sure, that happens.  We need to examine that in our own lives as we seek to be pure before the Lord.  His words are a great reminder to us to let our words be few when speaking into someone’s life situation.  Many times the Lord will give us a message to give to someone, but if it’s our own message, well, maybe we should just be quiet.

There are so many things that could be brought out in these chapters and discussed.  What were some of the most intriguing parts that you read?

My favorite verse of the passage:

Job 2:10b “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” – This reminds me of the Matt Redman song, “Blessed be Your Name.”

 

 

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/2011/01/03?plan=2&version=31

The beginning of this passage was a joy to read as it reminded me of a Beth Moore study I completed years ago.  I’m pretty sure this was from her Believing God study which is really amazing and transforming.  She has an entire section where she talks about what it means when “God remembers” something.  She says that whenever the Bible speaks of God remembering, that remembering is followed by action.  When God remembers Noah, he acts on Noah’s behalf and begins to recede the water.  She reminds us that we must remember the Lord as well, and that our remembrance should also spark action.  She says it all much better and more completely.

So, after remembering, thanking God for that study, being convicted to remember and act more myself, I actually got into the text and noticed something new to me.

I don’t know how many times I have read these verses.  We named our oldest child Noah, and being careful about giving him such a name to live up to, I know I read these chapters over and over again.

Pop quiz – How long was Noah on the Ark?

Did anyone say 40 days and 40 nights? Maybe 40 days and 40 nights plus the week or two he sent those birds out to test the ground? Those are the only numbers that were in my head.  (I’m sure Beth Moore would be disappointed….)

How surprised was I to see that after the rain, Noah was on the ark for 150 days after the water receded, then instead of days we learn that we’re in the seventh month, but it wasn’t until the second month that Noah was released from the ark.  I can’t do all that math.  I’d need other books to tell me how the timing of those months line up, but it sure looks like he was with all those stinky critters for closer to a year than a month.

Another number issue – didn’t we just read on day two that God decided man should only live for 120 years? Noah and his descendants are on the Adam and Eve supplements I guess, because most of them are back in the mid hundreds.  They really don’t list all that many children to make those long years necessary.  I wonder if we are going to read of the shorter lifespan decision- post flood- in subsequent chapters?

Good news – God is not going to destroy the earth again by flood. The rainbow reminds us both of the covenant.  (Although God makes a series of promises of things that will endure – but only as long as the earth endures.  So there won’t be a flood…….but……)

Bad news – After Noah plants his vineyard, drinks a bit too much wine, and lies around naked, Ham makes a bad choice and instead of covering his dad without looking at his nakedness, he proceeds to leave him uncovered and tell his brothers all about it.  So Ham gets cursed.  When reading the genealogy, Ham’s descendants look familiar.  We run into many of those families later in the Old Testament – usually not in a good way.  (Isn’t it funny that it doesn’t point out Noah’s responsibility in all this – he was the drunk naked one, wasn’t he? Just goes to show…..we can’t blame the first domino for our own fall.)

Tower of Babel – so strange.  It almost seems like God is afraid of what people can do when unified.  I don’t really think that God would ever fear man, so maybe this was more for our own benefits – think of the harm an evil people can do when unified.  We have certainly seen evidence of that in history!

Great passage! Any thoughts?

 

 

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/2011/01/02?plan=2&version=49

Wow.  Here are some questions:

1. Who was Cain afraid of when he said he would be hunted down? His parents? Or were other people alive and on the earth that are not accounted for in the previous chapters.  Or maybe, were the “sons of God” who we hear about later set loose?

2. So….Cain has a wife with him in Nod.  Would that be an unnamed sister or some other random person not accounted for?

3. Lamech – He seems to show us that murder is still alive and well.  Notice, instead of pleading that God avenge anyone who comes after him, he tells his wives (yes, plural) that he should be avenged seventy-sevenfold.  Were they supposed to be his protectors?

4. Enoch – Does this prove that only the good die young? He only lived 365 days and was no more.  These other scoundrels are living 800-900 years!

5. Do I even need to mention the Nephilim? Obviously they were wiped out by the flood, but were “the sons of Gods” angels mating with women? Were humans the first kind of creation to reflect the full image of God by having 2 separate genders, or are there other “daughters of God” we have not read about? The Lord created them – male and female – in His image.

6.  Anyone else ever remember learning the story of Noah and the ark where he only brought two of every animal? How about hearing how the people around him mocked him for building the boat? Didn’t read that today…..

7.  Notice that Noah and his sons each have one wife.  Not lots of wives.  Noah found favor in the eyes of God….I think this may be important to remember later….

8.  Going back a bit, apparently, it wasn’t until Seth was born that people began calling on the name of Lord again.  Seriously? Adam and Eve were so quick to forget Him? Was that a “what have you done for me lately” attitude of being angry with God for allowing Abel to be murdered by their other son, only to call on Him again when a new son was born?

Yes, I could go on.  But I won’t.  I can say this – holding on to a literal account becomes very difficult as you read these chapters.  I would be interested to hear from anyone who does.

How does this affect my faith? It makes me want to get a nod when all is said and done like Enoch and Noah.  However, Enoch lived a short (relatively) life and Noah was required to do some crazy stuff.  It isn’t easy to get a nod……

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/2011/01/?plan=2&version=31

The link above is for day one of a read the Bible through a year plan.  I am in a Facebook group that is reading through the Bible together.  I’ve only seen two familiar names in the group so far.  It will be interesting to read and discuss with people I know so little about.

Genesis 1-3

For many years it was important to me to believe in a literal, 7 day creation account.  As I got older I began to go with the idea that it was acceptable to believe in a longer account of creation – a day is like a thousand years to the Lord after all.  I have been recently challenged with a question – What if the creation story is just a story given by God to man to help us understand that He is the creator, and to introduce the problem we have with sin and our need for redemption? What if we didn’t take each detail as we would in a history book, but rather read it as prose?

Years ago that sounded like heresy to me.  Now that question does more to strengthen my faith than believing in the literal 7 day account.

I have no idea what the answers are by the way.  7 days, thousands of years, millions of year, beautiful prose? Ultimately this account establishes that there is a Creator.  It gives validity to for the arts – acting in His image to create.  It also shows us that our tendency to blame others when we get in trouble is nothing new.  It also brings up a lot of questions – especially if taken literally – Why wasn’t Eve surprised when the serpent spoke? Did all of the animals speak? Why did the Lord only mention green plants as a food source for the animals? Was no one a carnivore? Is that because there was no death until God banished Adam and Eve from the garden and did not allow them to eat of the tree of life? Why does chapter one say He made male and female in His own image, seemingly at the same time, but later He created Eve seemingly at a different time? I could go on…..

My favorite part – the realization that God putting Adam and Eve out of the garden is what ultimately gives us all a chance at redemption.  Would Adam and Eve have chosen to live forever in their sinful state? Would we? Knowing that there is an end to life, believing that there is a creator to meet at the end – isn’t that a first step towards recognizing a need for redemption?