glimmers

Glimmers Day 13 Hope In The Manger: 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!
Check out Hope In A Manger!

The Questions

1) What is this registration and why is it important?

2) Who is this baby lying in a manger?

3) What do we learn from shepherds being the first to learn of this baby’s birth?

Luke 2:1-20

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

4 Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to people he favors!

15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.

Original Intent

1) What is this registration and why is it important?
The registration Luke writes about is a census for tax purposes. The Roman Emperor called for this census, requiring everyone to travel back to their hometown.  Joseph came from the line of David and therefore he and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem (the City of David). Mary was nine months pregnant and about to deliver her son, which is important because through this specific travelling, God places Mary and Joseph exactly where they needed to be in order for prophecies regarding Jesus’ birth to be fulfilled. Micah 5:2 declares the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 says the Messiah will come from the line of David. Through this census, God shows the Israelites, who would have known these prophecies, this baby is the baby who has been promised.

2) Who is this baby lying in a manger?
In the narrative of Christ’s birth Luke never mentions the name of the baby born. In verse 11 Luke does tell readers the baby is “The Messiah, the Lord”, but He is not specifically named. Luke provides other basic details of the birth and tells of the announcement to the shepherds and their visit to the manger, but never His name. We must look further in the narrative to discover ‘this baby’ is Jesus. In Luke 2:21 Jesus is named on His eighth day according to Jewish custom. This baby is the long-awaited Messiah God had been promising to His people for generations. After 400 years of silence from God, He is finally heard from again in the form of a baby crying in a manger.

3) What do we learn from shepherds being the first to learn of this baby’s birth?
After 400 years of silence a baby cries and God is heard again. However, God first announced this miracle to shepherds in a field. God chooses a group of people who are probably the most unlikely group imaginable to announce His Son’s birth.
Luke doesn’t provide much information about these shepherds, but we know the angels visit them and they are afraid. Their fear quickly changes to action as they visit and worship this baby in a manger. Immediately, they left their sheep traveling to find this baby, their Messiah, and worship Him.

Everyday Application

1) What is this registration and why is it important?
This registration (census) is the means by which God divinely moved Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in order to fulfill the prophecies that told of the Messiah’s coming. God will take any steps necessary in order to accomplish His will. From the beginning, God knew humanity would need a Savior, a Messiah (a promised coming deliverer). God foretold of Christ’s coming so when He arrived, the Israelites would recognize Him as the One who had been Promised. I am certain this trip was anything but comfortable for Mary, yet God took her on it to accomplish His plan. For believers today, God spares no expense to fulfill His ultimate plan and purpose in our lives. We can rest assured knowing that God will use all situations and circumstances we journey through to accomplish His ultimate plan of restoring humanity to Himself just as He did with Mary.

2) Who is this baby lying in a manger?
This baby lying in the manger is the long-awaited Messiah God promised to His people for generations. Today, believers are God’s people, therefore this is the Messiah or Savior we need. Jesus is the answer to sin, He is the answer God promised at the fall to redeem His creation to Himself. This baby is God Himself who chose to put on human flesh for us. We cannot leave Him in the manger though. This baby grew up, lived a perfect life, performed many miracles, and then chose to take on the punishment for every sin of every person taking them to the Cross and bearing the consequence for those sins… death. He then conquered Death and the grave providing redemption from our sin and eternal hope for all who place their trust in Him alone. If we leave Jesus as a baby in the manger, we fail to see the entire picture of who this baby truly is… our everyday Savior!

3) What do we learn from shepherds being the first to learn of this baby’s birth?
The most unlikely group of people first heard of the birth of the Messiah. One would probably expect God to announce His Son to the royal or religious leaders, but instead He chooses to announce His Son’s birth to shepherds in a field. This isn’t a massive amount of people but a few lowly shepherds. Jesus didn’t come only for the rich and royal or the religious leaders, but for all. No matter who we are, where we come from, or what we have done, the gift of Jesus’ birth is for us. The shepherds immediately leave their sheep to seek out Jesus and worship Him. This is the response God is looking for. He came for all, but simply wants those who are willing to set aside everything and worship Him. He will accept you into His family no matter who your circumstance or your past baggage, as long as you are willing to open your life to Him to full worship through surrender!

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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!

Digging Deeper Community

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Our Current Study Theme!

This is Glimmers Week Three!
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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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Glimmers Day 11 Hope In A Manger

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 1:1-18
Philippians 2:5-11
Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 2:1-20

Glimmers, Day 11

Touchdowns or tutus?
Guns or glitter?
Little man or little miss?
Cute ideas ABOUND on Pinterest for creative gender announcements!

I’m not exactly sure when these parties became a thing,
but I know they definitely weren’t trending in Mary’s day.
Even if they were, I doubt anyone would have celebrated.
She was an UNWED teenage girl.
Engaged to Joseph, but they hadn’t had “relations” yet.

Or so they said.

Seriously, you expect us to believe an ANGEL told you the Holy Spirit would come upon you and impregnate you with GOD’S SON?! Favored one?  Blessed among women?
You keep telling yourself that, Mary.
Meanwhile, we’re going to shun you and spread rumors about your promiscuity.
We’re going to make assumptions about your purity, or lack thereof.

‘Happily Ever After’ clearly wasn’t happening.
As if shame and being an outcast weren’t enough, just as she was “ready to pop,”
the census ruling required Joseph to go to Bethlehem.

Can you imagine WALKING miles upon miles on dusty roads,
then sleeping under the stars with a rock as a pillow?
When you’re nine months pregnant?!
Topping it off, on arriving in Bethlehem IN LABOR, and finding no rooms anywhere!

As a mother of 4, childbirth instructor, and doula, Mary is my birth hero.
I tell my childbirth students, “If Mary can give birth, AS A VIRGIN, in a cave, then we can have our babies with all the comfort a hospital, birth center, or our home offers!”

Birth is beautiful.  Joyous.  Sacred.

As a doula, I experience births of all kinds,
but I can’t envision one more incredible than Jesus’
on that starry night over 2,000 years ago.

I often wonder what Mary’s labor was like. The Bible simply states, “while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.”

She didn’t have the comfort of a hospital, birth center, or even a living room.
No room period.
Only a shelter where animals mooed, brayed, and cock-a-doodled.
No epidural, no IV fluids, no pillows.
Just hay and straw.
And for Jesus’ bed?
A manger, the feeding trough for those stinky, slobbery farm animals.
No adorable receiving blanket or cute blue and pink striped hat for Jesus.
Just strips of cloth to swaddle the very SON OF GOD.

EVERY time I’ve held a newborn, emotion overwhelms me.
Still, I can NOT imagine all that went through Mary’s heart as she held Jesus and looked into His eyes, the eyes of GOD.
The God who’d created the universe and spoken stars into existence,
now uttered his first cries as a human baby,
completely dependent on her for milk, diaper changes, warmth, and everything in between.

She counted his tiny toes, and kissed his little hands.
The same hands that had hung planets,
parted the Red Sea,
held the sun still,
and brought city walls crashing down.

No wonder Luke recorded, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

No baby shower.
No birth certificate.
No newborn pictures.
No cute birth announcements.

Just lowly shepherds.
Uninvited by Mary and Joseph, but welcomed by God as they marveled at the baby King “wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in the manger”.

In the humblest of ways, God became flesh and dwelt among us, making His HOME with us. God Himself born as a tiny human, covered in vernix, amniotic fluid, and probably even some meconium (poop).
Talk about giving up everything and putting Himself in the midst of our mess!!!

He stepped down from His throne,
laid aside His crown,
and removed His royal robes,
replacing them with swaddling cloth.

Where majestic angels had bowed,
shepherds unfit to even enter the temple,
now knelt in the very presence of God.

Jesus left His throne knowing that one day He would be betrayed, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross.
He was born to die that we might live!

I wonder…
As He took His first wobbly baby steps,
was He thinking about the day He would walk up Calvary’s hill?

When He scraped His knee as a boy,
did He anticipate the pain of the wounds He would endure on the Cross?

As He worked alongside Joseph in the carpenter shop,
did the sound of the hammer ring in His ears as He looked ahead to the afternoon when nails would pierce His hands and feet?

From the moment the star shone upon His newborn face to the moment the sky went black and the ground shook as He breathed His last,
Jesus KNEW why He had come.

He’d made His home among us for 33 years
that we might make Him our home for eternity.

He left heaven that we might enter it.
He emptied Himself that we might be filled with His Spirit.
He was born a baby that we might become children of God.

That manger in the center of our nativity scene doesn’t just hold a sleeping newborn.
It holds HOPE.

HOPE in the middle of our death sentence which comes as a result of our sin.
Yes, you and I are walking around with Death has our Ruler
unless we reach out and make this Messiah ours.

Come to the manger and find HOPE swaddled here.
Come, surrender your sin and be filled with indescribable joy.
Come, be awestruck by His glorious majesty.
Come, be blown away by His undeniable LOVE as He offers eternal HOPE!

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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. 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 Glimmers Week Three! 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 Glimmers!

The GT Weekend! Glimmers, Week 2

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity 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!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) Do you struggle with feeling like you aren’t enough, buried under a load of “shoulds”? Do you ever find yourself expecting more of others and frustrated when they don’t follow through on the “shoulds”? Think through these areas and the people who could be affected by unfair expectations. Each of us long for freedom found in unconditional love. Pray through some specific actions you can begin implementing towards others and yourself in showing grace and love that doesn’t let go.

2) Consider Sara’s words on allowing hope to grow within us, “I don’t know the full pictures of my life, but just like the prophets of old, I am to obey regardless.” How have you seen hope grow as you have intentionally chosen to trust and obey the Lord who knows you and leads you, even when it feels dark and terrifying? If you haven’t experienced that, what current circumstance are you walking in where you could desperately use some hope? Decide to seek the Lord’s wisdom and be transparent in biblical community, ask Him to show you where to trust and follow in obedience.

3) Christmas is supposed to be a wonderful time of hope and joy and delight, but when it brings pain and strong reminders of loss, the God of all comfort is eternally present in the midst of our everyday. Give yourself the freedom to identify your hurts or sadness or needs this weekend. Instead of shoving those feelings aside, instead journal and pray through surrendering those, and welcoming the comfort the God who loves you and pursues you that He might fill you with Himself!

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Isaiah 40:1-2 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Prayer Journal
Father, Your intimacies are sweet and precious, life-giving, and richly deep. Abba, I praise You for being my comforting embrace regardless of the contents of my everyday life. I surrender my sadness, my weariness, my ‘not enough’, my lack, knowing that You never intended those burdens to define me. You came to comfort. You came to carry me. The deep, solid joy that truth brings is indescribable! My heart will sing of Your goodness!

Give me the opportunity to declare Your joy to others. This joy was meant to shared and declared with boldness. Spirit, give me that boldness!

Worship Through Community

Can we pray for you? Reach Out! We’d love to pray for and with you!
Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Glimmers Day 10 Hope In The Story

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Glimmers, Day 10

John 1:6-8
Isaiah 40:1-5
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Ephesians 2:11-22

Uncomfortable truth alert: I didn’t fully grasp what hope was before I lost my daughter. 

Is that shocking to hear? Maybe.
Is it something I don’t love to admit? Absolutely.
But is it truth? A hundred times, yes. 

I’ll never forget the day hope caught fire for me. It was a cold Sunday, a few months after our daughter, Cadence Hope, had died. I had returned to serving on the worship team at our church, and while continuing to lead worship while working through the grieving process was the hardest thing I had ever done, it was also proving to be incredibly transformative.

That morning, as I exited the platform and made my way toward the lobby, I saw my dad walking toward me. As we paused to say hello, something in his face made me lean in to listen. His eyes glinted with tears, but his face was full of unmistakable joy.

“Merry, while you were leading today…I couldn’t shake this vision.” His voice cracked. “That while you were leading others and worshiping Him here today, Cadence was worshiping Him there, at the same time.”

I don’t think I reacted much in that moment as I processed what he said, but as his words took root and my heart took hold of the truth wrapped within, my breath caught in my throat. 

He had pictured the two of us. A mother and daughter, separated by physical death, yet each worshiping the only One worthy of worship.  

From opposite sides of eternity, each one wholly focused on Jesus.

That morning, it felt like something split open inside of me, forever changing my perspective. It had absolutely nothing to do with my grief, or the fact that my dad had pictured my daughter, but everything to do with my Jesus. In that instant, some things became suddenly clear to me.

 First, that loss and grief are a part of life, but that because of Jesus,
we do not grieve as those who have no hope.
This was a truth in Scripture I had known for most of my life,
but to know something and to know something are two very different realities.
We do not grieve as those who have no hope, because we have Jesus!

The hope Paul referenced isn’t about who we will or won’t see again in Heaven – it is solely and wholly about who HE is.
Eternity will not be spent finding our long lost loved ones (although what rejoicing there will be on that blessed day), it will be spent worshiping HIM!
Spending time in His Presence!
Ascribing to Him all the glory He commands and is due!

Second, my hope does not lie in the fact that one day I’ll see my daughter again (although that is wonderful), nor because I know where she is now, but because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life is not about me. It is only about HIM. Regardless of my situation, circumstance, or feelings, my life will always ever point to Him.

If you had asked me prior to that Sunday morning, I probably would have told you I had hope. I would have told you that I understood what it meant and why it was important. That Jesus was my Savior, and that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where I would spend eternity after I breathed my last. That my hope was in Jesus and the knowledge that by faith through grace, I was adopted into God’s family.

And I would not have been lying to you.
But compared with the hope that took hold of my heart that morning,
the hope I used to carry was a small, someday sort of hope.

And a small, someday sort of hope doesn’t hold a candle to the
big, all-consuming fire kind of hope John the Baptist shared when he told about the Lamb of God:

From Him we all receive grace upon grace.
Grace and truth come only through Him, Jesus Christ.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

John the Baptist believed God’s Word and obeyed, telling all who would listen of a Savior he had never seen. The hope John carried was the big, all-consuming fire kind of hope. The kind of hope that caused him to declare that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah! The kind of hope that made him call out that Jesus was the Lamb of God, twice!  

And we have access to that same kind of hope, Sister!  

Do you know how freeing it is, to know that absolutely nothing in this life compares to Jesus?

That no illness, no challenge, no difficulty, no heartbreak, no grief, no loss, nothing can touch the hope that fills your heart because the God you worship is the same yesterday, today and forever?!

And that the investment you put into relationship with Him daily, through studying His Word and spending time in prayer and worship, is an investment into your forever future with Him?

It’s difficult to contain that kind of hope, once it catches hold in you. It would be like trying to restrain the ocean. Even if you were to try to hold it in, the waves would splash up and over your edges again and again… changing you and the atmosphere around you…and how you respond to situations and experiences in your life.

That’s the kind of hope that fuels courage in the face of fear. The kind of hope that helps us lay aside our earthly belongings, our status, our treasure and our talent, and stay eternity-minded in the middle of our mess.

The kind of hope that lays us bare and vulnerable so our story, however painful, however vulnerable, can be used to ignite the fire of hope in others. 

Truth?
I sometimes get caught up in the worry that when others read things I’ve written which reference the loss of our daughter, they might think that I share things I shouldn’t, or that the topic is too weighty.
Too personal. Too vulnerable. Too real.

But Love?
Every time I seek His heart about it, He reminds me that my story is only ever His story, and His story always pulses with a rhythm of hope.

So which is it for you, Sister? 

Maybe you relate to the small, someday sort of hope I had. You believe, but there just doesn’t seem to be much fire in you. You want to share with others, but you don’t feel much urgency.

Maybe you relate to the big, all-consuming fire kind of hope. Maybe it spills up and over so quickly you miss it, sometimes.

Maybe you feel somewhere in the middle.

No matter where you are, know this, dear one: HE is your hope. Regardless of your current situation or feelings, HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. There is nothing you can do or say to change it, but you CAN lean into Him and ask Him to fill you with all the hope of Heaven – and He will do it!

Ready for more? Dig Deeper!
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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. 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 Glimmers Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Glimmers!

Glimmers Day 7 Hope In The Should Have: 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!
Check out Hope In The Should Have!

The Questions

1) What are the circumstances for this psalm of David?

2) What is the significance of all the location names in verses 7-10?

3) What is the central anchor for David’s hope?

Psalm 108

My heart is confident, God;
I will sing; I will sing praises
with the whole of my being.
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
3 I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your faithful love is higher than the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 God, be exalted above the heavens,
and let your glory be over the whole earth.
6 Save with your right hand and answer me
so that those you love may be rescued.

7 God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will celebrate!
I will divide up Shechem.
I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
I throw my sandal on Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 God, haven’t you rejected us?
God, you do not march out with our armies.
12 Give us aid against the foe,
for human help is worthless.
13 With God we will perform valiantly;
he will trample our foes.

Original Intent

1) What are the circumstances for this psalm of David?
This psalm is a historic “mashup” of two other psalms David had previously penned during two distinctly difficult times in his life. Verses 1-5 were first written in Psalm 57:7-11 where David, the anointed king of Israel, found himself hiding in the cold depths of a cave to save his life as the current King Saul chased him down to kill him. If ever David was in need of hope, it was in that dark cave. Verses 6-13 are first found in Psalm 60:5-12 as David, now King, but having experienced significant defeat at the hands of Edom (descendants of Esau) on Judah in the south. David was surrounded by defeat within his own land and Israel was left reeling like a drunkard with the beating blow of her enemy’s victory. The “mashup song” then was combined by David as a firm reminder of these two turning point instances in his life. The purpose was to quickly call to his mind how the dark the past had been and how victorious the Lord had proven to be. Now, having survived both the depths of depressing darkness and resounding defeat, David urges Israel to look forward and take new ground for, with the Lord as their help, nothing else matters.

2) What is the significance of all the location names in verses 7-10?
Moses had led the budding nation of Israel out of the chains of slavery in Egypt and forward into all God had promised them in Canaan (the Promised Land). After Moses’ death, Joshua led them across the Jordan River to literally take new ground the Lord had given as an inheritance to His people. Shechem and the Valley of Succoth (Genesis 33:17-18) were the first territories Israel would have encountered when crossing the Jordan. The other names are locations farther into Canaan that were all part of Israel’s inheritance from the Lord. Here, the David calls to mind the Lord’s words in speaking over David, “I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine.” (verses 7-8) This was the Lord’s reminder that the inheritance was the LORD’S. He owned it, He ruled it, and whatever circumstances were happening, the Lord was the final victor and King.

3) What is the central anchor for David’s hope?
David’s words speak of victory already won and real reason to celebrate. “My heart is confident, God. I will sing; I will sing praises with the whole of my being!” (verse 1) His reason to rejoice is so sure and solid that he boasts of “wake(ing) up the dawn” with his loud rejoicing. (verse 2) But remember, these words were written as David sat in the back of a cold, musty, cave with little supplies and a sinking morale among his men. Clearly, defeat appeared ready to swallow him alive, yet he sang. He rejoiced so boldly he “awakened the dawn”. He declared the Lord’s goodness to all, he praised God for His faithful love and His magnificent glory. David praised God’s character when his circumstances gave him nothing to praise Him for. I doubt David felt like worshipping while he crouched there with his life hanging in the balance. But David made a very intentional choice to praise God’s good character because his anchor for life was found in the Lord Almighty and nothing less.

Everyday Application

1) What are the circumstances for this psalm of David?
This is a great time to grab a journal, pen, and Bible. Read through Psalm 108 again with the understanding that it represents two very dark times for David, then write your own psalm with the same format. What have been shadow grounds for you in your past, how has the Lord proven His victory? Speak of His great hope that displayed itself in the middle of your night! Or maybe you’re exploring the Lord and the claims of the Bible. Perhaps you’ve never experienced that victory or known His hope as it settled into the core of who you are. Give time to consider your current dark places, the areas of your life you’d rather run from than walk into. What if, like David, you decided to trust the Lord in the midst of mayhem? What if you asked Him to make Himself known to you like He did to Israel? It’s one prayer the Bible says the Lord will absolutely answer in the affirmative every single time! Call to Him, ask Him to show you Who He Is! (Jeremiah 33:3, Ephesians 1:17-18)

2) What is the significance of all the location names in verses 7-10?
As believers today, we aren’t given specific plots of land to call our own from the hand of God, but we are given incredible inheritance, one that lasts for eternity. An inheritance where the boundary lines have fallen in wide, open spaces because the Lord Himself is our inheritance. (Psalm 16:5-6) We are co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, all He has access to is ours in Him. His is an inheritance of faith, joy, peace, grace, un-ending love, incorruptible hope, and treasure that neither rusts nor fades! Like David, whatever the circumstances of your journey right now, you can claim the Lord’s victory over it. If you are His, having been washed in His blood shed at the cross as He took the punishment deserved for us upon Himself, His righteousness is yours as you are made eternally right in your standing with God. You are His, purchased by His sacrifice. Just as the Lord reminded David that his inheritance of the land and kingdom was really the Lord’s and owned and ruled by Him and His heart of love, so are we, our lives, and our circumstances. There is nothing we experience, walk through, grieve, or worry about that He is not intimately familiar with. Because He is our victor, living within us by His Spirit, we can confidently shout with David, “My heart is confident!”. (verse 1) Hear this, the Lord Himself is celebrating over you because while He is our inheritance, we are His! And He celebrates that! (verse 7)

3) What is the central anchor for David’s hope?
In yesterday’s Journey, we saw Israel stuck in a cycle of sin, consequence, repentance, and return. Israel stubbornly chose to live perpetually below the inheritance they had received as God’s chosen ones, yet the Lord pursued and loved because He is a God whose heart loves unconditionally. Sit With That. How often we run, shoving back the embrace of the Lord who loves us. How often we find ourselves focused on dark circumstances, our woeful feelings, our shaking fears, and our incessant worries, but we have a choice, just like David did and just like the Israel did. We can return, we can still our hearts before the Almighty and chose to worship Him for Who He Is, the Great Bringer of Hope. Hope glimmered for Israel every time the Lord disciplined them, drawing them back. They hadn’t gone ‘too far’ for His love to reach because there is no such thing. Hope glimmered in the back of a cave and on a defeated, bloody battlefield for David, not because his surroundings were ‘up and to the right’, but because His God Was GOOD. Sister, the same is true for you and me. Hope does more than glimmer for us, it shines brilliantly, piercing our ugly parts because the baby in the manger is God on the cross and Final Victor over death and sin. Hope Lives. Praise Him for being HIM!

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Catch up with Hope In The Should Have!

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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Glimmers Day 6 Hope In The Should Have

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalm 107:1-22
Psalm 108
Judges 2:11-23

Glimmers, Day 6

“There’s that ‘should’ word again.”
This phrase is forever drenched in the loving sound of my husband’s voice as he makes a move towards me. To which, I insistently pull away.
He dramatically shakes his head and moves forward again, a smile teasing his lips.

“Oh my goodness”, he soothes. “Will you just….relax?!”
Tears threaten on my side, my body tightly unyielding as he works to draw me near.
He doesn’t understand.
He doesn’t know how much I’ve got to finish, how behind I am, and I continue babbling on.

I’m pretty hard on myself; it comes naturally to me.
Always better, always more, I use “should” more often than I…should. Oh wait…
Should have done this.
Should have been better.
Should have made that choice.

“You’re so frustrating sometimes, you know?”
But his voice holds nothing but winsome endearment as he resolutely folds me tight against him with no escape.

I wrap myself up so securely with my ‘shoulds’, it becomes nearly impossible to see clearly. I often can’t even recognize the Love standing right in front of me, beckoning me to stand down and rest.

My husband is a constant reminder of the Lord’s love for me and His relentless pursuit.
Even when, or especially when, I “should” be performing better.

The period of the Judges was a crazy, wacky time for the nation of Israel.
If anyone really should have had a laundry list of should haves and must dos, it was these people!

If you’ve never cracked open your Bible to the Old Testament book of Judges, you should try it! It’s more intriguing than you might imagine. Chock full of strange stories, Judges will make you scratch your head in curiosity, leave your mouth hanging open at the wild true stories, and make you wonder what else might be hidden in the pages of the Bible.
An incredibly obese king who dies when a dagger is plunged into his belly and the whole blade is swallowed up by his fat.
A brave housewife who kills the commander of the enemy army by driving a tent stake through his head after she gave him food and drink.
A woman who rose head and shoulders above male leadership in a male dominant society to guide God’s people with her humble faith.
An ordinary man with no societal favor, leads the entire nation to victory with only 300 men by smashing empty jars, yelling, and using torches.
A rash man’s vow that cost his daughter’s life.
Samson’s incredible strength.
And of course, everyone’s favorite, the talking donkey who saw an angel.

Judges reminds me how God pursues His people by any means necessary.
Regardless of how far we run or how hard we push against Him.
Israel was known for being stuck in a cycle (can I get an Amen? I know cycles!)
Theirs went like this…
1) They abandoned the Lord, did their own thing, and ran furiously away from God.
2) God justly punished them by bringing a foreign power to oppress them.
3) Israel begged God for deliverance from oppression, promising to live for Him
4) God answered by raising up a Judge to deliver them and lead them back to Him.
……and then they did it all again!!

For nearly 400 years this cycle of running away, being punished, returning, and drawn back continued on. Generations died in this cycle.
Yet God kept on pursuing.
He loved Israel again and again. Even though He knew they would again break His heart and turn away, blinded by their own selfish ways.

Sisters, I am exactly the same.
Sure, it’s easy for me to sit here with my hot drink, my journal, and my Bible open to Judges to not only gape at their incredible stories, but also judge their inexcusable, repetitive behavior.
How could they?
What were they thinking?
Were they thinking??
Yet there was the Lord, loving them again. Pursing them again.
Despite every ‘should have’ they never followed through on.

And here our stories cross.
My should haves, my repetitive sin cycles, my insistence to trust myself and my way look just as absurd as Israel’s.
Yet, just like my husband’s insistent arms, the Lord draws me back again and again and again.

The poet of Psalm 107 had this cycle thing figured out. Maybe he had cycle issues too.
The whole psalm is built around 4 repetitive occurrences: people suffering, people cry out, God rescues, their grateful response.  I would quote it here for you, and break it all down, but that kind of steals the fun of discovery from you. So, go read it right now for yourself.

Where do you relate?
Do you see the Rescuer?!
Sit with the people’s heart response.
And when it happens again, think of the deeply loving pursuit of arms that refuse to let you go.
No matter all the should haves you pile up, the sins you hide, or the shame you carry.

Maybe one of these times, you’ll decide to fall into the embrace that keeps on waiting.
Maybe you’ll see the God of Freedom for exactly who He is and finally,
you’ll love Him back because you will have discovered that all this time,
He has loved you in the should have.

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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. 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 Glimmers 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 Glimmers!

Glimmers Day 1 Hope In The Darkness

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 1:1-5
John 1:12-18
Genesis 3:1-6
Hosea 6:4-7

Glimmers, Day 1

My five year old looked up from the Jesus Storybook Bible he held on his lap. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were a little teary.

“Mama, I don’t understand. If God knows everything and He is always good, then why did He let Eve and Adam sin in the Garden of Eden? If He really loved us, why didn’t He just make that not happen? He could have done it. I KNOW He could have. So why didn’t He just do that?”

I pulled him on to my lap and hugged him. “It’s hard to make good choices, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yes,” he huffed. He was just coming out of a time out, and his thoughts were centered around a poor choice he had made a little while earlier. No doubt, he was thinking about how much easier life would be without the opportunity to make a bad choice.

I can totally relate to how he felt. And maybe you can, too?

Sometimes, after I’ve said a harsh word or entertained a negative thought, I wish my own fleshly feelings could be cancelled out completely. I mean, how much easier would this life be without any opportunity to do or say the wrong thing? I think I could win that game. Right? How about you? Do you find yourself frustrated when you haven’t made the choice the Lord would have you make?

The kind choice.
The honest choice.
The forgiving choice.
The loving choice.

If we’re being honest? I think we can all agree that this refining fire of the Holy Spirit-filled life stuff is exhilarating and so necessary. We need His constant teaching to shape our hearts as He trains us to turn from sin. At the same time, it doesn’t always feel good. In fact…(and maybe I’m speaking only for me here) often it is painful. As He works and refines us, it’s easy for us to subscribe to the feeling that our sin has hooked us so deep, we will never be able to separate ourselves from it.

But Loves? That’s because we can’t.
No matter how hard or long or mightily we try, we will never be able to remove our own sin.

When we find ourselves feeling trapped under the weight of a sin we can’t seem to escape, or fighting despair as we stand at the altar, wondering how we are in the same place, again, or feeling hopeless in the face of our frail humanity, we must remember Whose responsibility it is to save us from our sins… and turn toward Him.

That sovereign, weighty duty belongs only to Jesus.
He paid a hefty price, and for us to attempt to shoulder the weight of our salvation on our own shoulders is both foolish and wrong.

What my five year old didn’t fully grasp (and many of us may sometimes forget) is that Jesus was always ever “the Plan.” God wasn’t surprised by Adam and Eve’s sin as they chose to live by their rules instead of God’s design. He knew it would happen. And while His heart undoubtedly broke (and continues to break) at that separation, He also wrote glimmers of hope into His story.

I mean, if any of us could have ever walked without sinning, it would have been that first son, Adam, and his Eve, right? They had no outside influences. No violent television shows or easy access to pornography. They didn’t have broken families or spend time with other broken people who might portray broken lives for them.

And yet, they fell.
Just as we fall.

God knew, all along, that the only One who would ever walk this earth without falling would be He, Himself.

Emmanuel, God with us.

God the Son, come down to His people in the form of the weakest of beings: a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. He was the powerful King Who had been foretold from generation to generation, but He was not the King anyone expected.
He was Jesus: perfect love and our everlasting Hope.

Loves? God never expected us to save ourselves.
He never expected we could live a sinless, perfect life, but He longs for us to choose Him above all else! His passion for us runs deeper than any we can imagine. Read His words about you in the book of Hosea if you have any doubt, and know that the God of the universe feels those things for you and me, His Bride!

From the beginning of His story until now, the fall of Eve and Adam has always pointed straight to the eternal hope we find in Christ Jesus, the sinless Son of God Who gave Himself to pay for our sins and secure our eternal citizenship in Heaven!
Grab hold of this hope and share it today, Sisters!

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
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Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

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 Glimmers Week One! 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 Glimmers!