"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." - Job 13:15a (NIV)
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." - Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." - Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
Dee Jepsen Life Story
It's exciting to know that once God has from us what He desires, that willingness to walk out His plan for our lives, that He is sovereign, master over the circumstances in our lives. He can bring things together to work out precisely the way He desires, if He has from us that willing heart.
- Dee Jepsen, Dee Jepsen Life Story
Women in Society: The Challenge and the Call
As I worked with a wide variety of women, I began to notice something. It was clear that many of the women I talked to had been seriously mistreated. Some of them had faced great injustice in their lives. It was hardly surprising that they felt angry and bitter. Certainly, it was important to seek justice for them. Yet I noticed that these women had a problem whose roots went far deeper than discrimination. Even if they were given justice, they would still be left with the problem of their own anger and resentment, with their dissatisfaction with life.
- Dee Jepsen, Women in Society: The Challenge and the Call in John Piper and Wayne Grudem (eds.), Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
As I was reading Proverbs 14 before going to sleep last night, I was reminded that bitterness is an attitude, not a state of affairs. It is a choice, not a circumstance. It is a sentiment, not a situation.
"Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." - Proverbs 14:10 (NIV)
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." - Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." - Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)
After reading Proverbs 14 last night, what should today's Bible in One Year Old Testament reading be but Lamentations 2:7 to 3:39...
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
- Lamentations 3:19-27 (NIV)
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
OH MY GOODNESS.. i did not read this post when i sent my email out to the CG earlier on.
ReplyDeletethat's really uncanny... when i read your email, i actually thought that you had read this post!
ReplyDeleteincidentally, i visited all souls church (the church which christabel attends) in london over the weekend. one of the songs we sang was great is Thy faithfulness. this is not coincidence, but providence!