Day Six
Desperate to Belong

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Click & Read!Desperate-Ruth Quote-KM
Ruth 1 & 2
Ruth 4:13-22
Deuteronomy 25:5-6
Isaiah 66:2

I have always been a nomad. By the time I was in eighth grade, I’d been in eight different schools in three new states. Even in my short year and a half of marriage, we have lived in two states and have just settled into our third home. Despite all of the good that came from our gypsy ways,  I have longed to belong many times over. I know all too well the strong feeling which can only be described as a form of homesickness, that comes when people around us have history with each other and have known one another for a long time. I know that twisted-knot feeling of wanting to stand out, but wanting to blend in all at the same time.

The Bible is speckled with people who didn’t belong: Moses, Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, and even Jesus! But Ruth’s story is so wonderfully spectacular because in the end, not only did she belong, but she belonged to the lineage of King David.
Even more incredible… the lineage of Jesus!

Ruth’s life was marked with sorrow. Both her brother-in-law and husband passed away, preceded in death by their own father. She was left as a young widow with her sister-in-law, Orpah, and mother-in-law, Naomi. Their spirits were bound together because of the similar shades of grief, and they found solace in one another’s company. Naomi loved Orpah and Ruth as if they were her own daughters, and longed for them to find new love and new joy in their young lives. With a heavy sadness, Ruth and Naomi kissed their sweet Orpah goodbye. However, Ruth could not be persuaded to leave Naomi’s side. Naomi begged her, pleaded with her, and even tried demanding Ruth to leave and look for love.

Ruth looked into Naomi’s eyes, and solemnly spoke this vow: “Where you go I will go. Where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.”

This commitment to a life of servanthood and faithfulness was a testament to Ruth’s character and further,
the reason the Lord chose to bless her.

Naomi and Ruth returned to Naomi’s homeland from a lifetime ago. Already an outcast because of her nationality, Ruth found herself at the lowest rank in society because she was a widow. They had no money, no food, and no way to get a job. That is, until Providence stepped in.

Ruth found herself scrounging for the wheat that had fallen while being harvested in a field that belonged to an elite man of the city named Boaz. They encountered each other in something that can only be defined as a Divine Appointment. Boaz’s eyes met Ruth’s as she bowed her head in humility…

The rest, as they say, is history.

Boaz redeemed Ruth and her family name. He lifted her up from the bottom of society and made her someone who belonged in their city and someone whose name we can find listed hundreds of years before Jesus’.

Boaz and Ruth later became the grandparents to a man named Jesse, who had many sons, but called his youngest David. Ruth’s great grandson would go on to slay lions and a giant, rule an entire nation, and be known as a man after God’s own heart.

Because of Ruth’s commitment to not only serving Naomi, but serving her God as well, the Lord blessed her! He saw her heart and knew how desperately she yearned for a lasting relationship with her mother-in-law.
God saw her trying to blend into a new community.
He knew her loneliness.
He knew her sorrow.
He knew her heart…. and chose to bless her because of her faithfulness.
God sent her a redeemer in the form of a kind and prestigious man named Boaz.

Through the years I have found myself aching to be accepted by students, friends, other mamas, and ministry partners.

So often I forget that I already belong.
The Lord has sent me a Redeemer! A kind and prestigious man who lifted me up from my sin and made me someone who belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven and someone whose name you can find written as a follower of Christ.

We don’t have to be desperate to belong.
Because of Jesus, we already do.

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Desperate Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Desperate!

The GT Weekend – Desperate Week One

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At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”, rather we see weekends as a tool to invite the Almighty’s fullness into our lives in a deeper way. Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ. Don’t miss the chance to connect with other women in prayer, rest your soul in reflective journaling, and spend time worshiping the Creator who longs for intimacy with each of us!

Join In! The Father is waiting!

Journaling our thoughts and prayers can lead to clarity and allow the Holy Spirit space in our hearts to breath truth and direction into us. Slowing down long enough to pour out our hearts to the Father will bring depth and richness in your journey with Jesus. Whether you journal regularly, or this is your first attempt, Dive In! You’ll be amazed at the treasure you discover along the way!

Reflective Journal Prompts

1) Make a list of several places you’re feeling desperate. For love, intimacy, connections, etc.

2) Ask Father to show you any unhealthy relationships or expectations that don’t fully rely on Him being the center of your life.

3) Allow Father to breathe life into those dead spaces, cling to the truth of His word and be warmed by His desire to have relationship with you.

A Prayer Journal

Desperation seems to ooze from my life, Lord, and often times I’m not even aware of all the ways I try to substitute something where truly only You can fill me up. Show me my emptiness, Jesus. Make it clear to me now, Holy Spirit, those areas that I am building an idol as I attempt to fill a need only You can satisfy. I need You to be my center, Abba. Without You, nothing will ever quench my deep need for something more.

I praise You for Your provision of a Savior through Your son Jesus! Thank you fro redeeming me when I make choices that don’t please You. Take my tendency to find purpose in my busy schedule and let it be used by You. Let me be comfortable giving You control. I wait in expectation to see Your word come back to You fulfilled!

This Week’s Memory Verse and Media

So is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty. ~Isaiah 55:11

Listen to House of Their Dreams by Casting Crowns

Prayer Circles is something the GT Partners are so excited to share with you as you share with each other! Coming before the Father God who is both sovereign Lord and intimate Abba, is a priceless gift. Joining together, linking arms as sisters in Christ, bringing our needs and our praise before the Throne of Grace is an unfathomable beauty. Share your needs, pray for one another, carry each other’s burdens, and lay them at the feet of Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!

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Day Five
Desperate For Intimacy

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Click & Read!Desperate-Week1-Day3
Luke 7:36-50
Hebrews 12:28-29
Mark 15:33-41
Mark 16:9-10

Our nature is to hide our “bad choices” in life.  We are getting a healthy dose of this in my household as of late.  My two year old, Zai, is learning the difference between an accident and doing something on purpose.  It seems that every day we have the same conversation at least a handful of times.

“Mama, I took my boots off in the car and one just flew into the front seat.  It’s okay, it was an accident.”

“Mama, I made Elle cry when I took the toy away from her and knocked her down.  It’s okay, it was just an accident.”

“Mama, I ate a cracker I found on my car seat and it tasted weird.  It’s okay, it was just an accident.”  (Don’t judge.  Sometimes a cracker in the car is the difference between ten minutes of sanity or absolute meltdown DEFCON level six.  If you haven’t been there yet, just know that I love you, and it’s probably coming one day soon.)

I could keep going.  All. Day.  But you get the picture.

In the midst of the teaching moments (many as there are), it’s easy for me to forget that he comes by it naturally.  This is in my nature, too.  Transparency, responsibility, humility – these are all lovely intentions, but the application is rarely easy.  Nothing that goes against our base nature is simple.  My own gut reaction may not be to call something an “accident”, but excuses are never difficult to find.

My own “accidents” lie more along the lines of…

“I shouldn’t have said that.  But, I’m just so tired – this pregnancy is taking it out of me.”

“Okay, I may be overreacting a little here, but is it really SO hard to get a little help with the dishes/laundry/bedtime now and then?”

“I wish the conversation hadn’t gone that way.  But I am not in the wrong here.  He/she should be more compromising/compassionate/patient/fill-in-the-blank.”

I could keep going.  All. Day.

My “accidents” pile up and before I know it, I’m suddenly having difficulty finding intimacy with the Lover of my Soul.  You would think, at 32, that I would catch on a little more quickly.

I realized this week that I needed to take a lesson from another Mary of long ago.  She made mistakes, too.  In fact, that is how she was known by others…. Mary, the sinner.

The difference in our behavior is this:

She was desperate.  Desperate to worship.  Desperate to lavish extravagant praise upon the Son of God.  Desperate to experience intimacy with her Savior.

Despite her position.  Despite her reputation.  Despite her surroundings, her audience, her inner shame.  Mary was not naive – she knew how she was perceived.  But rather than let that stop her, she grasped for transparency and brought her broken self to the feet of Jesus in open, heartfelt worship.  She didn’t have perfection to give, she had only herself.
And she was rewarded.

Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Mary drew close to Him, and He to her.
She was there with His mother as He took His last breath.
She was the first person to whom He appeared after His resurrection.
He forgave her sins and brought her into His family!

Jesus Christ is the same Lover of Souls in this moment, with you and me, as He was with Mary Magdalene. He is no respecter of persons; He rewards our brokenness and transparency with His intimate love. He knows my heart and mind, and no amount of excuses can change my sin.  I need to recognize these little traps for what they are and instead approach Jesus in the same manner as Mary – desperate for intimacy.

Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper!     And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey!    Comment Here!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Fullness! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Desperate!

Day Four
Desperate To Return: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper posts are intended to help us go farther into God’s word than a simple surface reading
and are designed to help us discover new tools in the process.
Curious as to why we Dig Deeper? Here’s Why! 

The Passage

Looking for yesterday’s Journey Post? Check out Desperate To Return!

Genesis 3

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for[f] your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.[g] 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

My Questions

1) What tactic does the serpent use to convince Eve to eat the fruit of the tree?

2) Why did God ask “Where are you?” when He already knew the answer?

3) What does Scripture say about how Adam and Eve felt after their choice to disobey God and how did their actions towards each other and God change because of that?

4) Who is the “Us” in v.22, I thought there was only one God?

5) In the last part of the chapter, what kind of relationship do Adam and Eve have with God?

The Tools

A trip to www.studylight.org is in order here.
We will get super cozy with this site as we study Scripture together!
Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom!
It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse?
Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage?
Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

The Findings for Original Intent

1) In v.1, the serpent is described as “crafty”. Crafty in the original language means just that sly, shrewd, and subtle. The serpent in his crafty wordplay takes what God intended to be good and leads Eve to a place of questioning God’s motives in setting a boundary with the tree. When the conversation is over, Eve moves from understanding God’s boundaries to questioning God’s boundaries and motives. In v.6, Eve sees that the tree is good and the fruit is delightful to her. A subtle lie by the serpent plants the seed for sin and lust in the eyes of Eve.

2) God knows exactly where Adam and Eve are both physically and spiritually. There is no doubt what events have transpired in the Garden. God, despite what He knows is still pursuing Adam and Eve. He loves them enough not to leave them in their shame and sin. He is seeking them out even though they are hiding from Him. God desires relationship and communication and is giving them an opportunity to stand before Him.

3) In v.8, Adam and Eve are hiding. In v.10, Adam says he was afraid of God because of his nudity. The first part of the conversation is between Adam and God. Two emotions that have never been a part of creation before have now entered: shame and fear. Adam and Eve are shameful and hiding but are also afraid of God. Genesis 2:25 says Adam and Eve felt no shame. They had no knowledge of shame until their choice to disobey.

As that conversation continues in v. 12, Adam blames Eve for what has happened. When God confronts Eve she blames the serpent. The relationship between man and God now has enmity and shame and the relationship between husband and wife has blame and finger pointing. None of which existed before the Fall.

4) “Us” is a plural word referring to more than one person. Although it is a bit tricky with this verse, this is one of the first references to the Trinity. The same reference is made in Genesis 1:26 where God is speaking about the creation of man and says, “Let Us make man in Our own image according to Our likeness…”. God is one yet with three distinctions in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

5) Doing a little word research on the word “drove out” in v.24, the definition implies that God intended to expel, cast out, divorce, thrust away, and drive away Adam and Eve from the Garden. The relationship between man and God had changed for all eternity. Man is now separated from God and relationship is permanently severed. Well, at least for a little while until a Savior, in the form of a perfect infant, comes on the scene.

Some Applications for Our Everyday Lives

1) Check out how that crafty serpent leads Eve’s train of thought! We can so easily be tempted to question God, question His motives, and question His commands. We don’t sin by questioning, but by letting our doubt dictate our actions. For Eve, the delight for the fruit, the lust in her eyes and heart, lead her to make a fatal choice. 1 Peter 5:8 reminds us to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Think about ways you may be trusting your own understanding instead of God’s and ask for His truth to be made evident so you can cling to it!

2) God’s pursuit is eternal. The moment the Fall happened, God begin pursuing His creation to make things right. He sacrificed His Son in pursuit of relationship with us, to rectify the gap between man and Himself. Romans 8:38-39 describes the type of pursuit that God has for us in that, “…neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is no sin too great for the pursuit of God. In other words, there is no past, no sin, no brokenness, no hurt that is beyond His redemption! 

3) With the Fall came death and eternal separation from God. With that separation comes fear (not the good kind), shame, and blame. This ugly trio shows up in our own lives! In our sin there is shame, blaming of circumstance or blaming others, but with Christ, we can free from that ugliness! Shame is not part of our eternal destiny once we accept Christ and live in relationship with Him. Turn over areas you identify as shame and let Christ’s freedom unlock you from Enemy territory!

4) The Trinity a word that you will never find in Scripture. Although the word itself is not there, evidence of the Trinity exudes. We know that God is one, 1 Timothy 2:5 states, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This is just one example of the delineation of the roles of God. God the Father, Abba…God the Son, Jesus the Perfect Sacrifice and Risen Lord….God the Holy Spirit, our Helper and prayer warrior until the Son returns. Take comfort in the fact that the One True God is complete and all encompassing as He guards our hearts!

5) When we read this passage, there is a temptation to stop and think the story ends there. That is powerful truth of God and His Word….the story just begins there! The entire Bible is written as a love story. It tells of God, the one True God, desiring to restore what was broken. All throughout the Old Testament we see God sending “saviors” for His people in the form of prophets and judges because He wanted to restore our relationship with Him. God desired to fix the problem of broken humanity because He knew in and of ourselves we could not. The Fall represents our brokenness, our shame, our need for God to make it right….and He does at the cross! If you’ve invited Jesus to be your Savior, you don’t have to live in the past, instead dance freely in the redemption of your return!

Want To Try It For Yourself?!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read through it (always more than a verse or two).
3) Write down your questions as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers.
Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes
(click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and
embrace the fullness of God in your everyday!

Share Your Thoughts with the GT Community!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Desperate! Don’t miss out on the discussion – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? See all past studies in Desperate!

Day Three
Desperate To Return

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Click & Read!Desperate-Week3-Day1
Genesis 2
Genesis 3
John 8:44
Luke 15:11-21

Sweat formed on my brow as I bit my lip and took deep breaths, trying to get through this next contraction. The monitor beeped to my right while showing the rate of three steady heartbeats, mine and both of my daughters’. My husband held one hand and my mom sat rubbing my feet. “Thanks a lot, Eve.” I half groaned, half snickered under my breath, waiting for the tightness and pain to ease.

Oh, Eve…

She is known for many things, but commonly among us women, she is known as the person who introduced pain during childbirth as a result of her sin. However, she is so much more than that. Eve was created perfectly and wholly in God’s image, meaning everything about her was perfect. She was the first woman to walk this earth, and the first wife and mother. She was the first mother to mourn the loss of one child while feeling the guilt and pain that comes from another straying from the Lord’s will. Out of all the “firsts” Eve experienced, she is most remembered for being the first person on earth to stumble and fall for the devil’s slimy lies.

We read about Eve being created as a helpmate for man and we know that she was created from Adam’s rib. Her chat with Satan has gone in the record books and her bite of the forbidden fruit is old news. But it doesn’t stop there.

After Eve took that first bite and shared this delicious fruit with Adam, they immediately felt shame for their nakedness and Eve became the first seamstress as she created clothes to cover their *ahem* nether regions. Eve was well aware of her mistake and was so ashamed, that she actually tried to hide from God. Even though the Lord knew the answer, he asked Adam why he hid, and why on earth he was wearing clothes. Adam quickly passed the buck, first to God, by blaming him for even giving Adam this wife of his, and then to the woman, by blaming her for giving him the fruit.

“What is this that you have done?” The Lord spoke to Eve, his voice dreadfully dismal as a deep sorrow enveloped him. For the Lord knew that sin would happen, and here it was. Here, his precious children had separated themselves from God. Sin had entered the world.

The first death occurred as an animal was sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. They then had to leave their perfect home forever.

I never thought I had much in common with Eve, but she and I have much in common.  I, too, have fallen prey to the horrible schemes and slimy lies of the devil. I, too, know how it feels to have made a sinful mistake that has completely changed my life and affected the lives of people around me. I, too, have felt the rejection of man and the embarrassment of being the reason someone else has fallen. I, too, have found myself desperate to return to the Lord and to his loving arms that I boldly ran from. I, too, have been provided the perfect sacrifice by the Lord, to cover my wretched sins.

That sacrifice came in the form of a humble man, instead of an animal. A man who was perfect in every way. The Lord knew my sins, he knew everything about me, even though I have found myself in so much shame that I’ve tried to hide.

I’m reminded of the parable in the New Testament where the prodigal son desperately longed to return to his father, and despite his past, he was warmly embraced by his father when he chose to return.

Sin comes in many forms, from busyness to disobedience to idolatry to blame. Whatever sin I find myself in, and unfortunately I always will, may I desperately long to return to the Lord, remembering his sacrifice for me, just as Eve so desperately longed to return to life before her fall.

Share Your Thoughts with the GT Community!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Desperate! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Check out all past studies in Desperate!

 

Day Two
Desperate For Significance: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper posts are intended to help us go farther into God’s word than a simple surface reading
and are designed to help us discover new tools in the process.
Curious as to why we Dig Deeper? Here’s Why! 

The Passage

Looking for yesterday’s Journey Post? Check out Desperate For Significance!

Genesis 16:1-3

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

My Questions

1) Why is Sarai’s description in v.1 important to her story?

2) How common at this time was it for women to give their servants to their husbands?

3) What is the significance of Abram “listening” to his wife in this matter?

4) Where is Canaan and what is its importance in the story of Israel?

The Tools

A trip to www.studylight.org is in order here.
We will get super cozy with this site as we study Scripture together!
Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom!
It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse?
Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage?
Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

The Findings for Original Intent

1) Sarai is described in v.1 as “bearing him no children.” She is barren and that is extremely important to her personal story. The Israelite culture valued women who could bear lots of children. It was a mark of God’s blessing in your life if you had a large family, especially if you had boys. It was a culture driven by family, community, and legacy. Children carried the family name into the next generation and the legacy and heritage of a family rested on the shoulders of the women bearing children.

2) It was not God’s original intent for men to have a harem of women. In Genesis 2, God clearly designs the marriage relationship with one man and one woman. However, in Genesis 4:19 we see Lamech taking two wives which would be the first time in Scripture that we see multiple wives. Throughout the Old Testament we see men taking many wives, including King David and King Solomon. In the New Testament, Paul clearly delineates marriage between one husband and one wife. We do not see the same pattern of multiple wives under the New Covenant.

3) As we read through Scripture there are times when the original meaning of a word can give a clearer definition. In 16:3 we are told that Abram “listened to the voice of Sarai”. The word listen there implies obedience, perception, understanding, and yielding to. When we have that word foundation the statement that Abram listened to Sarai tells us Abram was prepared to obey his wife, he was yielding to her request.

4) Canaan was the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah. The land of Canaan was settled and enlarged according to Genesis 10. Terah, Abram’s father, left the land of Ur to travel to Canaan but they settled in Haran. Terah stayed in Haran but Abram and Sarai, along with Lot, Abram’s nephew continued on to Canaan. Canaan is very significant in the history of Israel because it is the land that God promises to Abram in Genesis 17. Canaan is considered present day Israel (Gaza and the West Bank), as well as parts of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Some Applications for Our Everyday Lives

1) In her culture, Sarai was shunned because of her barrenness. In her desperation to “save face”, she concocted her own plan instead of trusting God’s promise. Are you tired of waiting on God’s plan to unfold? Are you tempted to take matters into your own hands? Even in our darkest hours of waiting on God, clinging to the Truth to what we know of His character, His will, and His timing is our only protection. In Genesis 21, Isaac was born and in v. 2 it clearly states, “at the appointed time.” God knows our heart, our desires, and He simply asks that we trust Him with our worth, our value, and most importantly our lives!

2) Sarai “owned” Hagar as a slave and gave her to Abram as another wife in hopes of bearing children through her. Sarai got what she wanted, however, her decision only created bitterness and strife. Although she had her own plan and still had to live with the consequences of that plan, God’s plan was not thwarted! Despite our sin and disobedience God is steady and His plan is eternal, but our lives will be sweeter if we choose submission to Christ instead of our own ideas apart from Him.  

3) Abram “listened”. It seems simple enough but when his wife approached him with her plan to speed up God’s plan, Abram simply listened. He did not question her. God had already made the promise to Abram that he would have descendants. In Abram’s defense, he probably wanted to make his wife happy. But in his attempt to make her happy, he missed the mark on holy! Our happiness, our desires do not trump the holiness that God has called us to. We need Godly men and women in our lives to question our motives, to force us to question ourselves when we put our happiness, our desires before God’s will and His desire for holiness in our lives.

4) Canaan represents freedom and points to a faithful God that had made a promise to the Israelites. Current day Jews see what would have been Canaan as their territory for the nation of Israel. As believers we can read Revelation 21 and see that our promised land is the New Heaven and the New Earth where Christ returns and there is no more sin, sadness, brokenness or pain. Canaan represents a two-fold promise by God, one that has been literally fulfilled when Joshua and the Israelites walked into the land flowing with milk and honey, and a promise for what is to come, the glory of eternal life! It may seem long in coming, but remember that freedom in Christ is promised by a faithful God; salvation is sure for those choosing Jesus as Lord!

Want To Try It For Yourself?!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read through it (always more than a verse or two).
3) Write down your questions as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers.
Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes
(click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and
embrace the fullness of God in your everyday!

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Desperate! Don’t miss out on the discussion – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? See all past studies in Desperate!

Day One
Desperate for Significance

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Click & Read!Desperate-Week1-Day1
Genesis 13:14-17, 15:1-6
Genesis 16:1-3
Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-7
Isaiah 55:10-11
1 Peter 2

I have a confession.  

Sometimes, in the midst of this beautiful, amazing life, I find myself feeling sort of…

Aimless.

Not in the “Whatever-will-I-do-with-all-this-free-time?” kind of way, but in the “Isn’t-there-something-bigger-I-could-be-doing-or-at-least-working-toward?” kind of way.

Don’t be misled; I am joyful!  I love where we are in this season.  My husband is amazing, he’s my best friend and I love that we get to do life together. Our babes fill my life with love, laughter, and craziness and are a constant reminder that I have so very much to learn.

It’s just that if I had to choose a word that would encompass where we are in this season, the first one that comes to mind is…

Routine.

And that’s not a bad thing.  Routine is a good and necessary thing, and children thrive from it.  It’s how we set boundaries, create daily habits and life rhythms, instill values and teach good behaviors.  Routine helps us to become responsible individuals and contributing members to society.

But.

As a thirty-something year old mama that derives inspiration from the unexpected, loves adventure and travel, and yearns to create, design, write and tell stories through music and photography…

The day to day sameness begins to feel…  Little, sometimes.
Small.
Insignificant.  

I love my children, and I am so thankful that we are charged with raising them to love Jesus.  It is no small task, and I pray daily that I will rise to the challenge and that their hearts will be won from a young age.  That being said (and all-the-mom-blogs will agree), I also know that this season of dirty diapers, constant questions, bedtime stories and eskimo kisses will be over before I even know what happened, and I think that the root of my seeming discontent is that it scares me.

Right now, my daily purpose seems confined to the titles of “wife” and “mama”. Both of which are such incredible roles, and I love them, but…
in the wee hours of the morning, questions sometimes surface about my significance.

What happens when my Littles aren’t so little anymore?
What will I work toward when I’m not teaching, training, helping them grow?
What do You have for me then?
I wonder if Sarai felt something similar.  

The situations are different, I know.
But I have a feeling that my desire for purpose echoes her own.

I would imagine Abram told her of God’s promise to him of the many descendants to come.  And when Abram doubted, God reiterated that promise. Abram believed Him and I have to think that Sarai did too.  Anyone that has struggled with infertility will understand the desperation she must have felt at hoping and praying that children were to come, but never seeing that come to fruition. She waited years. Decades for God’s promise.

In desperation, she offered an alternative option. An acceptable one in that culture, but not the option God purposed.  The ensuing relational chaos and conflict have echoed throughout generations of descendants… and the ramifications are still apparent today in the tension we see from the Middle East, Ishmael’s legacy, the product of Sarai’s attempt at self-given significance.

Thankfully, so thankfully, we serve a redeeming God.
A God who does not bless His people based on their performance, choices or actions.

The God that called Sarai “Blessed” – even after her actions were not in line with His will for her.
The God that spoke life into a barren woman’s womb.
The God that gives purposeful significance, not by what we do, but by calling us His.

Share Your Thoughts with the GT Community!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Desperate! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Check out all Journey Studies in Desperate!

 

The GT Weekend!

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At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”, rather we see weekends as a tool to invite the Almighty’s fullness into our lives in a deeper way. Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ. Don’t miss the chance to connect with other women in prayer, rest your soul in reflective journaling, and spend time worshiping the Creator who longs for intimacy with each of us!

Join In, Friend! The Father is waiting!

Journaling our thoughts and prayers can lead to clarity and allow the Holy Spirit space in our hearts to breath truth and direction into us. Slowing down long enough to pour out our hearts to the Father will bring depth and richness in your journey with Jesus. Whether you journal regularly, or this is your first attempt, Dive In! You’ll be amazed at the treasure you discover along the way!

Weekend Journal Prompts!

Prayer Circles is something the GT Partners are so excited to share with you as you share with each other! Coming before the Father God who is both sovereign Lord and intimate Abba, is a priceless gift. Joining together, linking arms as sisters in Christ, bringing our needs and our praise before the Throne of Grace is an unfathomable beauty. Share your needs, pray for one another, carry each other’s burdens, and lay them at the feet of Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!

Let's Pray Together!

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Day Five
Embracing Fullness

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Haggai 1
Haggai 2Fullness-Week1-Day3

You have sown much,
and harvested little.
You eat,
but you never have enough;
you drink,
but you never have your fill.
You clothe yourselves,
but no one is warm.
And he who earns wages does so
to put them into a bag with holes.

Words penned centuries ago, but oh don’t they echo a piece of your life like they do mine sometimes? So much doing, hoping, living, working hard, and it just…doesn’t….cut it. All this striving seems like we are investing our “everything” into a “bag with holes.”

Friend, lean in, this is not the abundant life Jesus offers.
Struggles in following Jesus? Oh yes.
Pain in the doing? Definitely.
Costly sacrifice in giving God your all? It’s a guarantee.
But never feeling full or satisfied? Big Fat No Way!

These words were those of Haggai, the prophet; and his ancient message hits me hard today in the 21st century.

Let me set the stage a bit….
The Jews were exiled to Babylon for continued disobedience and worshipping false gods decade after decade. Roughly 70 years passed and God, through an incredibly miraculous string of events, opened the door for His people to leave captivity and go home to Jerusalem. He commanded them to rebuild His temple that all nations might know that He was the one true God.

Simple enough, right?
One couldn’t ask for clearer direction from God (something most of us have probably wished for at one point or another). But the newly freed Jewish captives, those few that actually decided to take God’s offer of freedom and return home, found not only a destroyed Temple, but also discovered that they would be housing their families in makeshift tents and rough hewn abodes because so much desolation had happened at the hand of the Babylonians 70 years prior.
The Jews set to work, but focused on the wrong task and spent almost 20 years trying to build “paneled houses” for their families. They worked the hard ground vigorously, only to reap meager crops. All of their labors emptied themselves into a “bag with holes in it.”

See, they had God’s truth,
they knew His directive,
….but they marched to the beat of their own drum instead.

They knew of God’s grace,
…..but they took advantage of it for almost 2 decades!
They respected neither aspect of God’s character
and the result was pitiful emptiness instead of abundant fullness.

And so the mirror of God’s word turns towards my life….
Sometimes the truth I know my God is calling me to just seems too difficult and so much “other” seems far more important. Sharing the gospel (and actually talking!), loving my husband when I don’t feel like it, parenting with intentionality, prioritizing consistent quiet time with God, loving the unlovable, living generously. Is there grace for disobedience? Of course! But as Paul exhorts, “shall sin increase that grace might increase? NO!”

Fullness is found in obedience
that flows from love, not legalism,
as we rely fully on God’s grace and sufficiency for our strength.

The Lord spoke His truth. Hag 1:7
The people feared (or stood in awe) of Him, Hag 1:12 (our response)
The Lord stirred up the spirit of the people (grace came before works!), reminding them of more truth, that He was with them. Hag 1:13
and the people were moved to whole-hearted, obedient action. Hag 1:14 (our response)

Was the task overwhelming for the Jews of Haggai’s day? Incredibly so.
But we can relate to that, can’t we?
A seemingly dead marriage.
Ruined finances.
A wayward child.
Loneliness.
Death.
Illness.
A haunting past.

But the Great God Almighty speaks into our empty places just as boldly today as He did to Haggai’s hearers,
“Be strong! Work, for the Lord is with you! My Spirit remains in your midst!”
Can there be better encouragement than to know that you are neither alone nor without strong confidence?!

Actually, there is… 🙂 The richness of these passages that follow simply astounds me!!
Haggai goes on to speak the Lord’s words,
“Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.  The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

This prophecy points straight to Jesus and the rich inheritance for those who follow Christ!
Right here in the Old Testament!

I hope you will make time to click below on today’s “Digging Deeper” to see how all of that plays out, but for now, know that God longs to bring you into far more abundance and satisfaction than you’ve ever dreamed.
Stop settling for tossing your investment into “a bag with holes,”
and instead secure your soul in the hands of the One who lavishly loves you.
Embrace the fullness He’s freely offering inside His boundless grace and beautiful truth!

Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper!     And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey!    Comment Here!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Fullness! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Fullness!