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God’s Steadfast Love in Victory

March 16, 2014 Diana B.Leave a comment

If you’ve been reading my blog this year, you already know that I’m currently enamored with the term “steadfast love” and have been studying it closely over the past few months. What a joy to deeply ponder God’s steadfast love and praise Him for it!

So today the series on steadfast love resumes with the next ESV verse in which the word appears, Exodus 15:13, which says:

“You have led in Your steadfast love the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them by Your strength to Your holy abode.”

This verse is part of the third stanza in the “Song of Moses” that Moses and the people of Israel sang when God victoriously led them out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.

But let’s begin by backing up a bit to put this in context. Exodus 13:21-22 explains that as the Israelites fled Egypt, the LORD led His people by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. What a great visual of God’s loving and faithful presence!

God is leading His people out of slavery and into the Promised Land. At first they left with confidence, but once the Israelites learn Pharaoh king of Egypt and his elite, specialized army of chariots are pursuing them, their faith falters and they are filled with fear and despair. They complain to Moses, insisting they would have been better off serving the Egyptians rather than dying in the wilderness. (Exodus 14:10-12)

I love how Moses replies in verses 13-14. He says:

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Be quiet, fear not, stand firm and watch God work today. It’s really that simple. Isn’t this what I need to do, too, most days?

When He tells Moses to lift up his staff and part the waters of the Red Sea, the Lord says, “I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” (Exodus 14:17-18)

Oh, let’s give Him glory today, too. The crossing of the Red Sea is epic. Moses simply stretched out his hand over the sea — and the Lord worked. All night the Lord drove back the sea back with a strong east wind, dividing the waters and making the sea dry land. With walls of water on their left and their right, the people of Israel crossed over with no need for any sort of swimwear.

The Lord did indeed receive glory over Pharaoh and his men, his horses and his chariots. As the Egyptian forces chased after God’s people, the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on them and threw them into a panic. They acknowledged that the Lord was fighting for Israel, and they began to flee. Again, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, which returned to its normal course that morning. The waters returned, covering the Egyptian forces and leaving them all dead on the seashore.

Seeing the great power the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people of Israel feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang a song of victory. The words of all four stanzas of the song are recorded in Exodus 15:1-17. Let’s look at the third stanza, verses 11-13, which begins with a few questions.

“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like You, majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

You stretched out Your right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

You have led in Your steadfast love the people whom You have redeemed;

You have guided them by Your strength to Your holy abode.”

Imagine the Israelites singing these words as they stand on the shores of the Red Sea, having just crossed it safely on dry ground and having just watched the Egyptian forces sink like lead in the mighty waters.

This song paints a powerful picture of God’s steadfast love for His people as He guides them out of Egypt. His love for them is resolute, determined and devoted. It is reliable. It is not deterred by the fear and hopelessness of the Israelites. It is not deterred by 600 chariots. It is not deterred by the waters of the sea.

What an amazing love, and what a song of victory and triumph!

Maple Miracles

March 8, 2014March 8, 2014 Diana B.3 Comments

It’s March, and even without their colorful leaves, the maples still look majestic.

Mr. Masters is tapping the sugar maples this morning, and he invites us to grab a bucket and come along to help with this first step in the maple sugaring process.

It’s my first time on snowshoes, and the snow in the woods is still so deep I sink down knee-deep. I feel like Big Foot. Hiking through the woods is going to be harder than we imagined.

We reach the first tree, and Mr. Masters drills the hole and then taps it, connecting the hose to a 5-gallon bucket.

The sap isn’t running yet.

But with tomorrow’s high of 41 degrees, we are all hopeful it will be running soon.

The time to tap more trees is now, and tapping more trees means Mr. Masters needs help drilling and tapping and fetching buckets.

It’s a beautiful, warm day, and the maple miracles are coming soon.

So on and on we march through the deep, deep snow — waiting with great hope for all the goodness that is to come.

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

-Psalm 27:13-14

When the Snow Seems Steadfast

February 21, 2014February 21, 2014 Diana B.2 Comments

The giant snowflakes started falling around lunchtime. They came down slow at first, but then fell heavy and steady. I sent my 11-year-old out to rescue the wooden parts in the remnant of her dilapidated, mostly buried snowman.

You know it’s deep when your snowman gets swallowed up by the snow.

Hovering over a bowl of macaroni noodles, my 8-year-old teased about eating lunch on the deck but then worried about snow tornados. “Snow-nados,” she called them. “Could there be such a thing really?” she asked, troubled by her own imagination.

Outside, the snow kept flying and flying, and inside I admired my Valentine’s Day tulips and marveled that somewhere beyond this wintery, white, frozen world was a place warm enough to grow flowers.

The snow looked so heavy as it fell from the sky, and yet it looked so light and delicate as it laced the tree branches.

As the snowy afternoon wore on, the white thickly coated the branches of my favorite maple tree, visibility grew more limited, and the wind picked up.

Snowflakes mixed with sleet hit the warm window and slid downward in strange crowds.

The snow kept falling, piling up deeper and deeper. I shoveled four inches off the driveway while dinner cooked in the oven. I came inside with my coat completely soaked by the snow. Less than an hour later, the driveway needed cleared again. After dinner, my husband and our oldest daughter went out to shovel more and fix the belt on the snow blower. The belt was shredded. No snow blower for this storm. So on and on they shoveled.

I read princess stories to our youngest, watched over the banana bread in the oven and fixed hot cocoa for the shoveling crew. After we tucked the girls into bed, my husband and I headed outside again to shovel for another hour. We shoved and lifted, heaved and threw snow high above our heads. The snow piles along the driveway grew massive — higher and deeper than I ever remember such piles growing in past winters. On and on we shoveled until we found part of the driveway and part of the mailbox.

Now it’s dark. I just finished washing dishes, and as I type the howling wind is blowing small chunks of ice onto the windows. It sounds like bits of glass breaking, and the lights keep flickering and dimming.

My 11-year-old, she is sleeping with her flashlight nearby — just in case. I lit a candle in the kitchen, a big candle with three wicks — just in case. And my mind, oh it wants to worry.

Tomorrow’s high is only 16. What if the power goes off. Tomorrow’s low is -2. What if the water pipes freeze when the power goes off? What if the power outage makes the smoke detectors go off again? What if…

If left to my own imagination, surely I’ll be the next one worrying about those mythical snow tornadoes.

So I fight the wild imagination, the what-ifs, the fear. It fight it with words.

Our dear friend Paul, his words rescue me from myself. He tells me in Romans 8:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ah, yes. It’s that steadfast love I’ve been writing about. The snow, it can threaten. It can pile up so high and so deep that most of the driveway disappears, along with all but the door of the mailbox. It can even swallow up the snowman entirely. It can fall and fall and threaten to never cease. But neither the snow nor the wind nor anything else in all creation can separate me from the steadfast love of the LORD.

Soon enough the snow will cease, but His love never will. And in the morning, His mercies will be new again. So to bed I go, resting in the shelter of His great faithfulness.

God’s Steadfast Love for Joseph

February 18, 2014 Diana B.Leave a comment

Let’s continue the steadfast love word study with the next ESV verse that uses the term — Genesis 39:21.

“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

God’s steadfast love for Joseph, the grandson of Isaac and Rebekah and son of Jacob and Rachel, is certainly hard to miss in Genesis 39.

The LORD was with Joseph in Egypt as he worked for his master, Potiphar. And Potiphar noticed this uniqueness about Joseph because the LORD caused all that Joseph did to succeed. The LORD had even blessed Potiphar’s house, field and all that he had, not for Potiphar’s sake but for Joseph’s sake.

Potiphar put Joseph in charge of all he had, but then Potiphar’s wife entangled herself in lustful sin. Joseph never compromised his strong conviction to refuse this married woman’s adulterous requests day after day. But feeling rejected by Joseph, she falsely accused him of harassing her, causing him to be unjustly thrown into the king’s prison.

This event is unfortunate. But it does not signal “even a temporary loss of divine superintendence of Joseph’s life and God’s purpose for His people, Israel,” John MacArthur notes.

Joseph’s circumstances were grim; imprisonment alongside the king’s prisoners was surely painful. Psalm 105:18-19 says, “His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.”

He was tested indeed but not abandoned. God’s steadfast love for Joseph never ceased.

“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Genesis 39:21

Even in prison, Joseph is put in charge — of the other prisoners and of whatever work was done. Verse 23 says, “The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.”

John MacArthur notes that Joseph yet again “rose to a position of trust and authority and proved to be trustworthy enough not to need any oversight.”

In fulfillment of His covenant with Abraham, the LORD blessed Joseph and showed steadfast love for him. Yet right along with God’s steadfast love for Joseph came affliction: a storm of false accusations, loss, imprisonment, pain and suffering.

J.C. Ryle sums up the lesson for us so clearly:

“Let us mark well this lesson. If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace by the way and glory at the end—all this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions. He loves us too well to promise that. By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from this world, makes us long for heaven. In the resurrection morning we shall say, ‘it is good for me that I was afflicted.’ We shall thank God for every storm.”

Praise be to God for His steadfast love and for all the lessons we learn by affliction.

Steadfast Love on Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2014 Diana B.1 Comment

I’m still working on the next post in the steadfast love series. The next passage we’ll study is another one from Genesis — featuring God’s steadfast love for Joseph.

But in the meantime, Valentine’s Day is upon us — and if ever there was a time when the world tried to paint a colorful picture of what love is — it’s now. Love is all sparkly diamonds and red roses and pink candy hearts, the world says.

But sometimes these things — or the lack of them — leave our hearts feeling unfulfilled, disappointed or deflated on Valentine’s Day. The ladies over at the Girltalk Blog have these wonderfully encouraging words about redirecting our hopes on Valentine’s Day. Be sure to read it!

Also, I just had to pass along this great prayer about feasting on the steadfast love of Jesus. The prayer, written by Scott Smith over at the Gospel Coalition, references Psalm 143:8, which says, “Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust.”

Click here to link to the prayer.

Today I am praying God reminds you of His unfailing, never-ceasing, steadfast love for you, a love that endures forever.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

God Shows Steadfast Love in Genesis 24

January 30, 2014January 31, 2014 Diana B.Leave a comment

The word study on God’s steadfast love continues by looking at Genesis 24; this passage in the ESV Bible includes the first mention of God’s steadfast love in the Old Testament. It’s the story of Isaac and Rebekah, but it prominently features the very loyal Eliezer, Abraham’s 85-year-old chief servant.

Had Isaac not been born, Eliezer would have received all Abraham’s wealth, according to Genesis 15:2. But even though Isaac’s birth displaced him as heir, Eliezer faithfully served both Abraham and Isaac.

Shortly after the death of his wife Sarah, Abraham sent Eliezer to on a 450-mile expedition to Mesopotamia — along with 10 camels and many fine gifts — to find a wife for Isaac among Abraham’s relatives. Abraham’s motive, according to John MacArthur’s commentary, was to keep Isaac from later marrying a Canaanite pagan and perhaps leading the people away from the one true God.

So upon arriving in the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia, Eliezer prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.”

Standing by a spring of water, he went on to pray very specifically that God would reveal the young woman intended for Isaac by her willingness to not only give a thirsty stranger water but also to water the 10 camels with him. John MacArthur points out that this is quite a sizable task — far above and beyond the usual call of hospitable duty. A single camel can hold up to 25 gallons of water. Would you be willing to draw up to 250 gallons of water, one jar at a time, for a complete stranger’s livestock?

Before Eliezer had finished praying, “By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master,” an attractive maiden named Rebekah showed up, answering his request for a little water and offering to draw water for the camels, too. Don’t you wonder how much her jar held? Eliezer’s response was a silent gaze. In His steadfast love, God certainly answered that prayer promptly!

Next Eliezer gave Rebekah a gold ring and two gold bracelets, and she revealed that she was a niece of Abraham and welcomed Eliezer to spend the night in her father’s home.

Realizing God had led him to the house of Abraham’s relatives, Eliezer bowed his head in worship, saying, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His steadfast love and His faithfulness toward my master.”

Rebekah’s brother Laban enthusiastically welcomed Eliezer and the camels. Food was set before Eliezer, but he refused to eat until after he identified Abraham as his master, explained his mission to find Isaac a wife, and pointed out how God had already blessed the trip. He aimed to finish his task promptly and requested to return home with Rebekah.

He said to Rebekah’s father and brother, “Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

They responded favorably, so Eliezer gave more jewelry and fine gifts to Rebekah, her brother and her mother. By now his food must have been quite cold, but he did finally eat! And the next morning he took Rebekah and went on his way back to the land God had promised to Abraham’s descendants.

The caravan returned, met by Isaac, and Eliezer told Isaac all that he had done. Genesis 24:67 reports that Rebekah “became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

I love John MacArthur’s synopsis of Eliezer and his prayers. He says, “The steward’s prayer manifests not only his trust in God to direct affairs but also the selflessness with which he served Abraham. His patience after prayer, his worship at answered prayer, and his acknowledgment of divine guidance also portrayed his faith.” He goes on to add, “This is the portrait of a committed, faithful and selfless servant.”

Committed indeed! What a precious gift from God to have the servant Eliezer working so faithfully and selflessly to serve Abraham and Isaac by traveling so many miles with such an intense focus on finding Isaac’s wife. God’s steadfast love is revealed through Eliezer and his servant attitude.

I love how this story shows the sovereignty in God’s steadfast love, His complete control of every little detail right down to Rebekah’s willingness to water the camels. I’d be remiss not to mention her willingness to leave her family right away and travel hundreds of miles to marry a man she’d never met. God’s steadfast love is revealed through Rebekah and her servant attitude, too.

Using Eliezer and Rebekah as His instruments, God faithfully fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham and his descendants, and He also comforted Isaac in the loss of his mother Sarah.

To echo Eliezer’s words of praise, God did indeed show His steadfast love and faithfulness to Abraham and Isaac. He did not forsake them. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac!

Steadfast Love: It’s Complicated

January 23, 2014January 23, 2014 Diana B.2 Comments

Every January our pastor announces a verse of the year for our church. This year’s verse is Lamentations 3:22-23 — “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

I really love this verse. For starters, I love semi-colons, and this verse has three of them! But, more importantly, this verse is full of hope and offers reassurance in any circumstance. Who doesn’t need a reminder that God’s love and mercies are endless and His faithfulness is great? It’s life-giving oxygen for the soul when worries and doubts threaten to suffocate us.

And it should be no surprise that the verse of the year includes my word of the year: steadfast. A keyword search in Biblegateway shows that steadfast appears 219 times in the ESV Bible. The adjective nearly always describes the noun love — God’s love.

John MacArthur’s commentary on this Lamentations passage says the Hebrew word for steadfast love appears 250 times in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is chesed or checed, and MacArthur explains that it is a comprehensive term that encompasses “love, grace, mercy, goodness, forgiveness, truth, compassion and faithfulness.” In my old NIV Bible, the terms “kindness and faithfulness” and “lovingkindness” are often used in place of steadfast love.

The English language has no single word equivalent to chesed. You could say steadfast love is complicated. It’s a God-sized concept that’s a challenge to comprehend fully because God’s ways and thoughts are higher than the English-speaking man’s ways and thoughts. But what a joy to ponder it deeply and praise Him for it!

“The bedrock of faith,” MacArthur writes, “is the reality that God keeps all His promises according to His truthful, faithful character.”

God is who He says He is. And Daniel 11:32 says the people who know their God will be strong. So my biggest aim with this blog series is to know and love God better by studying His truthful, faithful character in the concept of His steadfast love.

Next time let’s look at Genesis 24 and the story of Isaac and Rebekah, which includes the first mention of God’s steadfast love in the Old Testament.

Steadfast

January 19, 2014 Diana B.Leave a comment

Steadfast. That’s not a word a I use much. But it’s the special word God has given me for 2014. To help me focus on its meaning, I made this sign with lots of synonyms for steadfast.

steadfastsign

Throughout the year, Lord willing, I’ll be posting more thoughts and some verses that include this word. Many will focus on God’s steadfast love for us; others will focus on our call to be steadfast as followers of Jesus.

I’m looking forward to what God reveals through this word study, and I hope you are blessed by it, too. May God be glorified for His steadfast love in 2014!

By the way, if you’d like to download the high-resolution PDF of my steadfast sign, click here: steadfastsign.

Magical Appearances

December 5, 2013 Diana B.1 Comment

Today God decorated the trees for Christmas — in such a magically, snowy way!

Yesterday we had no snow to speak of. But today my girls disappeared in the deep piles out front. They played for hours and hours.

Thankfully, hot cocoa makes them magically re-appear in an instant.

This little junco, who much preferred the birdseed-covered pinecone over hot cocoa, kept magically re-appearing, too. I think he enjoyed having his picture taken.

Other hungry birds appeared and re-appeared at the feeders — cardinals and juncos mostly. This plump cardinal rested on a nearby tree branch and kindly waited for his turn.

And did I mention the amaryllis is blooming this week?

I love bulbs that magically turn into beautiful blooms in the depths of winter.

Any magical appearances in your neck of the woods today?

Hunting for 10,000

November 27, 2013 Diana B.Leave a comment

The frigid November air pierces right through your bones. The forceful, whirling wind blasts on and on with a long, lonesome howl.

The trees, so gloriously ablaze with color just yesterday, now stand bare and thin and gray.

And in the front yard, 10,000 leaves pile up shin-deep, each a sorrowful reminder of how dry and lost this month feels.

November can make life seem dull. It can make your heart feel as cold as the wind and your soul feel as dark and bare as the tree branches. And we must decide: To complain or to be content? To grumble or to be grateful? To reject the entire eleventh month or to receive every moment of it with thanksgiving?

Will our minds and mouths choose to thank God for all His goodness, even when His goodness doesn’t feel warm and green and vibrant? Even when His goodness feels brown and bare and bitter cold?

In his song “10,000 Reasons,” singer and song-writer Matt Redman encourages us to keep singing praises to God – whatever may pass and whatever lies before us – because God has given at least 10,000 reasons for our hearts to find.

So forget the deer. Forget the Black Friday sales. Forget that Pinterest search. What are you really hunting for this November?

Go on an easy hunt for God’s abundant goodness – it is piling up higher and deeper than those 10,000 fallen leaves.

Look around you and see what reminds you of God’s love for you. Is it a steamy cup of hot cocoa that warms your hands?

An unexpected note from a friend who brightens your afternoon? A glimpse at the setting sun glowing through the clouds?

Whatever makes you smile, whatever is pure, noble, lovely, excellent or praiseworthy, that’s a gift from God. That’s a reason to thank Him.

This Thanksgiving, let’s be truly thankful. Let’s start a hunt for God’s goodness. Let’s find 10,000 reasons, and let’s thank Him like never before.

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