some nuggets

Just to set this up, I am not in any way condoning procrastination or selfishness (although those words do reflect my heart), because this is what this next story is about. I have been reading the Bible in a year....since 2003 (and I'm only half way there). I am determined to finish but as you can see I have not been very disciplined about it. At the same time when I do pick up my "reading the Bible in a year" schedule and open God's Word, I often find scripture that has specifically addressed, confirmed, answered things that are going on in my life at the time.

1st Instance:

My friend Melissa and I were just talking the other day about not knowing where things are in scripture to explain the Truth to others that ask why we believe what we believe. I had asked Jason where I could find a particular Truth in Scripture and he gave me Romans 9 (I love having a seminary student for a husband...he is a great concordance). So once again I didn't get around to reading it, yet, but I did pick up my "Bible in a year" schedule and it happened to be that particular chapter in the reading for today. I'm sure I've read it before and parts sounded familiar but because I was specifically looking for this, it resonated with me so deeply...maybe more so than if I had just breezed through it to check it off on my "Bible in a year" schedule.

2nd Instance:

The women's Bible study in my church has been going through the teaching of John Piper in his book "Battling Unbelief". John Piper is always a lot for me to digest but I enjoy the challenge because it gives me a better understanding of the amazing depth of who God is and how it is not about me...but what Christ did. As my friend Anne, who is leading our study, says we are not going to grasp everything John Piper is teaching the first time we read it, but we can take away nuggets at a time and each time we come back to it we can grasp a little more. So the lesson we studied this week was on justification....by faith alone and through faith produces good works. When I read Romans 10 today it reinforced that Truth and added another nugget.

3rd Instance:

I have also been attending another study with a friend of mine about parenting. We just did a personality study (I know many of you have taken this one or at least heard of it...golden retriever, otter, lion or beaver). I was excited to do this, not because I can justify my sin by saying "well that's just my personality" (although that is so tempting), but so I could see the sin in my heart and pray that the Holy Spirit would help me to change. Once I took the test and found out I was part Beaver and part Golden, I wanted Jason to take the test and fill it out the way he saw me...I knew it would probably be a more accurate picture since I am blind to a lot of my sin. I told him to be completely honest and not to worry about hurting my feelings because I wanted him to be truthful. I began to see a pattern in the weaknesses section that was very ugly and of course characteristics I didn't mark when I filled out the profile...resentful, impatient, negative attitude, withdrawn, moody, critical, short-tempered. Ouch! That is the ugliness of my heart...and by God's amazing grace and justification allows me to be his child...in spite of. That kind of love is so much more powerful when I realize how wretched of a sinner I am. So the other reading I did today was Psalm 66...which once again resonated with me so much...in part because it points me to Christ, (who pours on us an amazing joy and contentedness...which we can rest easy in) who is worthy of praise...and away from myself (relying on my own "power" which brings the above yuckiness of my heart).

"Shout with joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious!
Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.
Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!'" (v. 1-5)