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Wilderness Day 7 For The Long Haul: Digging Deeper

March 15, 2022 by Dr. Leslie Umstattd Leave a Comment

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 For The Long Haul!

The Questions

1) In the beginning of this passage, what truths do we learn that God has affirmed to Moses through his journey?

2) What is Moses asking of God in this passage?

3) What is God’s response to Moses’ questioning?

Exodus 33:12-23

12 Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’ 13 Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.” 14 And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 “If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here. 16 How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.” 17 The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.” 18 Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.” 19 He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.” 21 The Lord said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, 22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”

Original Intent

1) In the beginning of this passage, what truths do we learn that God has affirmed to Moses through his journey?
Throughout the book of Exodus, God’s provision for His people and confirmation of the covenant God has made with His people is clearly evidenced. (Exodus 24) In this passage, Moses recounts what God has confirmed to him. Moses has been called as the leader of the Israelites. God affirmed that He has a plan and purpose for Moses; God knew him and Moses found favor with the Lord. To read of Moses’ first encounter with God, and gain a more full understanding of the truths God spoke to Moses at the beginning of his journey, read Exodus 3!

2) What is Moses asking of God in this passage? Coming off the heels of the Golden Calf experience in Exodus 32, where Israel chose to worship an idol their own hands had crafted rather than continue waiting for the Lord, God told Moses to leave Mt. Sinai and go to the Promised Land. (Exodus 33:1-2) Moses and the Lord had been meeting regularly in the Tent of Meeting. (Exodus 33:7-11) Here, in the sacred space of meeting, Moses cried out for affirmation from the Lord. Moses knew what he had been called to do, and where he had been called to go, yet he sought the Lord’s affirmation again. He had just witnessed the awful rebellion of the people as they dared worship a golden calf idol. (Exodus 32:19-21) Moses understood the gravity of their sin, and likely felt the weighty responsibility of leading such a quickly-erring people to know and experience the One True God. (Exodus 32:32-35) In the literal wilderness where he found himself, Moses needed the reminder of God’s presence and promise, so he pleaded to see God’s glory and hear from the Lord.

3) What is God’s response to Moses’ questioning?
In verse 17, the Lord told Moses He would do as Moses asked because “you have found favor with Me and I know you by name.” The Lord also knows no human can stand to be in His full presence; His righteous glory is so overwhelming anyone experiencing its fullness would be destroyed. (Got Questions) Graciously, He offered a way for Moses’ need to be satisfied while not being consumed. “The Lord said, “Here is a place near Me. You are to stand on the rock, and when My glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen.”” (verses 21-23) God provided for Moses’ need and preserved His life. The Lord evidenced tender mercies in the next chapter by replacing the shattered set of Ten Commandments Moses had broken in his anger. (Exodus 34:1-9) Truly, His mercies are boundless, which Moses began singing of after receiving the second set of Commandments and experiencing the glory of the Lord. (Exodus 34:5-8)

Everyday Application

1) In the beginning of this passage, what truths do we learn that God has affirmed to Moses through his journey?
In our wilderness journeys God has a way of affirming what He has already told us. Moses recounted what he already knew to be true, but he still needed the Lord to reveal Himself and affirm those truths again. The recollection of His truth, His grace, His mercy, and the salvation He offers are all necessary, especially in moments of wilderness and desolation. (Psalm 71:14-24) The Father God, the Creator of the Universe, knows your name (Isaiah 43:1) and He created you with a plan and purpose (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:9). In our wilderness, whether of our own making or purely due to circumstance, the calling back to God’s Truth and affirmation of His faithfulness is our resting place. (Psalm 25:1-11)

2) What is Moses asking God for in this passage?
For Moses, he needed God’s voice and a visual on the Almighty in the midst of his wilderness. The grumbling of “these people” in his charge was daunting (verse 12); Moses’ heart needed the Lord and His reassurances. The powerful truth of our all-knowing, all-powerful God is He is also a deeply personal and intimate God who seeks out individual relationships with each of His children; nothing can separate us from Him. (Romans 8:31-38) He knows what we need before we ask and yet He desires us to come to Him. (Matthew 6:32-33) Moses asked because He knew he could; he had direct access to God. In the same way, a personal relationship with the Lord opens communication allowing us to kneel in His presence and ask. (Matthew 7:7-8) Ask for deliverance, ask for joy in the midst of sorrow, ask for guidance in the wilderness, and even ask for teachable moments in the midst as Moses did, “please teach me Your ways.” (verse 13) God didn’t remove Moses’ circumstances, but He did answer him and honor his request.

3) What is God’s response to Moses’ questioning?
In this exchange with Moses, God was immediate in His answer and His reply matched Moses’ expectation. This isn’t always the case whether in Scripture itself, or in our everyday lives. God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8) and in our wilderness seasons, our own grumbling and stubbornness can impede what God is trying to teach us about Himself and following Him. It may seem He is silent at the moment of our pleading, but His truth is ever prevailing. His presence is always constant. (Deuteronomy 31:8) Like Moses, our wilderness may not end at the point of our pleading prayer, but our focus should remain on God, what He is doing, and the Truths we know of His character and faithfulness.

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with For The Long Haul!

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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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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Posted in: Digging Deeper, God, Grace, Journey, Mercy, Purpose, Salvation, Truth Tagged: favor, glory, Long Haul, Moses, plan, questions, understanding, wilderness

The GT Weekend! ~ Wilderness Week 1

March 12, 2022 by Rebecca Leave a Comment

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) We began our Journey Into Wilderness with an easily forgotten Old Testament wanderer, Cain. Perhaps you’ve never read his story, or maybe you only think of him as the murderer who jealously killed his own brother. Maybe, like me, you’ve never considered how your wilderness may have reflections of Cain’s wanderings. Remembering that every story in the whole of Scripture is meant to point toward the grander narrative of the Lord Jesus’ rescue for sinners and His magnificent love for them, how can you see God’s gracious love toward both Cain and Abel? (read their full story in Genesis 4) We may want to excuse ourselves from the wrecking shame and damage of sin, by claiming we’ve never done “that”, where “that” is our “unthinkable deed”. In doing this, however, we easily gloss over our other sins. None of us can be excused from the deadly price tag of sin. All sin breaks relationship, no matter how large or small. As you reflect on Cain’s story this weekend, ask the Lord to convict you of sin. Then take the next step and bravely confess that sin to another fellow believer and ask them to hold you accountable in not choosing that sin.

2) On Wednesday, Paula provided us with comparison between our lives and embroidery work. The backside is a seeming disarray of crisscrossed, zig-zagging threads jumbled, cut, and tied in a ridiculous maze. Only when flipping over the final product can we make out the lovely scene produced by the apparent tangling of threads. What scenes of your life feel, or have felt, chaotic, mismatched, and meaningless? As you reflect on these, what emotions are the strongest? Put names to them and think about the pains involved in those scenarios. Considering Job’s losses in the areas of health, friendships, wealth, respect, and family, which ones most closely connect with your story? Job’s pain ran deeper than he ever anticipated, as evidenced by his desire for death and his wish to have never been born. Still, he refused to curse God, and insisted the Lord was sovereign and good. What truths will you adamantly cling to as you re-frame your wilderness season? Are these truths reliable? How do you know? Spend time in this weekend reading Job 38-42 and glean stabilizing truths!

3) “If I become a Christian, my life should be easy, successful, and enjoyable.” This is an easy misconception to fall into, but we only need to briefly read Scripture to understand that belief system isn’t supported by biblical teaching. If Christ Jesus, as God the Son, entered the Wilderness, was persecuted, threatened, disowned, mocked, ridiculed, and torturously killed, why would His followers expect to be treated royally with a life of ease? Why would anyone decide to commit their lives to following this kind of Savior? Have you asked yourself this question? Amazingly, our reasons for why we follow are layered into Jesus’ wilderness experience. He holds all authority. Though He took on human flesh, and chose humanity, He still retained His deity. At any point during His wilderness Jesus could have ended Satan’s attacks and sent him packing. But He didn’t. He chose suffering again and again, so He could be our personal Savior. The God who holds all authority also loves with empathetic compassion having lived humanity like us, but was without sin, unlike us. In incredible love, He did what we could not accomplish on our own, and He holds out this gift freely for all. Yes, following this Savior is worth everything.

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 Job 23:10-12 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept to His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commands from His lips; I have treasured the words from His mouth more than my daily food.

Prayer Journal
Lord Jesus, I am a mess. My heart loves myself. My circumstances are a swirling mess of puzzle pieces. I get lost in alternating waves of doubt and trust for You. My faith is weak. This pressing on all sides wears me thin. Still, in all of this, Your Word says I am known. My ways are known by You. My brokenness, my weariness, my doubts, fears, and desperate places as I wander this wilderness are all known by You. Lord, my God, my only Hope in life or death, You promise to bring me forth through all of this as pure gold. Lord, what a breathtaking wonder! What an astounding, attentive, loving Sovereign! My Jesus, remind me of this truth when I’m tempted to only fix my attention on my surroundings. You are worthy of my constant praise! May my heart learn to worship and trust You alone in this process of refinement!

Worship Through Community

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Worship Through Prayer

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Posted in: Christ, Gift, God, Jesus, Journey, Love, Relationship, Rescue, Scripture, Sin Tagged: alone, compassionate, Job, loss, questions, Savior, wilderness

Training Day 11 Hungry For More

February 7, 2022 by Audra Watson Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 4:27-38
Isaiah 58:1-12
Matthew 6:9-21
Esther 4

Training, Day 11

From my childhood, fasting has been a discipline I have heard about and witnessed. I grew up in the Bible Belt, an area in the midwest and southern US where Protestant fundamentalism is widely practiced. Appearing “godly” is part of the culture. When I was younger, though I felt shame and guilt for not participating in community fasts, I didn’t really see the need for fasting. Why should I starve myself in order to seem holy?

As I grew in spiritual understanding, I learned fasting is an essential part of our relationship with God. It wasn’t actually about starving myself, but about finding satisfaction for my soul-hunger! Each time I’ve fasted, I’ve gained a new understanding of God.

First, I’ve learned fasting can bring true repentance.

In Joel 2:12-14, the Lord exhorted Israel to fast, mourn, and weep as an expression of turning their hearts back to Him. Setting aside the sustenance their bodies required symbolized the people’s realization of their desperate need for God that surpassed their physical desires. 

God’s emphasis was on capturing Israel’s heart,
not on asking them to put on a faux “godly appearance”.
“Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God.” (Joel 2:13a)

This call to fasting as an expression of deep spiritual conviction, rather than a shallow, false display of piety, is echoed and expanded to all believers in Jesus’ teaching.

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)

Whether expressed in private moments with our Father, or as a time of communal repentance, fasting turns our hearts from the idol of self. Selfishness wrecks the intimacy we can share with God, but fasting reveals our lusting desires to pursue ourselves and our attempt to wrest control of our lives. Denying our physical bodies shifts our attention onto the One who fully satisfies us because He alone is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in faithful love.” (Joel 2:13b)

Next, fasting can be a sign of authentic worship.

As infant Jesus is dedicated at the temple in Jerusalem, we meet Anna, an elderly widow who dedicated her life to fasting and praying as an expression of authentic worship.

“There was also a prophetess, Anna [. . .] She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
(Luke 2:36-38)

Anna was an authentic worshiper of Christ, privileged to be one of the first in His life. A lifetime devoted to fasting and prayer prepared her spirit to recognize her Savior in the unlikeliest of forms, a newborn. After 400 years of silent prophets, an elderly, vulnerable, poor widow gives voice to the words of the Lord, giving thanks and declaring the arrival of Jesus.

Third, fasting magnifies our true need in life, God.

Every time I have fasted, I’ve been reminded of the reality that without God, I am nothing.
He is my sustainer,
He is my redeemer,
He is the answer to all my questions.

For me, fasting has been a way to literally empty myself and fill up with only Christ.
Fasting, then, is a physical representation of our spiritual lives.

When we are empty and hurting, we should turn our eyes, hearts, and minds to Christ, because only in Him will we receive our deepest needs.

Jesus demonstrated this truth in a shocking conversation with a Samaritan woman near a well.

“Jesus said, ‘Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14)

Later, the discussion continues among His disciples…

“In the meantime, the disciples kept urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said, ‘I have food to eat that you don’t know about [. . .] My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work,’ Jesus told them.” (John 4:31-34, emphasis mine)

The only water that will quench the thirst of our spirits is the water of eternal life.
The only food that will satisfy our starving souls is doing the Father’s will.
In fasting, we abandon the physical in pursuit of the eternal.

Finally, I know many believers who’ve chosen to fast from physical desires other than food. True fasting worshipers set aside that which has consistently pulled their attention away from God. They actively turn from idols in their lives and replace them with praying and reading God’s word.

Sisters, I encourage you to practice this spiritual discipline. Fasting is a powerful way to renew and refresh our relationship with God and deepen our faith and trust in Him. In fasting, we proclaim Christ as the sole-supplier of our greatest need, Himself.

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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 Training 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 Training!

Posted in: Christ, God, Jesus, Prayer, Restored, Truth, Worship Tagged: authentic, eternal life, fasting, heart, holy, New Understanding, questions, redeemer, repentance, satisfy, Sustainer, Teaching, training

Kneel Day 15 Hear My Cry

January 21, 2022 by Carol Graft 1 Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalm 63
Psalm 54
Psalm 22
1 John 1:5-10

Kneel, Day 15

“God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer.” (Psalm 61:1)
Have you ever wondered if God hears your cries?

If so, you’re not alone! David–shepherd, king, and psalmist in ancient Israel–expressed a similar sentiment when he penned the opening to Psalm 61. David was considered a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), yet he wasn’t perfect. Just like you and me, he was full of dreams, plans, goals, desires (some good, some not so good), but his heart was most often set on the Lord.

David’s life and prayers appear in several books in the Old Testament, but his psalms offer the clearest depiction of his character and prayers.

David’s psalms teach us that prayers don’t only need to be offered with bowed head and quiet voice. In fact, David was often quite vocal as he poured out the depths of his feelings to the Lord.

“O God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you.
I thirst for you;
my body faints for you
in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.” (Psalm 63:1)

David wrote this psalm in the desert of Judah, his words echoing the landscape around him as he cried out to God. Similarly, Psalm 62 expresses David’s pursuit of the One who is his hope, his satisfaction, and his deliverer; we feel the depth of his emotion as he sought the God who was everything to him, Yahweh Tsuri, “The Lord is My Rock.” (Psalm 62:7-9)

David also prayed before and during battles. While we don’t know the exact circumstances of each prayer, we know that in the midst of our own battles, we can pray like David. Like Psalm 62, Psalm 144 begins with David stating God as his rock and fortress. He continues by asking, or perhaps yelling, as he passionately pleads with God to destroy his enemies. He cries for rescue. (Psalm 144:7-8)

In fact, several of David’s prayers were written while under attack or hiding from his enemies. He composed Psalm 54 while doggedly pursued by his predecessor, King Saul, and Psalm 71 describes David’s heart’s cry to the Lord while fleeing from his own son.

Have you questioned God?
Have you ever wondered if He knew what He was doing?
Or why He seemed silent?
David experienced much of the same at times.
Psalm 22 asks, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
In David’s prayers, we find a man unafraid to bring his human-ness to the One who made him, the One who knows every part of him, and the only One who could bring David true comfort and peace in any circumstance.

One of David’s most relatable prayers is recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12. After committing adultery and murder, David is confronted by the prophet Nathan. Convicted of his sins, David moves into deep repentance, then grief at the consequences of his sin. I can picture him prostrate on the floor, utterly broken, crying out the words recorded in Psalm 51:

“Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.”

While we may not have sinned in the same way, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect holiness. (Romans 3:23) Crushed by the weight of our sins, utterly broken, we can cling to the hope living in David’s story and words. This hope is rooted in God’s unchanging character and redeeming power. (1 John 1:8-9)

For God does hear us. He knows our hearts, therefore we can bring Him our messy prayers, our confused or questioning prayers, and our disjointed prayers when we don’t have the right words. The Spirit will make intercession for us, praying on our behalf when words fail us. (Romans 8:26-27)

In 2015, Psalm 121:1-2 became my constant prayer (it’s also the inspiration for For King and Country’s song, “Shoulders”). While traveling, my mother became ill. As my family rushed to be with her, it wasn’t clear whether she would survive. Though I was near the Gulf of Mexico in Florida’s panhandle, this verse about keeping my eyes looking up was my soul saver.

Perhaps David’s heart had cried the same words as he was trapped in a valley, hiding, unsure if foes or friends were lurking in nearby caves and hills. He needed to set his gaze higher than the natural hilltops for his protection and help. Similarly, as I waded through the valley of my mother’s death and my subsequent grief, I needed to keep looking up. At times, I still do.

We can rest assured that no prayer is too small or too great to reach God’s ears.

Whether our prayers are offered in the quietest of whispers or with reverberating intensity sizzling through every word . . .

Whether we come to Him battle-weary or devastated by the wreckage of our sin. . .

Whether we are in a time of rejoicing or lost in grief . . .

He hears our cries.

“I called to the Lord in my distress,
And I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
And my cry to him reached his ears.” (Psalm 18:6)


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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 Worship Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Posted in: Broken, Character, Holy Spirit, Hope, Peace, Prayer Tagged: cry, desires, dreams, hear, kneel, Lord, plans, questions, rock

Kneel Day 11 In The Gap

January 17, 2022 by Penny Noyes 2 Comments

Read His Words Before Ours!

Genesis 18:20-33
James 2:20-26
Romans 6:15-23

Kneel, Day 11

“Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23)

Abraham’s question to the Lord hung in the air. The Lord had proclaimed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the cities’ unrelenting depravity. Abraham knew he had no right to ask, but love for his nephew Lot, a resident of Sodom, drove him to boldly seek mercy, to intercede for him and his family.

Abraham continued his plea, “What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it?” (Genesis 18:24)

He knew the character of the Lord, who led him out of Ur of the Chaldees into a new land. God had shown mercy to Abraham again and again. Not only was God just and righteous, He was also Abraham’s friend.

“You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25)

God listened to Abraham’s plea. He agreed to relent from destroying Sodom and Gomorrah if there were 50 righteous people. Abraham continued interceding, because he understood the pervasive immorality of the cities, and the unlikeliness of finding 50 righteous people. Finally, he negotiated down to ten people. Abraham counted Lot, his wife, two daughters, and his future sons-in-law. That was six people; surely, there would be four others.

But there weren’t.

Unfortunately, Lot and his two daughters were the only people saved from the destruction when God rained down burning sulfur on the cities (Genesis 19:24-26), which some scholars believe may now be buried beneath the salty Dead Sea.

Reading about the utter destruction of two cities is very sad. Though the people of Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t know the God against whom they sinned, they still were held accountable for their actions.

Generations before the Law was given in order to make Israel explicitly aware of the depth of their sin, we nonetheless see the stark differences between the heart postures of Abraham, a God-follower (Genesis 18:1-8), and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were bent on immediate self-gratification at any cost (Genesis 19:4-9).

In the residents’ response to the heavenly messengers’ visit, there is not only a total disregard for any holy purpose or message the visitors might bring (check out how Jesus would instruct the disciples to handle such rejection of His call in Luke 10:1-12), but also a revelation of a people devoted to violence and lust and the abuse of power. They were, in fact, a culture built on sin.

And sin results in death. As Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We may not live out the specific sins of corruption and perversion that characterized the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, but we have been equally corrupted by our own sin. Our definition of good will never be good enough compared to the holiness of God. We are people of unclean lips, stained by our sin, unable to approach a Holy God. (Isaiah 6:5)

God’s perfect holiness demands a consequence for sin. Just as a good and fair judge ensures guilty people are punished for their crimes and restitution is paid to victims, God must hold people accountable for the harm they have caused. If He didn’t, He would be unjust!*

As Abraham was interceding for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, they had no idea of their imminent destruction and need for salvation. Similarly, the people around us may have no awareness of their need for a Savior. Still, like Abraham, we can intercede for them and pray for God‘s mercy despite their sinfulness. We can also pray for our country, state, and city, just as Abraham prayed for those two cities.

This story of justice also shows God’s mercy. He was willing to spare the cities from the consequences if there were only ten righteous people. Abraham‘s plea for mercy shows the power of intercessory prayer. Intercession can unleash God’s mercy and blessing in other people’s lives and alter the course of history. Our prayers can stand in the gap for our country and our city.

How can you pray for God to have mercy on our nation, community, and the people around you?

—

*We would be remiss if we ended the conversation on sin and justice here.
God is holy and just. He is also love (1 John 4:16), as is evidenced by His display of mercy even in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, He spared Lot and his daughters.

Because He loves us with a depth we struggle to understand (Ephesians 3:17-19),
He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the just penalty for our sin. (Hebrews 9:15)

When we acknowledge our guilt before God, seek His forgiveness for our sin, and embrace Jesus’ gift of salvation, our relationship with God is restored through His mercy.

Would you like to learn more, or experience God’s love and mercy for yourself?
Reach out in the comments, or send us an email! We’d love to talk with you!

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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 Kneel 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 Kneel!

Posted in: Character, Gift, God, Good, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Perfect, Relationship, Restored, Salvation Tagged: abraham, Gap, heart, Interceding, kneel, Lord, questions, righteous

The GT Weekend! ~ Kneel Week 2

January 15, 2022 by Erin O'Neal Leave a Comment

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) Jesus is the greatest authority of all time. He is the beginning and the end, the life-giving vine, and He made himself low that we might have fellowship with Him and abide in Him. He is present with us, and He is our great High Priest, which means IN HIM, we have direct access to God the Father. How would your prayer life change if you fully embraced the knowledge that Jesus Himself presents our requests to the Father? He says that whatever we ask in His name He would give us. Consider the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Read the prayer out loud and consider what it could look like if God were to answer each of the requests listed there for your life. If you want to study this prayer with fresh insight, pick a few studies from our Journey Into Prayer theme. Then take a moment to examine your heart. Are you abiding in Christ? Is there a pattern of sin in your life that you need to repent from? Is there someone you have wronged and need to make amends with? Repent of your sins, make a plan to be at peace with everyone as much as it depends on you (Romans 12:18), then boldly approach the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16), making your requests known to Him with thankfulness (Philippians 4:6). Don’t be afraid to pray big and pray specific. Speak your requests out loud and worship your God. He can do far more than you can ask or imagine. Watch to see how He works in your life.

2) On Wednesday, Bethany challenged us to pray while assuming the best about God. She reminded us we are called to pray about everything, that God wants to know us better, that He is characterized by giving good gifts, that He knows us and what we are struggling with, and finally that He is gracious to us. Which of these truths do you struggle to believe the most? Talk to God about this today. Write down one or two of these truths that are difficult to accept. Why are these harder to believe? What holds you back from accepting God’s character and graciousness toward you? What would need to change for you to believe it? After you consider these questions, look back at the Scriptures Bethany presented to confirm the truth about God’s character. As you read the words God gave us about Himself, consider what would change for you if you truly embraced these things about God. Finally, write a prayer asking God to help you assume the best about Him, and pray as though you do believe those things. God can and will meet you even in the midst of unbelief. He will help you, because He desires you to know Him more.

3) When Daniel prayed to God on behalf of the people of Israel, he didn’t ask for forgiveness because he or the people deserved it. He acknowledged before the Lord how they had done nothing to deserve His forgiveness or action on their behalf. Instead, Daniel asked because he knew the Lord had (and still has!) abundant compassion. Even in our weakest moments, we can rely on God’s character to remain the same. He is gracious and compassionate. “What are you waiting on? What are you wrestling through? What are your hardships? Bring them to the Lord.” Ponder in your heart if you can agree with the Apostle Paul when he says, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” And Sister, remember you do not need to be strong on your own. When we have a personal relationship with Jesus, He gives us strength for each day. (Ephesians 6:10) As an additional help, His church is meant to support one another. As you face your struggles today, would you walk in humility and share your journey with a trustworthy Jesus-follower? As we allow others into our trials, we give them the gift of seeing the Lord work in His great strength along with us. Paul boasted of His weakness that Christ would be made great. We can join in this gift with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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 Colossians 1:9b-13 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

…We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Prayer Journal
Dearest Heavenly Father, boldly we approach the throne room of grace. Not by any merit or achievement, but only by the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Thank You for hearing our prayers. Thank You for making a way for us to speak with You directly. You are present with us at all times, whether we are aware or not. Help me, Oh Lord, to live and breathe a life of prayerful dependence on You. May I never lose sight of my deep, abiding need for You. My weaknesses, whether on display or hidden away, show me my inadequacies, but You Lord are strong in all my shortcomings. Lord, I believe You when You say You give good gifts to You children. I believe You know all things, even before I speak. I believe You are gracious. Help me in my unbelief. You know the deepest desires of my heart. You know my greatest needs and my hardest struggles. In Your mercy, hear my desperate cry for help, and be my Rock, my Anchor, my unfailing Refuge. Guide me in paths of righteousness for the sake of Your great Name. Help me to walk in Your faithfulness, ever mindful of my need for You, casting my care upon You at all times.

Worship Through Community

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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

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Posted in: Character, Christ, Gift, God, GT Weekend, Jesus, Prayer, Trust, Worship Tagged: Abiding, Behalf, compassionate, Daniel, father, gracious, kneel, questions, Urgency

Worship IX Day 11 Spirit & Truth

November 29, 2021 by Joyce Lomangaya Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 4:19-26
1 Samuel 15:20-25
Isaiah 1:11-21

Worship IX, Day 11

Worship is a lifestyle.
It is not just a Sunday act, but an everyday practice.
It is not just the status of being in awe for a few moments, but a lifetime habit.

The Bible teaches us to worship God in Spirit and Truth. (John 4:23)
What does it mean to obey this instruction? Let’s study God’s Word together and find out!

First, we can never truly worship a God we do not know.

I love Moses’ first encounter with God in the wilderness. He asked God about Who He is, before following Him and serving as God’s voice and hands in the rescue of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 3:13-18) Moses’ act was reasonable, born of a sincere desire to know the One he would be obeying and surrendering his life for. God answered Moses’ question by explaining, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14), referring to His unchanging character. Moses could follow the great I Am with confidence because He had revealed Himself to Moses.

Similarly, as present-day worshippers, it is important for us to know the God we worship. The more deeply we know Him, the more “we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,” (Hebrews 12:28); our everyday lives become offerings of worship that will be pleasing in His sight. Let’s pursue His heart in prayer, learn of His character through studying His Word, and respond by worshipping in spirit and in truth.

. . . in spirit and in truth. What does this phrase mean in real life?

  1. Worship God in spirit
    We can begin by acknowledging that along with our physical bodies, we have been created with spirits longing to connect with God. (Genesis 1:26-27, John 4:24)

More than our physical gestures, God longs for us to worship Him in spirit, because it involves the very core of our identities. Worship from our spirit flows from the bottom of our hearts, sincerely adoring the goodness of God and acknowledging He is enough. Worship in spirit doesn’t follow a prescribed order of service for a few minutes Sunday morning, or move through the motions of all the “religious things”. Rather, true worship offers our spirits to enter into deep communion with Him, transforming every little act of our lives into lavish acts of worship. Even mundane tasks like eating and drinking are now beautiful worship; this is worshipping in spirit every day! 

This worship in spirit is a natural response to His Holy Spirit who lives within every believer as described by Jesus in John 15:26. Through the Holy Spirit, we are better able to know and experience the God we worship.

  1. Worship God in truth.
    As we’ve discussed, it is important to know the God we are worshipping: the one true, authentic God. Our worship will not be sincere if we merely pay lip service to an unknown deity. Remember, we are not pretending when we worship; instead, worshipping in truth means being confident God is THE truth, and His Word is true.

When our worship overflows from revelation of the Lord we receive through His Word, our worship is not only sincere adoration, but also rooted in truth. Based on Scripture, we learn that a lifestyle of worship is found in following Jesus’ example and instruction to live in wholehearted pursuit of God and of the lost. (1 John 2:3-6)

When Jesus came to earth, He removed the condemnation of the law over our
lives. We are no longer slaves to sin and we are freed by His blood which offers us forgiveness! (Romans 6:6-11) Jesus has torn the veil between God and us so we can freely worship God, not just through traditions, but in spirit and truth, just as it says in John 4:23,
“But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.“

So sisters, let us come to know the fullness of God by reading His Word and being taught by His Spirit. May we lead lives of worship with full confidence He will accept us, and our offerings of worship, because Jesus has made a way to bridge the gap between us and God!

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!
Join our Facebook Community!

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 Worship IX 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 Worship IX!

Posted in: Deep, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Obedience, Pursue, Scripture, Truth, Worship Tagged: authentic, communion, everyday, fullness, heart, I Am, lifestyle, practice, questions

Worship IX Day 9 Misplaced Worship: Digging Deeper

November 25, 2021 by Rebecca 1 Comment

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 Misplaced Worship!

The Questions

1) What is the purpose of Isaiah’s questions in verses 12-17?

2) What does the author want us to understand from the turning point in verses 18-20?

3) What is being compared in verses 22-26 and what implications are to be understood from it?

Isaiah 40:12-26

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?
14 Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;
he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.

18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25 “To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

Original Intent

1) What is the purpose of Isaiah’s questions in verses 12-17?
The prophet Isaiah begins this section by asking rhetorical questions intended to make his listeners lean in, think, and slow down their patterns of living enough to consider the Lord. Isaiah compares what is impossible to measure with outlandish metrics of measurement to prove His point that there is none like Yahweh, the One True God. Who has measured the earth’s waters, its galaxies, its granules of dust, its mountains and hills? No one. Even by today’s standards of measurements, we still don’t have accurate measurements of the galaxies and grains of sand are mere estimates. What instrument does God use to measure these? The hollow of His hand. (verse 12) Unfathomable, Sister, unfathomable. Just these first questions should be enough to drop every person in the nation of Israel to their knees in worship, but Isaiah continues his prodding questions, moving from the natural world to the spiritual. (verses 13-14) Who gives Yahweh wise counsel, teaches Him justice, and taught Him to create with understanding? “None” is the obvious answer hanging in the air. Every good Jew listening to Isaiah’s beckoning voice would have instinctively known the solitary, non-competing answer reverberating in their souls. There Is None Like Yahweh. (Psalm 86:8-10) Isaiah brings the natural and spiritual together in verses 15-17 as he invites us to consider the natural world through the spiritual eyes of the Almighty. The nations are a drop in His bucket and viewed as a single speck of dust from His vantage point; the entirety of the universe is as absolutely nothing to Him, not in value, but in comparative mass. Where is Isaiah leading Israel? Into deep, authentic worship with their hearts and lives.

2) What does the author want us to understand from the turning point in verses 18-20?
Often in Old Testament poetic works or prophecies, we see a shift in thought where the words that come first are attached like a hinge to the words that follow. That hinge-point is critically important to identify because it helps us understand the true heart issue or the true solution to the outlined problem. Isaiah began this section with prodding self-reflective questions, and will finish with more reasons for worship, but here in the middle, Isaiah turns Israel’s eyes pointedly to the folly of their sin. They love their idols made by their own hands, and the Lord God, through Isaiah, wants Israel to see how utterly foolish it is to worship any but Yahweh. With bold clarity, Isaiah pointedly speaks aloud the question they should all be wrestling with internally by now, “With whom will you compare God?”. (verse 18) None. There is none like You, God. But, Isaiah quickly turns the tide and in essence says, “But your life points to a different answer. You craft idols. You bow down to blocks of wood. Your life reflects tragically misplaced worship.” The answer cuts like a knife, just as it’s intended.

3) What is being compared in verses 22-26 and what implications are to be understood from it?
When studying Scripture, it’s always important to study in context of the circumstances surrounding a passage. Isaiah 40 is full of comfort, encouragement and strong assurance of God and His unchanging character. Yet, without considering the surrounding context, we would miss the significant weightiness of this incredibly beautiful chapter. The preceding chapters describe Israel’s King Hezekiah and the prophecy he was given through Isaiah of coming disater for the nation. Jerusalem would be destroyed, and her people killed by the blood-thirsty Assyrians precisely because of their perpetually misplaced worship. It was no small thing to abhor the first and second commandments of the Law. (Exodus 20:3-4) After news of the coming destruction and exile, the Lord speaks tenderly to His beloved people, ““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.” (Isaiah 40:1) This chapter doesn’t merely proclaim sweet comfort, love, and strong exhortations for the worthiness of worshipping the Only True God, its comfort and tender loving descriptions of God are set against the backdrop of suffering and devastating loss, making it epically more lovely. Israel would face horrific loss, but the All-powerful God of Creation was present to comfort and was willing to restore them. In the face of devastation Isaiah’s voice calls aloud, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? (…) God is enthroned…”. (verses 21-22) Despite the circumstances and the affliction you feel, the God who never changes continues to remain fully present with comfort and compassion. The same God who holds the earth’s waters in His hand, who stretches the galaxies out like a scant tent flap, who calls every star by its own personal name, knows you. Oh Israel, there is none like God! Come, worship and bow down to the Eternal One!

Everyday Application

1) What is the purpose of Isaiah’s questions in verses 12-17?
Imagine hearing Isaiah’s clear prophetic voice ringing out as you work in your kitchen or till up your garden. It’s clear, it’s piercing. Maybe you know the political vote is against him and you try to ignore his voice. Or maybe the stirrings in your heart can’t be ignored and you drop your work, gathering your small children by the hand, and move towards the voice. Your culture is abuzz with busyness; the religion that once so clearly defined your people has become messy and confusing. The cultural norms around you from other peoples are curious and intriguing; questions plague you. But Isaiah’s voice is cutting through the confusion with its pleading questions. The more you listen, the clearer it becomes and the more the fog around your heart lifts. The busyness and confusion fall by the wayside as your heart is reminded there is Only One who is worthy of your everyday worship. Even saying the words aloud, “There is None Like You O Lord” seem to be an oasis in the midst of a desert. Take some time and let Isaiah’s piercing questions draw out the brokenness and confusion in you. Bring these to the Lord God. Consider His vastness, see your smallness in comparison, then take a breathtaking look at His vast love to come near to you. Worship, Sister, worship the Only One Worthy of your life’s praise.

2) What does the author want us to understand from the turning point in verses 18-20?
Isaiah’s words are meant to prod Israel into self-reflection to consider whether or not their beliefs align with the everyday actions of their lives. Sometimes we can’t seem to face reality, and the sinful dissonance between the claimed worship of our lips and the rolling tide of our everyday life choices with slowing down. Israel worshipped wooden idols that would rot and literally fall over (verse 20), and the Lord longed for them to see the inconsistencies of their misplaced worship so they might repent and return to Him with the full offering of their lives. Isaiah’s words were carefully chosen to point out that Israel was trusting and loving idols that could neither support their faith nor love them back. But Yahweh could do both. Oh Lord, reveal my idols to me just as You lovingly did for Israel that they would return Home to Your heart. It’s painful to stare my foolish love for lesser things in the face, but show me, Lord. I don’t want my heart to pursue that which falls over and rots away. Sure, financial security, strong relationships, success, a perfect home, and the like are all common idols, but when I clear the stage of these, I find the idol I worship most is myself. I love my ways, my rights, my words, my control, and I choose these again and again over You, Lord. Forgive me, Abba, forgive me this idolatry of heart! Only You can sustain. Only You can nourish me. Only You can hear and listen and love. Only You are worthy of my worship.

3) What is being compared in verses 22-26 and what implications are to be understood from it?
Isaiah’s prophecy to King Hezekiah came years before Israel would actually suffer from Assyrian invasion. God’s words of comfort were meant to sustain Israel, be learned and meditated on by them, so they might remember the love of their God when the battle came into their streets. When we intentionally meditate on the truths of Scripture, when we set aside time each day to read it and pray it and dwell with God’s Words, His comfort sustains us. When we face our own struggles, and devastation overwhelms our lives, we can remember the truths we have learned and lean upon them. The same God who hung the stars in place, knows our name, sees our pain, and is present to comfort and restore. Let’s choose to worship Him now, today! Whether our everyday lives reflect heartache or happiness, there remains One God worthy of our worship, and we can choose to adore Him for the God He is and always will be!

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with Misplaced Worship!

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

Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!

Our Current Study Theme!

This is Worship IX Week Two!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up
to receive every GT Journey Study!

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 :-))

Memorize It!

Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.

Posted in: Deep, Digging Deeper, Life, Praise, Worship Tagged: authentic, Misplaced, One, questions, Spiritual, true God, worthy, Yahweh

Worship IX Day 8 Misplaced Worship

November 24, 2021 by Lori Meeks 1 Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 2:13-17
Exodus 20:1-6
Psalm 95:6-7
Isaiah 40:12-26

Worship IX, Day 8

“In the temple [Jesus] found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. He told those who were selling doves, ‘Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!’ And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:14-17, emphasis mine)
When I first read this passage, I struggled to understand Jesus’ reaction.
Why was Jesus so angry these people were selling stuff inside the temple?
Weren’t they providing needed sacrifices to those without?

Thankfully, God placed some mature Christians in my life who taught me it’s ok to ask questions when we don’t understand, regardless of how long we’ve been following Jesus!

So, I asked questions about this passage, and learned Jesus was angry for a couple of reasons. First, the “marketplace” was located in the outermost court of the temple, which is where the Gentiles (non-Jewish believers) and Jewish women came to worship. A busy market made it impossible for these men and women to properly worship God.

Second, Jesus saw the motivation behind the selling of sacrifices, self-profit.
Sellers overcharged needy worshipers, making a huge profit from those traveling to the temple to worship. Consider the modern-day analogy of attending a sporting event. You wait in line to purchase a bottle of water, only to discover they cost $6.00/bottle. Vendors have a captive and thirsty audience, and they know we will pay the price. We may complain, but most will usually end up paying because of the need to quench our thirst.

So, what does this mean for us today? In order to answer that question, let’s dig a little deeper and understand the heart behind Jesus’ anger.

Exodus 20:4-6 tells us not to make or worship idols, for “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” Thus, we see Jesus’ righteous, jealous anger when He witnessed people worshiping money and profit over His Father, God. The same is true for us today. If we are honest, we all tend to create idols we worship more than God.

Pastor, speaker, and author Dr. Paul David Tripp explains,
“We are all worshipers, and we all attach our identity, our hopes and dreams, our sense of well-being and our meaning and purpose to something.
We all give functional control of our hearts to something.
We all live after something.
We all tend to surrender to serve what we think will give us life.”

While our idols may look different from those in the Old Testament (think cell phones and sports teams rather than golden calves and Baals), we all have them, because anything or anyone we place before God is an idol.

I just returned from a week of summer camp with students from church. With the prompt for this study on my mind, I entered into our first night of corporate worship. God, as He so often does, met me right where I was with questions and unexpected conviction. As I sang loudly, hands raised, thrilled to be back at camp after last year’s covid-cancellation, His gentle question hit me like a ton of bricks, “Hey Lori, are you worshiping Me, or are you worshiping camp and the experience it brings?”

What?! As I pondered this question, I had to admit my worship was misplaced. At that moment, I was not worshiping Jesus, but the experience I had been craving for over a year.

Matthew 22:37 echoes the first commandment given to Moses hundreds of years earlier, instructing us to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. God desires all our worship and praise, because He knows how fickle our wandering hearts really are. He gives us these instructions to keep us focused on Him and the eternal, versus the worldly and temporary.

Today, I urge each of us to honestly ask ourselves if we’re worshiping someone or something other than God. Let’s pursue God’s heart on this with thought and prayer, because, as I recently learned, it’s easy for seemingly good and right things to sneak in and steal our worship away from Jesus.

I often turn to Isaiah 40 and 41 when I need reminders of Who deserves my worship.

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?” (Isaiah 40:12)

Would you join me in digging into these chapters, asking God to show us our idols, and then worshiping Him alone?

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!
Join our Facebook Community!

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 Worship IX 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 Worship IX!

Posted in: Deep, Dream, God, Hope, Jealous, Jesus, Praise, Prayer, Sacrifice, Worship Tagged: Digging, hearts, Misplaced, questions, righteous, Understand
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