Personal stuff – Bible study thoughts

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Oh my, between my husband needing the computer for business and the kids for school and games, I am losing time on the computer big time. I am so sorry for that. I started getting some of the books you have suggested for Katherine, and picked up a few of the ones suggested for me. Plan to read them soon, but right now am in the midst of the Beth Moore study and a Revelation study by Kay Arthur, and the Discipleship course by Pastor Don. That combo is keeping me hopping. Here are a few things that I have learned from the video that accompanies the Beth Moore study. Some of these thoughts opened my eyes. Beth talks about comparing the verses of Genesis 18: 17-19 with Genesis 18:20-21 The first set of verses is God speaking to Himself about whether or not He should speak to Abraham about Sodom, the second set of verses is God talking to Abraham. It shows that God’s actions are perfectly consistent with His thoughts and shows again Abraham’s role as Prophet. Beth thinks this is an awesome thought to keep in mind because God says that He knows the thoughts He thinks of us Jeremiah 29:11-12, and His thoughts are always perfect. The other thing she pointed out that seems true is that often God’s wonders are not always spelled out in the Bible, that we discover the wonderful nature of God in our walk with Him, but God spells out each and every warning, so that we cannot miss the warnings. We cannot say, you never told us this…God has. With the second discourse, Genesis 18:20-21 God is engaging Abraham to walk with Him so that He could teach Abraham to walk like Him. God is planning to check out Sodom before he brings down destruction on the city. He is showing that you don’t bring a harsh judgment on a city or a person without knowing the facts. Why would God call us into intercessory prayer if He wasn’t going to hear what we say. I am touched that Abraham barters down God, and that God listens and responds. There are few people that God called “Friend”, one was Abraham and the other was Moses. Beth said, I want to know what it takes to be God’s friend. (me too!!!)  John 15:14-16 talks about obeying, and knowing the secrets of His heart. Agape love. God gives us permission to question Him too. In Job, the oldest book of the Bible, God lets Job ask the question of Would God do wrong? As we build our relationship with God and begin to trust Him, we begin to see that God sees more than we do, knows more than we do, and that we can trust Him to be a true and just. That God’s words and actions match is another good indicator. There was much more in the video, but these thoughts impacted me greatly. Hope you have a blessed day, and I can’t wait to get to your sites. We need to get more than one computer hooked up to the internet. I am feeling cut off these days. Heather