Three Things I Don’t Understand

Our Through the Bible in a Year reading plan wrapped up the Old Testament this weekend, and on Sunday we began the book of Matthew. As much as I love the men and women of the Old Testament, the stories of Jesus and His life here on earth. The Gospel is filled with His exact words, His example for us and His sacrifice just for me.

No matter how many times I read the gospels, though, I always unearth passages that I don’t remember reading before. That’s the Scriptures being alive and movable by the Holy Spirit. And every time I read them, there are always questions that come to mind, things I am curious about. Here are just a few of them.

1. I don’t understand how these four men - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - must have felt being inspired by God Himself to pen these words. We know Scripture is the Lord’s breath turned into words by the Holy Spirit, but did these writers know as their pens were dipped in ink that we would be reading them 2,000 years later. Did the Holy Spirit come softly, as the still small voice did so long ago? Or did He shake them to their core as He placed thoughts and phrases in their minds and hearts? As a writer myself, I just can’t wrap my brain around that idea.

2. I don’t understand God’s timing and how He makes everything happen perfectly. There were 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament. My impatient, finite mind would have waited a few days and then set the birth of Jesus into motion. But in God’s perfection, He knew how every Old Testament prophecy would be fulfilled, when the timeline would all come together and who needed to be in what location for His plan to unfold. My perspective is only the line of sight right in front of me, but praise God that He can see the whole picture of human history.

3. I don’t understand how so many people remained unchanged, every after meeting Jesus Christ face to face. We’re only eight chapters into the New Testament, and I am already growing in faith and hope just reading about Jesus’ time here on earth. Imagine having seen His face, heard His voice and walked wherever He went. Even after that closeness to Him, there were so many people who turned away and refused to accept Him. We Christians have a passionate hope of the day we will meet our Savior and look Him in the eye, and these people had that opportunity and walked away. How sad and how disappointing.

There is much that I don’t understand, even after reading my Bible every day, but one day I will. I will have the mind of Christ and be able to talk with Him about everything I want to. And what a day, glorious day, that will be!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit
Read more