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Follow Day 2 Trust Through Tears: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
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The Questions

1) What is the “business” God has given for us to do?

2) How do we better understand God as a Groom through this passage?

3) How does God’s eternal character comfort His Bride, the Church, in verses 14-15?

John 9:1-7

As He (Jesus) was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

Original Intent

1) Why does Jesus connect the man’s blindness to God’s glory and Jesus’ work? (verses 3-4)
It was a common belief among Jews that sickness was a consequence inflicted by God as a result of sinfulness. This came from the incorrect interpretation of an Old Testament passage, “
Do not bow in worship to them (false gods), and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” (Exodus 20:5) Each time this warning is recorded in Scripture, it’s tied to keeping the Ten Commandments. God is reminding Israel He cannot overlook sin because He is just. Hearts that rebel against the Lord God will be punished, and that legacy will often live on their children and grandchildren. The original passages are very clearly focused on the heart condition resulting in sinfulness, but over time, and the sway of legalism from the Pharisees, Jews stretched the consequence to mean a physical illness instead of an idolatrous heart. It’s easier to blame something physical on sin than be prompted to examine our hearts before a holy God, isn’t it? Just as in the Old Testament, Jesus is still seeking after true heart humility and this man’s blindness from birth was
neither random nor an accident. It wasn’t “by chance” Jesus met this beggar at a divinely appointed time on the roadside that Sabbath so his blindness would be the gateway for God’s glory to be revealed through
Jesus’ work.

2) What is meant by connecting “work” to “night” and “day”? (verse 4)
It’s the small words in the Bible that often mean the most. If you want to dig deeper and grow in what the Holy Spirit will teach you, pay attention to the little words of Scripture. On the heels of Jesus correcting the disciples’ theology (their understanding of God) on the blind man, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach His disciples about purpose and mission. He begins by using the little pronoun “we”.  “
We must do the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” (verse 4) God Almighty, humbled in the flesh, standing before human disciples, just invited (again) ordinary people to do His divine work with Him. How unspeakable! Jesus did not come to earth to sit idly by, learn carpentry from His human father, Joseph, make good friends, and be an upstanding citizen in the ancient middle east. He came with a purpose, and He “must” accomplish it. That Greek word for must, another small word, means “bound or lashed to”. Christ was “lashed to” His purposeful work to follow the mission of the triune God. While Jesus walked the earth, there was intentional work to accomplish. When He ascended to Heaven, He continues His work of interceding on behalf of us to the Father, but our work also continues on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ah, the beautiful “we”. Every believer “lashed to” the work being done in unity with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Work now, while it is light, while it is still called “today”. (Hebrews 3:13-15) For a time will come, when the Light given by the Holy Spirit will be gone as Believers are taken to be with the Lord forever, and the time to do Kingdom Work on earth will end as Jesus returns in judgement. (Philippians 2:9-12)
3) What does Jesus mean by being the light of the world as long as He was in the world? (verse 5)
As John writes in His gospel, Jesus is the “Light of men” and He was revealed as He entered the world. (John 1:4-9) In Revelation, the same author, John, describes the vision of “New Jerusalem”, which is the eternal home for all who believe in Jesus, as not needing any planetary light source. “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:22) Jesus IS the light. When He walked the earth, He was on mission to accomplish the very specific work of the divine godhead to rescue mankind. This covered every moment and every action of Jesus. His mission was interwoven into every aspect of His life from the mundane to the magnificent. When He ascended back to Heaven, He made it clear to the disciples the “we” work was intended to continue. “
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.(…)” (Matthew 28:19-20) While Jesus was still with His disciples He gave them a heads up that though He was leaving, He would send His own Spirit to dwell within them. Through the Spirit’s power, they would continue the work He had called them into. (Acts 1:8) Also while Jesus was on earth, He taught that we also were the “light of the world”because His light is within us. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Everyday Application

1) Why does Jesus connect the man’s blindness to God’s glory and Jesus’ work? (verses 3-4)
It’s an interesting trifecta, isn’t it? One no sane human being would ever devise. We run from suffering. We plead against loss whether it’s financial, emotional, or physical. But, where we see ruin, deep sorrow, and grief curtained in black darkness, the Lord of Light and Life sees a gateway for His glory to be revealed through the work of Christ! Our sin-wrecked hearts are destined to send each of us to an eternity apart from Love and Hope with God, but God took the suffering from our sin and magnificently gave Jesus and His work on the cross as a means to bring about His glory of saving us. What is more glorious than taking what is worthless and esteeming it to the highest place of honor?! One man’s story from ancient Israel can become our anthem in everyday life. Whether it’s losing your patience with your unruly toddler, the emotional gut-punch from your teenager, the sickening grief that comes from watching a loved one die painfully, the heart-wrenching agony of knowing the one you loved walked out on you, or something else entirely, the triad remains and hope is alive. Our suffering opens the door for Jesus to do His work, and God’s glory will be the telltale trademark of our redemption stories. The question we need to ask is, will we surrender to His hand, or will we drag ourselves, and our pain, away in agonizing anger or self-demise, rejecting the Lord of Life and Love.

2) What is meant by connecting “work” to “night” and “day”? (verse 4)
How often do you wake up, do your morning thing, and remember that everything stretching out before you on is an opportunity to work with the God of the Universe?! Not everyday?! Me either! As our awareness of this reality grows, however, the quicker we are to view everything we do in life as kingdom work. This drastically shifts our perspective and gives us new meaning, purpose, and real depth to even the most mundane aspects of our lives. (1 Corinthians 10:31) Jesus said we must work while it is day. Today. This moment, and the next. The one when you are in conflict with your spouse. The hot minute when you want to scream at your toddler. The “fat minute” when your teenager acts like a teenager. The moment when your heart screams over injustice committed against you or your head hangs in shameful regret. These are all moments that fill “the day”. There is work to do here and now. There is “We” work that “must” be done. These are the opportunities to surrender to the work the Holy Spirit is actively doing in us, as we submit our will to His, and allow His work to flow through us to advance the Kingdom one moment at a time. Are you ready to work alongside the God of your heart? He’s inviting you in!


3) What does Jesus mean by being the light of the world as long as He was in the world? (verse 5)
There will come a day when the time for work will be done. The opportunity to choose to surrender one’s will and self to Jesus will close. Work for the Kingdom will cease, and Christ will summon everyone to His judgement seat where only those whose names are found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be given full access to dwell with God forever. (Revelation 20:15) Everyone else will be turned away to the “lake of fire” and eternal separation from God’s love. This should urge us forward with passion to work for advancing God’s kingdom now! Paul fervently wrote to the church in Rome, urging them to “love one another” because “…it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:11-12) How will you choose to surrender more to God’s will today than you did yesterday? Love well, Sisters, the day’s end is near!


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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
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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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

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. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? 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 :-))

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