I don't believe in coincidences. AT ALL. I believe that the One True God is very personal and cares for each stitch of our lives.
Over the past 10 months I have been reading through the bible. Basically taking it in one month segments using the Bible app and the "Let's read through the Bible" reading plan (There are 12).
As I began this reading plan I found that it paralleled 2 books of the bible. Normally one in the Old Testament and one in the New. Right off the bat I realized how much I did NOT know my bible. I became sad at my ignorance.
I was naive enough to think that all of those years in Sunday Scool, vacation bible school, and flannel graphs had taught me THE WHOLE BIBLE. 🙀
I realized in my first months of reading that I new Genesis and Matthew and then a little Acts and James thrown in for good measure. But the over all picture that the Bible paints I really didn't have.
Now one might question..."If you had started this reading plan or someone had taught you 10 years ago, would you have gotten it then?" And I would say "Probably not". What I think is that God has brought me to a time where my eyes and heart see Him differently and receive Him differently.
All of that being said....it has been a cool year (almost year) of God lining up things for me to see Him.
Now one might question..."If you had started this reading plan or someone had taught you 10 years ago, would you have gotten it then?" And I would say "Probably not". What I think is that God has brought me to a time where my eyes and heart see Him differently and receive Him differently.
All of that being said....it has been a cool year (almost year) of God lining up things for me to see Him.
As I have read the Old Testament one thing has really stood out to me.
GOD KILLED A TON OF PEOPLE!!!!!
My first "AH HA" about this was with Job. He went through so much. And there is so much to learn from his suffering and faithfulness. BUT...what about his family???
Ain't nobody talking about them.
They just got swept up and wiped out. Poor Jobs family. God allowed them to be part of Job's test just like the boils he got.
But then we go on to read about countless lands and kingdoms that are taken down by the Israelites. Men, women, children, goats, cats, goldfish...everything destroyed.
So here I sit in my comfy chair, snuggled in my electric throw, soft music playing, warm coffee in hand to learn about a loving God who gave His only son to save humanity from itself. And I get 💀DEATH💀 and lots of it.
I am a fixer, problem solver. So as I began to have these question about my John 3:16 God, I began to get anxious. I needed to reconcile it. I needed to fix the picture that was being painted in my head.
No! The God who rescued me from my sin and Hell...the God who took on human form because of his great love for us.....the God I pray to everyday for peace and wisdom... Could not be the same God that allowed and ordered annihilation of people and entire lands.
I found that I didn't really even want to talk about my questions to anyone. This one was mine...between me and my Creator. Because I desperately needed a simple answer that would reconcile the Old Testament God that I couldn't comprehend to the New Testament God that I thought I new.
So I sat quietly...reeling.
So I sat quietly...reeling.
I remembered that I had heard someone say once, "I am struggling through________ right now with God. I trust that He will reveal the answer to my question in His time."
So I decided that I would do the same.
Before I decided to "do the same" and wait, I had to remember some truths.
⭐️There is only one true God.
⭐️He allowed His son to die in my place, for my sins.
⭐️He has done the same for each of us if we will just Follow Him.
And... (A couple of years ago I began to implement this truth into my questions for God)
⭐️It is ALL for HIS glory. ALL of it. So when I don't understand why something happened or why it is the way it is....I trust that "it is all for His Glory".
But my question about the Old Testament God and the New Testament God ...the "it's all for His Glory" truth just didn't seem to satisfy my searching heart.
So I began to actively wait.
I kept reading my bible plan through the Old Testament and New Testament switchbacks. All the while God revealed amazing things throughout.
While I read Leviticus and Galations... Wow "The Law"....and then the Savior who "did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it". This was life altering for me. The freedom that Christ came to give.
Then...
We went through Christmas and did a Jesse Tree. That's all about the Old Testament point to a coming Saviour. Amazing stuff as you see God intentionally place the "perfectly wrong" people in places to make a way for His "perfectly right" son to come.
In all of these things I can clearly see how God shifted puzzle pieces to line up events and happenings in my heart and home to begin to answer this question of mine,about Himself.
In all of these things I can clearly see how God shifted puzzle pieces to line up events and happenings in my heart and home to begin to answer this question of mine,about Himself.
I kept reading and while I hardly even noticed, that lingering question was softly being answered.
This past week we started learning about Saudi Arabia in our home schooling. I will admit that I was a little nervous about this one. Germany- Nazis, Canada- Maple syrup, Kenya-David Livingstone, I got those. But Saudi Arabia and Islam made me nervous. Nervous mainly because I desperately want my children to be knowledgable about Islam so that they can love Muslim people safely and full of truth.
So we before we began our conversations about Islam-Allah I wanted to find something that simply compared what we believe as Christians worshiping the One true God and what the Muslim people believe.
So naturally I turned to G👀gle.
And let me first say "There is ALOT of CRAP out there".
So if you are going to read up on things like this make sure you know your sources.
So if you are going to read up on things like this make sure you know your sources.
One that I love is Watchman.org they have a ton of resources for research. But what I came up with as a searched the internet was John Piper talking about Allah. (6 minutes worth your time). And what Piper said in those 6 minutes completely did me in.
Through trying to understand what the Muslim people believe, and about a country that I am a little scared of,God revealed more of Himself to me than I could have ever hoped.
One of my daughters recently told me taught me this saying, "Don't hate the process, because it will turn out in the end." She was talking about art and painting, but I think that applies here too.
One of my daughters recently told me taught me this saying, "Don't hate the process, because it will turn out in the end." She was talking about art and painting, but I think that applies here too.
The process of sitting back and waiting with our Perfect God for His perfect timing is a journey. One that may or may not lead you in the direction that you started. But as He shifts the puzzle of revealing His glory through our lives and those lives that will come after one thing is for sure .... He's got us and He is willing to walk with us if we will allow it.
My sitting back and being patient with God has turned out to teach me more than I could have ever questioned in the first place. He has shown me that He will answer when I asked.
So the next time you don't understand or want to scream at the way God is doing something, don't be afraid of asking Him to show you. And don't be afraid to sit quietly and wait. Or to scream loudly. The process may be long and we may not get our answers until Heaven but the journey he will take you on, as He walks beside you will reveal more of Him than you ever thought or desired.
~LL
