""Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord,
"though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat from the land;
but if you rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword,"
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Words from God spoken to His people the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah.
My personal reflections:
- It is absolutely amazing how loving God is. The first half of this chapter 1 describes how Israel has completely rebelled and turned away from God, though they think they can please God with sacrifices, their hearts are full of evil. Yet, from verse 18 God actually pleads with them and invites them to reason with God, that though they have been so rebellious, if they are willing and obedient to God, He promises to bless them (v19). Instead of, punishing them for their rebellion with death, which they completely deserve, He is gracious and loving in giving them a way out of their suffering; even more than this promises blessings of they obey.
- Following on from this, and this sort of stems from what I learnt from Lamentations from Summit; another way that God is loving is that He did not destroy them. Though chapter 1 does mention that they are suffering because of their sin and rebellion, God is loving in not destroying them. That is, since they are still alive they are still able to repent and turn back to God.
- Even more so, their sin was so atrocious and evil, but still God promises that their sin 'shall be white as snow' if they are willing and obedient. It's not even that God goes: 'well if you obey now, I'll bless you, but I'll still remember/have a grudge against how you used to treat me, and you still have some sin.' but instead it's: 'if you obey me now, I'll bless you. But even more than that, whatever you did in the past all completely forgiven AND you will appear to me as completely sinless." AMAZING.
- But as God is just, he also promises that if they still do not obey, then they will get what they deserve which is death or 'devoured by the sword'.
God is wonderful and loving and just!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Some verses for a stressful time
A friend sent this to me, quite a while ago. But it's still as useful today than it was when she sent it, (but I had to change ENTER into ATAR).
Hope that helps :)
♥
If you are feeling worried about your future, and whether or not you will get into a course you want -
Jeremiah 29:11 - "My plan for your future has always been filled with hope."
John 14:27 - "I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So do not be troubled or afraid."
If you are worried or feel that you are weary of study -
Matthew 11:29 - "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for you soul."
Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."
For the Lord said - "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
If you feel overwhelmed by these upcoming exams -
Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
If you feel regret over results that you achieved in the past that you weren't happy with, or wish you had studied harder before, or feel bad for not trying your best or letting him down -
Romans 8:28 - "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Jeremiah 32:40 - "For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
And most of all remember that no matter what happens, whatever ATAR score you get -
Romans 8:38-39 - "Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Joshua 1:5 - "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Jeremiah 32:40 - "I will never stop doing good to you."
Hope that helps :)
♥
Friday, May 6, 2011
Habbakuk 1
So yesterday I lead a bible study with a group a young adult women and I thought I would share my bible study here as well.
I am quite an amateur bible study writer, so please read this as sort of my thought processes in writing this study. Clearly, its not perfect and I did get a lot of help from Heather, in particular the application part of the study. Also, some context is that we have been looking at the book og Jonah before this book, which is the reason why the book in brought up in the application section.
The bolded questions are the ones I asked in the study, the rest is what I said or the answers I was looking for.
Habbakuk 1- Bible Study
Aim: To illustrate human reaction to God's plans (Habbakuk's and ours) and how at times we think things are unfair but we fail to see the bigger picture and trust in God's sovereign plan.
Has there ever been times that you felt weren't fair? Are there any examples you can think of?
Why did you feel like it wasn't fair?
- Things perhaps didn't go your way?
- Felt like you deserved better?
Well, today we are going to read about how Habbakuk feels like he is a similar situation and how God begins to respond.
But first before we start diving into the passage, we need to work out its context. So we are going to do a little bit of detective work and try and work out its context by reading just the passage alone.
Read passage Habbakuk 1:1-11
What sort of clues do we get from the passage about when this book takes place?
V3-4: “Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralysed and justice never prevails.”
V6: “I am raising up the Babylonians …. who will sweep across the whole earth.”
V6 says how God is raising up the Babylonians, meaning it has not happened yet, this would lead us to predict that this book takes place before Judah is taken into exile by Babylon.
V2-4 Habbakuk describes violence and destruction and injustice of the people, which would lead us to believe that this is during the time of one of the latter Kings who lead the nation astray.
*evidence suggests this book might have taken place just before the exile of Judah by Babylon
Now that we know that this is just before Judah is taken into exile by Babylon, we can understand the passage a bit better.
Read again Habbakuk 1:1-4
What is Habbakuk's first complaint?
- There is so much violence and injustice all around him.
- Why does God tolerate injustice?
- Why does God not listen to his cries?
From whom is all this violence and injustice coming from? What sort of clues indicate this?
(Is it from Babylon?) (Also read Habbakuk 1:5-11)
- We have established that this book is pre-exile, unlikely that the violence and destruction is referring to the Babylonians.
- In verse 5-11, the Babylonians are spoken about as a separate group of people which would mean that the group that was spoken about previously was not the Babylonians.
V6 “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people”
Habbakuk is referring to the Jews, thus he is complaining about the injustice of the Jews.
Read Habbakuk 1:5-11
How does God respond to Habbakuk?
- God will raise up the Babylonians as judgement upon Judah
How does God describe the Babylonians? (What sort of impression do you have of the Babylonians after this description?)
- ruthless, imperteous people (v6)
- feared and dreaded people (v7)
- they are law to themselves and promote their own honour (v7)
- they all come bent on violence (v9)
- they fly like vulture swooping to devour (8)
- they deride kings and scoff at rulers (v10)
- guilty men, whose own strength is their god (v11)
How do you think Habbakuk will react to this? Or how do you think you would react to this if you were Habbakuk? (especially after how God describes the Babylonians)
Read Habbakuk 1:12-17
How does Habbakuk actually react to God's response?
v 13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than we themselves?”
- He feels injustice as he feels that the Babylonians were more sinful than the Jews, yet God will send the Babylonians to judge the Jews.
This is probably what he would say in this modern day: "What? No! Not the Babylonians, they are way worse than we are. That's unfair. God, I thought you were just."
Remembering from the book of Jonah, how does Habbakuk's reaction compare with Jonah's?
- God acts unexpectedly, Jonah and Habbakuk both had lingering presumptions on how God should act.
- They both want God to act the way they want.
-For example, Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be saved (Jonah 4:2), which led to him running away from God (Jonah 1:3) and later on complaining to God that God saved the Ninevites (Jonah 4:2).
- Habbakuk though wants his people to be judged because of their violence, however does not want judgement to come through the Babylonians.
Is there times you reacted to situations like Habbakuk or Jonah?
Let’s look at other times where God’s solution is much different to what was expected.
Read Mark 8:27-33
- Peter had a presumption about how the Christ should act and how he should be.
- However, if Peter had gotten his way Jesus’ would not have died on the cross for our sins.
- God had a much grander plan than Peter had imagined.
Read James 4:13-17
What does James have to say about such an attitude?
“13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
- We do not know what will happen tomorrow.
- Our lives are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
- Boasting about our future (in this life) is arrogance and evil.
- Instead, we should do things that are in God's will.
Read Habbakuk 2:1
Habbakuk is a bit confused about God's choice of judgement. Who does Habbakuk go to for answers? How is this reaction different from Jonah?
I am quite an amateur bible study writer, so please read this as sort of my thought processes in writing this study. Clearly, its not perfect and I did get a lot of help from Heather, in particular the application part of the study. Also, some context is that we have been looking at the book og Jonah before this book, which is the reason why the book in brought up in the application section.
The bolded questions are the ones I asked in the study, the rest is what I said or the answers I was looking for.
Habbakuk 1- Bible Study
Aim: To illustrate human reaction to God's plans (Habbakuk's and ours) and how at times we think things are unfair but we fail to see the bigger picture and trust in God's sovereign plan.
Has there ever been times that you felt weren't fair? Are there any examples you can think of?
Why did you feel like it wasn't fair?
- Things perhaps didn't go your way?
- Felt like you deserved better?
Well, today we are going to read about how Habbakuk feels like he is a similar situation and how God begins to respond.
But first before we start diving into the passage, we need to work out its context. So we are going to do a little bit of detective work and try and work out its context by reading just the passage alone.
Read passage Habbakuk 1:1-11
What sort of clues do we get from the passage about when this book takes place?
V3-4: “Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralysed and justice never prevails.”
V6: “I am raising up the Babylonians …. who will sweep across the whole earth.”
V6 says how God is raising up the Babylonians, meaning it has not happened yet, this would lead us to predict that this book takes place before Judah is taken into exile by Babylon.
V2-4 Habbakuk describes violence and destruction and injustice of the people, which would lead us to believe that this is during the time of one of the latter Kings who lead the nation astray.
*evidence suggests this book might have taken place just before the exile of Judah by Babylon
Now that we know that this is just before Judah is taken into exile by Babylon, we can understand the passage a bit better.
Read again Habbakuk 1:1-4
What is Habbakuk's first complaint?
- There is so much violence and injustice all around him.
- Why does God tolerate injustice?
- Why does God not listen to his cries?
From whom is all this violence and injustice coming from? What sort of clues indicate this?
(Is it from Babylon?) (Also read Habbakuk 1:5-11)
- We have established that this book is pre-exile, unlikely that the violence and destruction is referring to the Babylonians.
- In verse 5-11, the Babylonians are spoken about as a separate group of people which would mean that the group that was spoken about previously was not the Babylonians.
V6 “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people”
Habbakuk is referring to the Jews, thus he is complaining about the injustice of the Jews.
Read Habbakuk 1:5-11
How does God respond to Habbakuk?
- God will raise up the Babylonians as judgement upon Judah
How does God describe the Babylonians? (What sort of impression do you have of the Babylonians after this description?)
- ruthless, imperteous people (v6)
- feared and dreaded people (v7)
- they are law to themselves and promote their own honour (v7)
- they all come bent on violence (v9)
- they fly like vulture swooping to devour (8)
- they deride kings and scoff at rulers (v10)
- guilty men, whose own strength is their god (v11)
How do you think Habbakuk will react to this? Or how do you think you would react to this if you were Habbakuk? (especially after how God describes the Babylonians)
Read Habbakuk 1:12-17
How does Habbakuk actually react to God's response?
v 13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than we themselves?”
- He feels injustice as he feels that the Babylonians were more sinful than the Jews, yet God will send the Babylonians to judge the Jews.
This is probably what he would say in this modern day: "What? No! Not the Babylonians, they are way worse than we are. That's unfair. God, I thought you were just."
Remembering from the book of Jonah, how does Habbakuk's reaction compare with Jonah's?
- God acts unexpectedly, Jonah and Habbakuk both had lingering presumptions on how God should act.
- They both want God to act the way they want.
-For example, Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be saved (Jonah 4:2), which led to him running away from God (Jonah 1:3) and later on complaining to God that God saved the Ninevites (Jonah 4:2).
- Habbakuk though wants his people to be judged because of their violence, however does not want judgement to come through the Babylonians.
Is there times you reacted to situations like Habbakuk or Jonah?
Let’s look at other times where God’s solution is much different to what was expected.
Read Mark 8:27-33
- Peter had a presumption about how the Christ should act and how he should be.
- However, if Peter had gotten his way Jesus’ would not have died on the cross for our sins.
- God had a much grander plan than Peter had imagined.
Read James 4:13-17
What does James have to say about such an attitude?
“13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
- We do not know what will happen tomorrow.
- Our lives are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
- Boasting about our future (in this life) is arrogance and evil.
- Instead, we should do things that are in God's will.
Read Habbakuk 2:1
Habbakuk is a bit confused about God's choice of judgement. Who does Habbakuk go to for answers? How is this reaction different from Jonah?
1 “I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint”
- Even though, Habbakuk is quite confused about God's plan, he doesn't sit there and be angry at God like Jonah does (Jonah 4:4, 4:9-10), Habbakuk still looks to God to give him an answer.
Let’s finish by reading the Lord’s Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13
What does it tell us about how we should live and what attitude we should have?
- Praise God
- Pray that God's will be done on earth just like God's will is done in heaven
- Reliance on God to give us what we need
- Constant request for forgiveness of sins
- And help us not to be tempted to go astray.
Let’s finishing by praying the Lord’s prayer.
What does it tell us about how we should live and what attitude we should have?
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
- Praise God
- Pray that God's will be done on earth just like God's will is done in heaven
- Reliance on God to give us what we need
- Constant request for forgiveness of sins
- And help us not to be tempted to go astray.
Let’s finishing by praying the Lord’s prayer.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
saved
So I haven't blogged in this for quite a while, sorry about that.
I really quite like this, made by my friend Canaan.
Its a good symbolic illustration of how we we were saved by sin (the purple) and Satan (the black monster). And also, how it was our own choice/because of temptation that we were led to sin, and how we didn't deserve being saved but we definitely needed to be saved. And God saved us and conquered Satan.
Not only that but we were washed clean with Jesus' blood (the red).
And not only that still, we are now the bride of Christ (red ring around finger).
And that we are going to heaven.
How awesome is that! (Both the clip and the fact that we are saved.)
:)
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