God's Anger

I don't often think about God's anger towards His people. It was very evident in the Old Testament, but what about now? I know that He is loving and gracious and forgiving, but He is also still a Holy, righteous God who cannot tolerate sin. I know that He is patient with me and that I am secure in Him. I also know that I have a sinful heart and that makes Him angry with me. Scary thought! We often talk about how sin "offends" a Holy God, but I think that word makes me think more of hurting God's feelings, not of angering a just, holy, righteous God! My sin does that! I need to have this view of my sin! I am very thankful for His forgiveness, graciousness, and mercy!
Note: I wrote this a few weeks ago, when I was actually reading my Bible. I have to confess that since Anna's been born, I haven't read it at all! :(

Faith

I have really enjoyed reading the Old Testament this year. One of the biggest lessons I have been learning is that of faith. I love reading the examples of people like Joseph, Joshua, and Caleb. They have complete faith in God. They know that He always keeps His promises and that nothing is impossible with Him. In the story of the spies sent out to Caanan, Joshua and Caleb are the only ones who trust God, the only ones who have faith and assuarance that He could and would accomplish His promises. They knew that if something is in God's plan it will happen, even if it seems impossible to us. Nothing is impossible for God! I need to have more faith! God is stronger than anything, I don't need to fear!

When Manna Isn't Enough

In my Bible reading, I was in Numbers 11 and came across the Israelites whining in the wilderness. If you remember the story, God had been graciously providing them with Manna for their daily sustenance, but they started complaining. God had provided for them in a miraculous way and still they complained and wanted something different. How like us this is! God always provides for us in a myriad of ways in life, but we want something different, depending on the craving of the moment. It is a wonder that God remains patient with us! When we are wanting something different than what God has provided we are lacking in contentment and gratitude. These are two of the hardest things to obtain, but they are the things that will really make us happy/joyful. I need to learn to be content and grateful for what God has provided and stop thinking that my cravings are more important than what He has provided. I am thankful that He is so patient with me!

"Why?"

Rylie says many interesting things, but lately she has taken to saying, "why?" after everything we say. I have to confess that this is driving me crazy and I have had to apologize for my impatience with it several times over the past few days. I am glad that she is curious (when I told her she was curious she got very offended and said, "I'm not a curious, I'm a girl!") and I am glad she has a thirst for knowledge, especially Biblical knowledge.
Every night before bed, she and Daddy have been reading her new Bible (see Ryan's post tomorrow morning). She has been devouring and retaining these Bible stories and several times during the day she will ask me about various parts of the stories. I have been learning how to summarize a Biblical account in a way that an almost three year old would understand. It has been a great exercise for me to realize the main point of these stories (which I keep reminding her are really true events that happened in history, not a pretend story).
As I was doing my own Bible reading this evening I came across the verse in Genesis 15 that says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The thought struck me that this is one of the main things I've been telling Rylie. All these different Bible characters believed what God told them and obeyed Him and as a result were blessed by God in various ways (protection, provision, etc.) It was a great reminder to me that sometimes I get caught up in all the details (there is great value in studying the details, don't get me wrong), and I forget some of the basic lessons that are to be learned. To put it simply, we need to believe what God tells us, then obey Him and we will be blessed by this.
Thank you Rylie for your "whys" that have been teaching me!