What we see and understand now Paul describes as a poor reflection in a mirror. One day we will see face to face. That’s crazy because Gos is so good right now, I can’t imagine what his goodness feels like face to face and not just as a reflection in a mirror!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Lord, we look forward to the day we may take in your presence fully and worship you to the uttermost.
Thank you for the good critique. Me & my friend were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a book from our local library but I think I’ve learned better from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there..
It is in judges 17 vs4-6 that kind of explains it. It looks like Micah’s mom thought she was doing a good thing. And Micah too. It really shows how the culture around them was so much a part of life that they were practicing overlapping faith traditions. Maybe it’s like us celebrating the resurrection while talking about an Easter bunny. vs 6 says because they had no king (or leader) in Israel everyone did what they thought was right. No one was focused on the Word that Moses had left them. It really makes me stop and think about my own focus and obedience to God’s word.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I’m not sure if there’s anyone out there as behind as I am, but I just want to say there was undoubtedly a reason I got behind! Today’s chapters were exactly what I needed! God’s timing is PERFECT–even when I feel like I am months behind!
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Without the right intentions, our actions have little worth. If we do all the right things and live by gods word just because we know it to be the right thing to do, we will not gain anything. But If we do everything with love because as Paul says “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevere”, then we have everything to gain.
Lord, allow me to love like you! I feel as if I always say I “love” but do I really? I need to do it wholeheartedly and 100 percent just as Jesus does! ❤️
Hey ladies I have a question and hopefully someone can recommend some good resources. As we are reading through Judges I am confused about the time between creation and Jesus. God knew we were sinful and would need Jesus, so why did he wait? I understand that he knows best and this was just part of his plan, but I would love to read some theories on why God might have done things this way. Thanks in advance!
I believe it’s because God gave us free will, so he created Adam and Eve and things were great for a while but then eve thought God was holding out on her. Thus sin creeped into the world. Everything went downhill from there, and Satan rejoiced because he has his own plan for the world, which is to create as much chaos and destruction in our hearts as possible. God wants us to genuinely seek him, choose him, and love him. As a woman, we want to be pursued and loved and found to be lovely. God wants those same things! I read a life changing book called Captivating that I recommend to EVERY one of you women. So God wasn’t holding out on us by sending Jesus when he did, he was saving us. We still have to wholeheartedly choose him and love him like in the Old Testament, we just don’t have to go through the rigorous rituals to speak to him and reach him because Jesus created that bridge for us… I hope that makes sense. That’s just my
Perspective on it!
And Jesus was born through the line of David… we haven’t gotten to Ruth and David…
Remember all this was not new to God.. all this he knew was gonna happen.. why he chose David’s line to be blended through I don’t know.. I can’t wait to read it through
Hello girls, just asking for prayer from my sisters in Christ about a decision to move back home to be closer to family or stay in a teaching job I love and a place I am more firmly established. Wanting to hear from God. He’s kept me peaceful throughout this quandary so far. Wherever I am, he will be there and he’s been so faithful to lead throughout my life and has provided beautiful people and places. Thank you in advance.
I found this verse really encouraging: The priest said, “Go assured. GOD ’s looking out for you all the way.” (Judges 18:6 MSG) In a way, God spoke to me through it. I have some intimidating situations in the days to come, but I feel God is using this to call peace into my mind again. He’s looking out for each and every one of us, with His very best intentions. I pray that we all can find peace through the assurance that He is looking out for us in every situation.
My study Bible explains that idols were made for a god to inhabit, making it a place to meet with the one they worshiped . Though God prohibited this in the 10 commandments because He can not be contained on earth. So perhaps during this time of disobedience this was the closest they actually had to acknowledging God at all. Again, the influence of the surrounding religions…but this also set Dan up for the center of Baal worship later. Bad habits give way to sin, I guess. A good thing for us to take warning of what we think are just little bad habits?
Thanks for that thought Linda – it’s definitely something to ponder. From 1 Corinthians 10:
11-12 “These are all warning markers — danger! — in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel — they at the beginning, we at the end — and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence ”
… I need Gods grace to develop more “God confidence”.
Amen Debbie. As we grow up and have kids, they often take all the attention we once devoted to the guys we date- attention that duly belongs to God! He wants our whole hearts….not what’s left over after everyone else gets a piece.
Ladies I’m wondering if you could shed some light on Judges 18 and the story of Micah, the Levite priest, and the Danites. Generally I’m just confused about this. Micah made household gods? But the Danites still inquired of the Lord through the Levite priest? Dude I’m just confused…
Well ultimately the story shows how far the Israelites had come from following the Levitical law God put in place by mixing their worship/following of Yahweh with that of other gods. So Micah only returns this silver when his mother pronounces a curse on the thief who took it. The mother then “consecrates” the silver to the Lord by making an idol–totally backwards thinking. Then a Levite comes. First of all, he is not supposed to be wandering around the land, he is supposed to be serving a particular area of Israel. and you’d think that, as a priest, he would do his job and knock down the idol but instead he accepts money to stay and be a personal priest in a home practicing idolatry. This passage highlights how corrupt Israel had become when even the Levites, God’s priests, we’re doing things like this. When the Danites ask him for a sign from God that they will be successful the Levite never inquires of the Lord but just quickly answers sure, Yahweh approves your journey. Later, the Levite goes with the Danites and takes the idols with him! The way the city Laish is described emphasizes its innocence which means the Danites were acting against Deut. 20 where God tells the Israelites to only completely destroy certain cities. The phrase that’s repeated over and over in Judges (the theme) is “Everyone did as he saw fit” and this passage is simply another highlight of what it looks like when we follow our own way instead of God’s. Hope that helps!
Never mind…I found the answer in my bigger study Bible. This story in Judges takes place sometime around 1060 BC, and Micah was a prophet in 742 BC. ;-)
Awesome. Thank you so much Amy. Maybe it was because I was reading this at 5:30am but literally your explanation helped me unpack so much of this text. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and share. It meant a lot to me today.
I’m so glad it was helpful! Judges is SUCH a hard book to understand. Most of my response is just a paraphrase of my friend Cory’s commentary on Judges. He offers commentaries as well as classes on his website knowingthebible.net (Not an advertisement or anything because almost ALL of what he has there is completely free.) It has helped me immensely in understanding the themes of the Bible so thought I’d pass it along! Thankful I get to walk through the Bible with you ladies. Enjoy your day! :)
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy about doing thethings that I need to do in service to God, particularly, preparing our discussion topic for a Bible Study group that I lead… My flesh just seem to overpower me. Sisters, I humbly ask for your prayers… Today, I read this verse and I was reminded:
“And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…” (14:19; 15:14)
Everytime this verse appears, Samson did amazing things afterwards!
LORD! Let Your Spirit rushed upon me! For I acknowledge that I cannot do anything apart from You! Give me the passion to serve You with delight! In Jesus Name! Amen.
I just finished praying for you and I want to encourage you. Preparing Bible Study can seem like a time consuming activity, but the reward of not only discussing the Word with others, but also getting into the Word itself is very rewarding. May God bless your Bible studies and may you find wonderful wisdom to share.
But the greatest is love
But the greatest of these is love
❤️
❤️
Samson was decieved by lust: love is described here believing, hoping, longing, having patience
7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
❤️
❤️
✔️
❤️
✅
✅
What we see and understand now Paul describes as a poor reflection in a mirror. One day we will see face to face. That’s crazy because Gos is so good right now, I can’t imagine what his goodness feels like face to face and not just as a reflection in a mirror!
13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. amen!-ellie
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Lord, we look forward to the day we may take in your presence fully and worship you to the uttermost.
12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Thank you for the good critique. Me & my friend were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a book from our local library but I think I’ve learned better from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there..
http://www.edsheeran.co.uk
Why did the priest have idols made of silver?
It is in judges 17 vs4-6 that kind of explains it. It looks like Micah’s mom thought she was doing a good thing. And Micah too. It really shows how the culture around them was so much a part of life that they were practicing overlapping faith traditions. Maybe it’s like us celebrating the resurrection while talking about an Easter bunny. vs 6 says because they had no king (or leader) in Israel everyone did what they thought was right. No one was focused on the Word that Moses had left them. It really makes me stop and think about my own focus and obedience to God’s word.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
:)
I’m not sure if there’s anyone out there as behind as I am, but I just want to say there was undoubtedly a reason I got behind! Today’s chapters were exactly what I needed! God’s timing is PERFECT–even when I feel like I am months behind!
I’m more behind than you Erin but God knows what we need when we need it. Praise God for His grace and mercy!
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Without the right intentions, our actions have little worth. If we do all the right things and live by gods word just because we know it to be the right thing to do, we will not gain anything. But If we do everything with love because as Paul says “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevere”, then we have everything to gain.
Lord, allow me to love like you! I feel as if I always say I “love” but do I really? I need to do it wholeheartedly and 100 percent just as Jesus does! ❤️
Hey ladies I have a question and hopefully someone can recommend some good resources. As we are reading through Judges I am confused about the time between creation and Jesus. God knew we were sinful and would need Jesus, so why did he wait? I understand that he knows best and this was just part of his plan, but I would love to read some theories on why God might have done things this way. Thanks in advance!
I believe it’s because God gave us free will, so he created Adam and Eve and things were great for a while but then eve thought God was holding out on her. Thus sin creeped into the world. Everything went downhill from there, and Satan rejoiced because he has his own plan for the world, which is to create as much chaos and destruction in our hearts as possible. God wants us to genuinely seek him, choose him, and love him. As a woman, we want to be pursued and loved and found to be lovely. God wants those same things! I read a life changing book called Captivating that I recommend to EVERY one of you women. So God wasn’t holding out on us by sending Jesus when he did, he was saving us. We still have to wholeheartedly choose him and love him like in the Old Testament, we just don’t have to go through the rigorous rituals to speak to him and reach him because Jesus created that bridge for us… I hope that makes sense. That’s just my
Perspective on it!
Thank you, Lindsay.
And Jesus was born through the line of David… we haven’t gotten to Ruth and David…
Remember all this was not new to God.. all this he knew was gonna happen.. why he chose David’s line to be blended through I don’t know.. I can’t wait to read it through
Hello girls, just asking for prayer from my sisters in Christ about a decision to move back home to be closer to family or stay in a teaching job I love and a place I am more firmly established. Wanting to hear from God. He’s kept me peaceful throughout this quandary so far. Wherever I am, he will be there and he’s been so faithful to lead throughout my life and has provided beautiful people and places. Thank you in advance.
Jules, I’ll be praying for clarity and peace in your decision! ❤️
Saying a prayer for you Jules!
I found this verse really encouraging: The priest said, “Go assured. GOD ’s looking out for you all the way.” (Judges 18:6 MSG) In a way, God spoke to me through it. I have some intimidating situations in the days to come, but I feel God is using this to call peace into my mind again. He’s looking out for each and every one of us, with His very best intentions. I pray that we all can find peace through the assurance that He is looking out for us in every situation.
If you want learn more about the book of Judges you might consider these Bible study podcasts by Jen Wilkin at http://jenwilkin.podbean.com
It’s also on the Podcast app under Jen Wilkin’s Women of Flower Mound show!
My study Bible explains that idols were made for a god to inhabit, making it a place to meet with the one they worshiped . Though God prohibited this in the 10 commandments because He can not be contained on earth. So perhaps during this time of disobedience this was the closest they actually had to acknowledging God at all. Again, the influence of the surrounding religions…but this also set Dan up for the center of Baal worship later. Bad habits give way to sin, I guess. A good thing for us to take warning of what we think are just little bad habits?
Thanks for that thought Linda – it’s definitely something to ponder. From 1 Corinthians 10:
11-12 “These are all warning markers — danger! — in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel — they at the beginning, we at the end — and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence ”
… I need Gods grace to develop more “God confidence”.
Samson loved a lot of women … ultimately distracting him from his purpose. What do we love to the point of distraction?
Thank you for posing this question. There are some things I just have to let God work out, even if it involves my child, whom I desperately love.
Amen Debbie. As we grow up and have kids, they often take all the attention we once devoted to the guys we date- attention that duly belongs to God! He wants our whole hearts….not what’s left over after everyone else gets a piece.
Ladies I’m wondering if you could shed some light on Judges 18 and the story of Micah, the Levite priest, and the Danites. Generally I’m just confused about this. Micah made household gods? But the Danites still inquired of the Lord through the Levite priest? Dude I’m just confused…
Well ultimately the story shows how far the Israelites had come from following the Levitical law God put in place by mixing their worship/following of Yahweh with that of other gods. So Micah only returns this silver when his mother pronounces a curse on the thief who took it. The mother then “consecrates” the silver to the Lord by making an idol–totally backwards thinking. Then a Levite comes. First of all, he is not supposed to be wandering around the land, he is supposed to be serving a particular area of Israel. and you’d think that, as a priest, he would do his job and knock down the idol but instead he accepts money to stay and be a personal priest in a home practicing idolatry. This passage highlights how corrupt Israel had become when even the Levites, God’s priests, we’re doing things like this. When the Danites ask him for a sign from God that they will be successful the Levite never inquires of the Lord but just quickly answers sure, Yahweh approves your journey. Later, the Levite goes with the Danites and takes the idols with him! The way the city Laish is described emphasizes its innocence which means the Danites were acting against Deut. 20 where God tells the Israelites to only completely destroy certain cities. The phrase that’s repeated over and over in Judges (the theme) is “Everyone did as he saw fit” and this passage is simply another highlight of what it looks like when we follow our own way instead of God’s. Hope that helps!
Thank you, Amy! I was also wondering just how that all worked. Does anyone know, is this the same Micah as the book of the prophet Micah?
Never mind…I found the answer in my bigger study Bible. This story in Judges takes place sometime around 1060 BC, and Micah was a prophet in 742 BC. ;-)
Awesome. Thank you so much Amy. Maybe it was because I was reading this at 5:30am but literally your explanation helped me unpack so much of this text. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and share. It meant a lot to me today.
I’m so glad it was helpful! Judges is SUCH a hard book to understand. Most of my response is just a paraphrase of my friend Cory’s commentary on Judges. He offers commentaries as well as classes on his website knowingthebible.net (Not an advertisement or anything because almost ALL of what he has there is completely free.) It has helped me immensely in understanding the themes of the Bible so thought I’d pass it along! Thankful I get to walk through the Bible with you ladies. Enjoy your day! :)
Yes thank you Amy for explaining that! I was pretty confused too.
the comment above was supposed to be for yesterday’s devotion.. i’m sorry.. :)
Dear Lord, may misce honor you by becoming an overcomer!
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy about doing thethings that I need to do in service to God, particularly, preparing our discussion topic for a Bible Study group that I lead… My flesh just seem to overpower me. Sisters, I humbly ask for your prayers… Today, I read this verse and I was reminded:
“And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…” (14:19; 15:14)
Everytime this verse appears, Samson did amazing things afterwards!
LORD! Let Your Spirit rushed upon me! For I acknowledge that I cannot do anything apart from You! Give me the passion to serve You with delight! In Jesus Name! Amen.
I just finished praying for you and I want to encourage you. Preparing Bible Study can seem like a time consuming activity, but the reward of not only discussing the Word with others, but also getting into the Word itself is very rewarding. May God bless your Bible studies and may you find wonderful wisdom to share.