I am laughing so hard! I just wrote out a comment in the Bible Study Cafe and when I went to post it - I was refused! Refused! Great big red letters came up stating that I was only allowed 4,096 characters and no more! First thing I thought of was Psalm 119:96. Next thing I thought of was... why not 4,097? I am still laughing!
I've posted the comment below, but make sure you visit the Bible Cafe FIRST to hear the conversation so that you understand what I am responding to!
Let me get right to it and address some of the questions and queries. First, the amount of study required for the week and feeling rushed. Just do what you can each day (don't make the mistake of trying to complete the study in just one evening). If you find like Margaret, that it is the Digging Deeper portion that you are inclining more towards, then just do the necessary portions of the main study, but spend the majority of your time in the Digging Deeper sidebars. A word of caution here, as you dig deeper, don't forget the MAIN THRUST of the Psalm 119 stanzas lesson that you are studying, keep it ever before you!
Margaret, by the way, thank you for your insights regarding belief and obedience through faith. I am presently studying Jeremiah along with Psalm 119; it is sobering indeed to see where disbelief in the Word of God leads to. The children of Israel had been told by God what their unfaithfulness (due to their unbelief) would cost them, but they chose to listen to their own counsel and that of the false prophets. Unbelief can begin quite subtly, in statements such as "God would never do that" or "the God of the New Testament is a God of love, NOT a God of wrath".
Both statements could simply be a case of complete ignorance to the Word of God; perhaps listening to what others say the Bible says instead of studying and knowing truth for ourselves. The second statement stems from the same, although it is, along with the first, a form of IDOLATRY. Picking and choosing those attributes that YOU like about God and negating the rest of Who He is - creating your own god. Dangerous.
Which leads into what you were saying Margaret regarding mankind's concept about sin and their opinions regarding God when disaster strikes. Some of you did a 'side study' with me (during our study of Romans) regarding the Sovereignty of God. I had given you a 'string of pearl verses, the second one being... "I AM the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing WELL BEING and CREATING CALAMITY; I AM the LORD Who does all these." (Isaiah 45:6-7)
Did you catch that? It is GOD Who creates WELL BEING... AND Who creates CALAMITY. If we were ever to say that the coming down of the Twin Towers (or any other devastating disaster or affliction) was all the work of satan and God was absent in it, then we are saying that for that one moment in time, God was NOT GOD and satan got the upper hand. If this is the case, then God would not be God. God's plans and purposes for mankind CANNOT be trumped by satan!
God is above ALL THINGS. Psalm 119:89 tells us that FOREVER His Word has been settled in heaven. God is not like like man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). God's Word has been set in motion in heaven and in His sovereignty and in His righteousness and in His faithfulness, He MUST act according to His Word. Israel sinned in disobedience and unbelief and God acted according to His Word, we see God moving all through Scripture according to His character and according to His Word.
We can and must learn from God's dealings with Israel (His beloved) throughout the Old Testament in order to know the God of the New Testament. "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, SO THAT (purpose clause!) through PERSEVERANCE and ENCOURAGEMENT we might have hope." (Rom. 15:4)
Which leads us to our next question regarding the meaning of God's salvation 'according to His Word'. Debbie the definition of salvation that you gave is right on the mark... yet what does this definition mean ACCORDING TO HIS WORD? If one of the definitions is 'freedom from trouble' then how does that fit with John 16:33?
God's salvation 'according to His Word' is simply this... what God has SAID in His WORD regarding salvation. We need to know what the Old Testament and we need to know what the New Testament has to say about SALVATION. You get to know, by studying. Book by Book, Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse - remember, there are no short cuts in Bible study!
Which leads to our next question. Will the study of Revelation be too hard without a teacher? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The NISS (New Inductive Study Series) on Revelation that has chosen, has been written to do on your own OR in a group setting. It is designed for a day by day study that will take 20-30 minutes each day.
If you trust God with you and trust God with me, then this can be and I believe will, be an EXCEPTIONAL study. Bible Study Cafe will be vital to the depth of study that is done and I will be posting my written notes and teachings each week to add to what you are also gleaning.
And last but not least, regarding YODH v.73 where I asked you to explain how you were "made" and "fashioned". You already saw from my interactive segment that FASHIONED = KUWN a primitive root, meaning that it cannot be confused with any other Hebrew word.
FASHIONED/KUWN means to be erect, to stand perpendicular, to set up; to establish; to fix; to prepare; to apply. Here is where I was going with this question - in Genesis 1 and in John 1:3 we see God speaking all things into existence. In Genesis 2:7 and in Psalm 139:13 we see God forming, knitting, weaving man. And He did this for a PURPOSE, it was to stand us up (1 Cor. 16:13); to establish us (2 Peter 1:12 1 Thess. 3:13); to fix us firmly (Heb. 12:2); to prepare us (1 Peter 1:13); to apply us to His good purposes (Eph. 2:10), by His Own Mighty Hand. And as far as my alluding to our Romans study to help us in understanding this... read Romans 9 regarding God's choice!
Well, I have a pot of homemade turkey soup bubbling away on the stove and I am away to set the table! Thank you to my 'Home Girl's' for keeping the Home Fire's Burning in faithfulness to God's Word and in the spirit of fellowship that we might remain 'sharp women' of God.
By the way... there is an onion in the soup! I have not tasted an onion in almost 20 years! Praise God with me and let us bless His Holy Name!
