Redemption & Hope

I've been truckin' through Jeremiah the last week or so, and I read a few chapters today that caught my attention. Chapters 30-34 talk about God's plan of redemption for Israel; other things are talked about, but redemption is my focus this blog. While reading through, I couldn't help but stop periodically and scramble for my blue highlighter to mark these amazing verses. The promises that God makes for the Israelites are huge! Here are the ones that stood out to me.

• I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds 30:8
• I am with you and will save you 30:11
• I will restore you to health and heal your wounds 30:17
• I will add to their numbers...I will bring them honor 30:19
• You will be my people and I will be your God 30:22
• I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people 31:1
• I will come to give rest to Israel 31:2
• I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt 31:4
• I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy 31:13
• I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts 31:33
• I will be their God and they will be my people 31:33
• I will forgive their wickendness and will remember their sins no more 31:34
• I will never stop doing good to them 32:40
• I will inspire them to fear me 32:40
• I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul 32:40
• I will heal my people and will rebuild them as they were before 33:6

I am amazed at these promises of redemption for the Israelites. What annoyes me though about this, the Israelites heard all these promises from God, and warnings not to stray away from Him, yet at the time that Jeremiah was prophesying, the Babylonians were about the take Israel and Judah into captivity. I've thought many-a-times, 'those thick-headed people, don't they see the amazing plans God has for them? (referencing Jer. 29:11) Can't they see the chance for amazing blessings in their lives?" -> check out Jer. 32:42

Then, I began to think about my own life in comparison to the Israelites. Sure, I don't sacrifice children (Jer. 32:35) or burn incense to other gods (32:29), but I still turn away from God, I still sin. These chapters about God's plans and blessings for the Israelites make me think about God's plans for my life. Are there blessings he wants to give me, but my sinful heart is getting in way? Does God have my life going one direction, yet my selfishness leads me another way, just like the Israelites?

In chapter 31 verses 35-37, God is talking about the seriousness/realness of his promises. He says that the only way for God to reject his promises and the Israelites is if the heavens can be measured(vs.37) and the Earth can be searched out(vs.37), and if the laws of nature are destroyed(vs.35). God was not going to abandon the Israelites, despite all their flaws. And, God will not abandon us today, despite all our flaws. There is so much hope in Christ!a

"I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again." Isaiah 43:25

"For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" Hebrews 13:5-6

Isaiah, check lists, and Salvation

Yesterday, I finished reading Isaiah; though not on schedule, it is finished. What a strange book Isaiah is, and more confusing than I had originally expected. The book is divided into two sections, Chapters 1-39 (The Book of Judgement) and Chapters 40-66 (The Book of Comfort). The first section generally went over my head with promises of judgements on certain lands for the things they had done. It wasn't until the second half, or even the last 15 chapters or so, that the words of Isaiah struck my heart.

In light of my previous blog post, I don't think God did anything miraculous in me while I read Isaiah, or at least it didn't feel like it. Maybe my heart wasn't there until just a few days ago when I got the chance to really sit down, stop, and ponder his Word. And when you think about it, isn't that the point of this challenge? To ponder upon the Word of God. I get so wrapped up in staying on schedule and completing the task, that I forget the many blessings that accompany it. My Current CIY Challenge Struggle: Reading the Bible as spiritual food for survival, not as a thing on my check list.

Though I didn't understand most of Isaiah, there were some parts that blew my mind. The following verses I had as my facebook status a while back, and they still encourage me to continue after Christ:

"Hear me, you who know what is right,

you people who have my law in your hearts:

Do not fear the reproach of men

or be terrified by their insults.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment;

the worm will devour them like wool.

But my righteousness will last forever,

my salvation through all generations."

Isaiah 51:7-8

What a promise!! Our Father's righteousness never ends, and his salvation will continue on for generations. Those verses give us hope, that despite our mistakes and screw-ups, God's righteousness and salvation is always there. The things of this world will pass away, but God will not.

May Isaiah Bless us All

As I was filling out the 3x5 card for the month of May with my reading schedule, I found some very ironic days and passages. May 1st I was to begin Isaiah and May 26th was the last day spent in Isaiah. Well, for anyone going to Noblessville, we know what May 26th means the last day of school. For all the seniors, most importantly, it's the last day of high school. Currently, I am counting down the days for graduation but the irony within my reading schedule caused me to stop and think for a bit. During my last month of high school, I will be reading one of the most confusing books in the Old Testament. Now, I could read it through, while only thinking of walking across that stage and receiving my diploma, or I could do something crazy.



Well, I don't like the easy way out, so I am asking God that during the last few weeks of school, that He would do something crazy. Just in the first few chapters, I am thoroughly confused and amazed at the powerful message Isaiah is trying to convey to Judah. A few verses that really stuck out to me, concerning my life right now were from chapter 5 verses 18-19:



18 "What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! 19 They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”



To read these verse in context click here. I like the part where is says that we mock God by asking him to hurry up and do something. This is particularly convicting in my life, because I've been asking God to do something in my life, without regard to His plan and his timing. I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11-13 (some of my favorite verses) " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plan to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" The last two verses I always tend to over look. I will have to call upon God and pray to him and seek him, but seek him will all my heart. So often I forget my relationship with God is a two-way street; it's far more than God just blessing me and giving me things. And this reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan:

'The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time."

These are all things I've been pondering on while struggling to finish the marathon of high school I've been running for 4 years; God's timing is truly and wonderfully perfect.

Bible Lit Service Project

Back in a previous post, I mentioned a class that was taking this semester, Bible Literature. Well, one of the requirements for the class is a field trip, an individual service project. Each student was to find a location to service that was not their home church, was not super comfortable for them, and was new or challenging. For my service project, I traveled to Carmel land to Northview Church to assist their groundskeeper, Marcia. I went into the day not knowing what exactly I'd be doing, and walked away with a renewed sense of awe for God.

In the first part of the morning, I was assigned to prune and clip back some pine bushes...some wonderfully overgrown pine bushes. Needless to say, 3 hours later, the bushes looked wonderful and I had quite a collection of battle wounds on my arms. What struck me as ironic though, was the concept of pruning a bush. Someone comes and kills a living part of a plant, because in the long run, it will grow healthier and the plant will live longer. I was reminded when Jesus talked about the vine and the branches in John 15. He says the he will cut every branch that does not bear fruit, but he even prunes the branches that bear fruit, so it will be more fruitful. Those 3 hours truly gave me the chance to ponder upon what God is pruning in my life, whether its fruitful or not.

Serving tody at another chruch was a very different experience, but a good reminder that God works in any and every church he wants. Right now, Northview is growing almost exponentially, and it amazes me! Sometimes, I forget that God moves outside of White River, and going today was a healthy reminder of how massively big God is. Just a cool thought to ponder on.

Well, an update upon my challenge: I am a few days from finishing Proverbs and 2 Corinthians. Once again I will say how excited I am to finish the challenge, so I can read through these amazing books again and take my time.

Psalms and Such

Today was my last day in the blessed book of Psalms. Wow, what a book!! Now, I know I say that about almost every book I've read during my challenge, but this one deserves some real props. I was planning of writing a creative little ditty about Psalms like 150 Words for 150 Psamls. But my computer crashed halfway through writing it, so I've decided to give a little teaser.

If you haven't read through Psalms before, do it. There are so much things you can learn from it. It amazed me how much a person can connect with the words of the authors of this compelation. You can get such an inside perspective of a person's heart. You experience the agony they're in, or can be called to worship through their adoration of our Lord. Just today I was reading in chatper 147, and the author describes the physical power of God and what he can do. In the next chapter he describes who should be praising God and why they should. This book is so wonderful..

Psalms truly was a blessing for me. When I first began my challenge, I wanted to encorporate the Psamls into my everyday reading, so I wouldn't spend 2 months reading Psalms. Well, I decided not to do that back in October or so, because I though maybe when I get to Psalms, I'll be going through a rough patch and would really need the extended time in easier and encouraging reading. How did God provide!! These last 2 months have been really really hard. Between show choir craziness, senioritis at its worst, and a stressing college desicion, I really did need the break. Looking back, I can see how God provided through all of it. Even if I got behind in my schedule, it is much easier to read 12 chatper of Psalms than 12 chapter of Isaiah in one sitting. So, in hind sight, I can only give God the glory with his protection of me, and with the blessing Psalms has been in my life.

I'll end this post with a Psalm 121, a song of ascents. These types of psalms could only bring me to praise the Lord:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Technology, Priorities and Psalms

Well, there is much to discuss with this blog post considering it's been 3 week since I've last updated.Firstly, I had an interesting experience about 2 weeks ago concerning technology. After an amazing night at small group I sat and talked for a long long time with my mom about things, such as college, God, priorities, etc. After much discussion I came to the conclusion that technology was cluttering my life, and it needed the boot. So, I took a technology fast for a few days. No computer, no television, no cellphone, no music. nada. Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I though it would be. It was freeing, actually. I learned to appreciate silence more, and I learned that it's ok not to be connected with absolutely everyone at any and every moment of the day. Because of this learning experience, I have deactivated my twitter account, taken off facebook updates, and it's a beautiful thing. The point of getting rid of technology was to learn to better manage my priorities, which leads into my second paragraph.

I have found myself slacking in priorities, mostly in the technology department. Thus the tech. fast. I have been trying, and asking God of course, to retrain my habits. Because I haven't been spending time wisely, I've been procrastination on my homework. This in turn leads to me not getting my Bible reading done (see, this blog ties into my challenge). And since I've become behind on my reading schedule, I've felt obligated to catch up. I haven't been reading God' word as a blessing and encouragment, but rather as an obligation and constant reminder of my misuse of time. That is not how I want to view the Word of God. So, I've been asking God to redue my mindset toward his Word, and you know what? He's been moving!

I am still in Psalms, but should be finished soon. And, what I've been reading has been extremely fascinating. For example, i was reading Psalm 107 and the patterns of repitition in it is crazy! Basically, the author describes the sin of man, the punishment of God, man's repentence, and God's rescue of man. It does this about 3 times in the chapter, following the pattern. Now, I don't know what that means, but I think it's really cool. Also, in Psalm 119, the author uses the word "law" about 30 times, "command" about 17 times, and "precept" about 20 times. If you haven't read Psalm 119, it's very long, but a good read. I admire the talent these writers have in Psalms, the way their words still connect to people today. I'm loving this book!!

UPDATE: I have very good news to share!! Tomorrow, April 5, I will be 2/3 completed with the CIY Challenge!!! I believe that should inspire a blog in it of itself. I will say though, I can only attribute it to God, and his mighty power and control in my life. What a journey it's been, and how Awesome is our God!!!

I can't think of a title, so this is what you get.

God's Word never stops amazing me, teaching me, and encouraging me. Today I was reading in Romans, trying to get caught up with my schedule, when God's Word spoke to me in a way I haven't experienced in a long time. To be perfectly honest, I've felt a big disconnect from Him with the last month or two. Sure, I've still been going to church, reading my Bible, and praying, but it has seemed kind of forced, and not genuine. Well, I didn't go to church this morning due to a choir competition the day before, and I just needed to rest. So, I was reading in Romans 7 where Paul's talking about struggling with sin. The verses that screamed at me go like this:

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Go a head and read those verses again, I had to.

Now, read them one more time, since I did as well to fully get my head around the depth of Paul's message.

This paragraph has just describes my past 3 Saturdays. I am in show choir, and the past three weekends, we have been at competitions, and I have been totally out of my element. Being around that atmosphere really pressures me to conform to the world's standards, to talk, act, and think like everyone else. It has been really hard. I am trying my best, and asking for God's help, to be a witness of Christ, to be salt in the world. Most of the times, it seems like I don't make a difference. It seems like I just mess up and conform, and I am fighting a battle that I'll never win.

These verses spoke to my heart this morning. Knowing that Paul experienced those same things, those same feelings is such a comfort to me. Who knows, that battle may always be a losing one, but who will rescue me? Jesus Christ my Lord. I am reminded that I am in this world, but not of this world. (Most of the verses on this page will give account to that) That, though I struggle with infinite sins, and never ending challenges, that it is all for God's glory. In the next chapter in Romans, Paul says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (chapter 8 vs 18). What a reminder! Our actions today are meant for glory in heaven. Talk about a different perspective. I will be pondering on these verse for quite a while, and maybe God will get me out of this rut I seem to have found myself in.

Reading Update: Well, I haven't been keeping along with my schedule 100%, I am about 5-6 days behind, but hopefully I can slowly but surely get caught up. I've enjoyed the break from tough OT books with Psalms. It's been quite an encouragement this last month and a half. And what a book Romans is! Holy cow! I can't wait to read this book through again when I get the chance. It is chalk full of wisdom.