Thinking Girls Bible Study

It's hard for me not to be scared right now, because this is some scary stuff we are facing. The Bible uses terms like perilous, beginning of sorrows and days of lawlessness to describe the last days before Christ returns. I believe we are in those last days now. So what do we do? How do we approach this? Of course, the Bible has the answers. Paul was forever exhorting and teaching not only how to live, but to endure, to be patient, to persevere to the end and to finish well. He was constantly using the term "in vain," exhorting us to remain faithful and persevere lest we believe in vain, or labor in vain, or receive the grace of God in vain. It has to be possible to believe in vain, and all those other things he lists, or else Paul would not have warned us about this. So now, in these most difficult times, it’s imperative that we set our resolve to persevere, endure and finish well. We need a plan of action. We need to know what it really means, what it looks...

As mentioned in the previous study of the Shunanem woman, the first mention in the Old Testament for the word rest is found in Genesis 2:2: "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." The Hebrew word for rest in this verse is shabath and means "to cease, desist, rest (from labor.) It is where we get the word Sabbath. Another Hebrew word translated as rest is sha'an and means "to lean on, trust in, support, to trust in God, lean, lie, rely, rest on, stay." This word is found in Genesis 18:4: "Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree." This verse occurs after Abraham received the Covenant and was circumcised. I'm sure there are many lessons to be mined here, but for now, what I see is a pleasant picture this one verse depicts of rest: sitting in the shade of a tree after a journey, with a ...

In the last study, we looked at Hagar and how her life was impacted by Abram and Sarai taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting on the Lord. There are more dynamics to this story than can be addressed in two studies, but we will look at a few. God had given a promise to Abram and Sarai that He would give them descendants. But many years had passed since that initial promise, so Abram and Sarai decided they would help the Lord out. How many times do we do this? And the result is other people get hurt. Sarai came up with the idea that she would give her slave girl to Abram to have a child by her. Perhaps when Hagar conceived, that confirmed to Sarai her fear that she was the problem. But another dynamic of this story is that Hagar, in her flesh, despised Sarai after she became pregnant. When we find ourselves hurt by others, our tendency is to act in the flesh, to nurse our wounds, to feel sorry for ourselves. Hagar found herself pregnant, in bondage, in seeming hopeless...

In the previous two studies we saw both Abigail and David in their wilderness journeys.  We saw that David had been engaged in battles with Saul and other enemies leading up to the time he met Abigail.  We saw that Abigail was engaged in her own battle.  Many of us know very well what a wilderness experience is. Many of us have been engaged in our own spiritual battles for what may seem like an eternity.  That's why I find comfort in reading Psalm 18, a song of deliverance. David gives us the description of this Psalm in the first verse: "To the Chief Musician.  A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.  And he said;  I will love You, O LORD, my strength."  The occasion for David writing this was the day the Lord delivered David from the hand of his enemies and Saul.  What comfort to ...

Moses had to deal with difficult people.  Some things never change, because we all find ourselves dealing with difficult people.  In dealing with those people, our own flesh always wants to  rear its ugly head. Let's remind ourselves to speak to the Rock and not the people during these times of difficulty. Scripture readings: Exodus 3:1-4:17, Acts 7:22, Numbers 12:3, Exodus 17, Numbers 20:1-12, Deuteronomy 3:23-29, 4:21-22 Moses. What a fascinating character. Definitely one of the most amazing men of God. Yet, I'm intrigued by the fact that he didn't get to go into the Promised Land, even though he knew the Lord intimately and the Lord spoke to him “face to face as one does a friend.” As I was reading in Deuteronomy where Moses is coming to the end and is giving the instructions to the children of Israel, I was struck by his words, “Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not en...