Be Still and Know...

This week is the eye in the midst of the hurricane in our schedule. I'm worn out and a bit brain-scrambled coming off four months of pure crazy, looking forward to more of the same starting Saturday, and realizing how much must be accomplished in the next five days to make the next few months work.

I posted that as part of a Facebook status on Monday. We accomplished much but not nearly enough on Monday. Yesterday I tried to hit the ground running and just ended up feeling like one of those cartoon characters whose legs are running frantically but who never move from their starting point.

As I breathed a prayer for the day and the tasks thereof, Psalm 46:10 came immediately to mind. So thankful for years of encouragement and accountability to memorize Scripture so that it is there for the Holy Spirit to bring to the forefront when needed! "Be still, and know that I am God."

Be still...not easy in today's world, and yet so, so necessary that we prioritize the time to just be still in His presence, to get into His Word, to meditate on it, and to communicate with Him in prayer. Be still...

...And know that I am God...such simple words, and yet mind-blowing, if we truly rest there and ponder. In the stillness yesterday morning, I spent some time studying verses from our Behold Your God study on "God's rule". Reading (and writing) through a list of verses about God's sovereignty and ultimate right and will to rule every facet of the universe (including and especially us), gave me a new focus and view for the day.

A couple of quotes from yesterday's study:

Who our Master is will determine how we serve Him. The measure of His dignity and rule must be the measure of our obligation and privilege in serving Him.

The attribute of God's sovereignty teaches us that God possesses and exercises the solitary right to do all His pleasure with all His creation, without explanation or interference.

~John Snyder, Behold Your God
 Scripture References: Psalm 103:19, 1 Timothy 6:15, Psalm 24:1, Colossians 1:16-17, Romans 11:36, Isaiah 40:23-24, Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 93:1-2

From there, I went to the piano to practice music for Sunday. I hadn't settled on an offertory yet, and as I played through some possibilities, I came across the hymn "Jesus Shall Reign".  As I played through the arrangement, the words to these verses kept scrolling through my mind, and I was struck at how perfectly they correlated with the verses I'd read earlier. I'd found my offertory. :)

LOVE these words! Such truth. He reigns! Nothing that Satan or any earthly power can do can change that. There is no place we can go to hide from that. Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run...Let every creature rise and bring honor and glory to our King.

My list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter, and the time in which I have to accomplish it continues to shrink. There are all kinds of things swirling around us, good and not-so-good, right now that make my mind swim if I let them. 

The solution to the brain scramble and the anxiety that attempts to accompany it is not to work harder (although diligence is definitely in order). It is not to get better organized (although organization is a fabulous help). It's not to psych myself up to have a good attitude (although my heart should certainly be joyful). 

The key, as God continues to teach me, is worship. It is the cure for the troubled soul. Being still, and knowing that He is God. Acknowledging that He reigns, above all. Seeking Him and knowing Him as He is, such as our little finite minds are able.

In the midst of life's crazy, we must stop and be still. But don't stop at being still! That may give temporary relief, but on its own, it's not the answer. Be still, and know that He is God. Dig into the Word. Cover it all in prayer. Meditate on what He says about Who He is.

What is God teaching you right now? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Super-simple Bible journaling today, in an old ledger that belonged to my grandfather *heart*. Pilot G-2 1.0 pen and assorted washi tape. :) 

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Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!  Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!  If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2015 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!  You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email. 

 

The Answer to Suffering {Pondered Pages}

Supplies used: Acrylic paint (Anita's), Washi tape, and TUL pen

 

When suffering comes, questions inevitably follow. "Why is this happening?" "What did I do to cause this?" "Why is God allowing this?"

During one of my own most difficult periods of suffering a few years ago, I asked those questions and more. I spent time searching the Bible for answers. What I learned was life-changing.

What comes to mind when we think of the book of Job? Job's loss, "the patience of Job", the theme of suffering are all things that usually came to mind for me.

I've been amazed in recent years to discover that the point of the book of Job is not actually Job's great loss and suffering. Nor is it Job's patience. The theme of the book of Job is Who God is.

The truth God began to teach me 9 years ago as I was questioning God about the suffering our family was experiencing can be summed up by these two quotes from the Behold Your God study:

"God's character unveiled is the answer to suffering."

"...the answer to Job's suffering is not an explanation from God; rather it is a revelation of God."

(The Behold Your God study is a fabulous study, btw...Our family is doing this study again with our church this year and I cannot recommend it enough.)

As we go through this study for the second time, I am trying to journal some of the highlights in my journaling Bibles. I need to be reminded often of this truth: that when life is difficult or hard to understand, my focus needs not to be on the "whys", but the "Who".

It's amazingly simple and incredibly complicated all at the same time, but the answer to suffering is simply more of Him. Scripture says if we seek Him with all our hearts, He will be found. (Jeremiah 29:13) He uses our suffering to draw us closer to Him, to show us more of His glory.

Supplies used: Washi tape and TUL pen

 

What is God teaching you about Himself today? I'd love to hear in the comments. Have you done any Scripture journaling lately? I'd love to see!

For more on Scripture journaling here on the blog, check out these other Pondered Pages posts. 

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  Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!   Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!   If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2015 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!   You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email.

Show Me Your Glory!

These verses are just knocking me right off my feet this morning! In our Behold Your God study last week, we talked about Moses asking God to show him (Moses) His (God's) glory. I decided today to go back and dig into that a bit more. Wow!

In Exodus 33:11, the Bible says that "the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." What a thought!

Then in verses 17-23, after Moses has asked God to assure him that His presence will go with him as he leads the people, God assures him that He will, saying, "you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

Moses replies, "Please show me your glory."

Such a simple request, and yet it seems it should have an exclamation point at the end, and be in all caps or fancy lettering or something. *grin* Moses is asking the God of the universe to show him His glory.

And God says yes.

It's a qualified yes, but it's yes. He says that He will make His goodness pass before Moses, and He will proclaim His name before him, "The Lord." However, He says that Moses cannot see His face, because no man can see His face and live.

The next part is what has blown me away this morning. He tells Moses to stand on a rock, and then He tells Him that before He passes by, He will put Moses down in a cleft in the rock and cover him up with His hand until He has walked by. Then when God has safely passed by, He will uncover Moses so that Moses can see His back.

I've read these verses so many times, and always been amazed at the thought that God's glory is so great that Moses couldn't look on anything but God's back, but today I was struck with the fact that God deliberately withheld a portion of His glory, hid Moses from it, in order to protect Moses, because of His grace and mercy.

Despite the unfathomable awesomeness of the glory that God has shown us of Himself, it's only a portion. As Job 26:14 says, we only see the mere edges of His ways, and we hear only a whisper of Him.

And He withholds the rest, those things we don't understand, and the things that we don't even know of to realize we don't understand!, because of His great mercy and grace.  He hides those things from us because of His great love and goodness.

But He shows us just the back of His glory. He will show us what we can stand of His glory if we will ask. Ask with me today?

Lord, please show me Your glory. 

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If a post or posts on Ponderings of an Elect Exile has been a blessing to you, would you do me a huge favor?  Please share the link to Ponderings with your friends using the social media share buttons below or the "pin it" button above.  Thank you! 

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  Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!   Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!   If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2015 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!   You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email.