This has been a nice week home with the boys for me! Although it rained all Monday and Tuesday, this last half has been quite nice.
We spent some time with some good friends of ours last night. They are expecting their first child within the next two weeks. We are so excited and can't wait for baby Ava to finally show up! Jerek has also been inspired by the impending birth and will loudly and proudly proclaim that he too has a baby Ava in his belly. He'll pull up his shirt and say, "Feel it, feel my baby Ava!" and he will take your hand and rub it all over his belly. It makes me giggle every time. He is now telling me that I have a baby in my belly . . . to which I greatly protest! I keep telling him someday, but not today.
Last night, while Jerek slept and the boys played video games, Ash and I had a great conversation about who God is and how he extends his grace. Jason and I finished up "Before Abraham" by John MacArthur in our small group a month or so ago and it taught me so much! God really used this book to explain to me what grace really is and how much He loves us, His creation. The study looked at the first 11 chapters of Genesis; deeply studying the main events, the main people, and the main themes of those first chapters of the Bible. Throughout, MacArthur emphasizes God's grace and what that looks like in those events. What really took me aback was the study on the tower of Babel. The story of the tower of Babel can be found in Genesis, chapter 11.
It starts by saying that the whole world had one language and common speech and that instead of "filling the earth" as God had commanded Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1) they moved eastward and settled, everyone living together. The men decided to build themselves a huge tower "that reaches to the heavens" (11:4) AND "so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (11:4) Did you get that! They were building this tower so that they wouldn't have to obey God. They were outright disobeying! They had become an arrogant, self-sufficient people that thought their way was better then God's. They had found their self-worth and identity in the things that they could do and the things they had achieved, rather then in God. Verse 5 says that, "But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. . ." MacArthur explains that just as God came down to see Adam and Eve, Noah, Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and now Babel, He was coming to extend His grace, to see if there was anything worthy left. The Lord says of these people in verse 6 that nothing will be impossible for them if He lets them continue in what they are doing and so He confuses their languages and scatters them over the earth.
Now, after reading this section of the Bible, I thought about how angry and mad I would have been at God if I had lived in Babel. Think about it, I may have been left with no family or friends that spoke my language and I may have been scattered off to some place I had never known before. It would be terrifying, maddening, and disheartening. YET, look at it from the perspective of God. He wanted to preserve His people. He had promised Noah that He would never destroy the Earth again, and His people are again being evil, disobedient, and self-reliant. What tremendous pain the Father must have felt! But instead of wiping out His creation, He extends His grace and forces them to obey the command He gave, by confusing their languages and scattering them across the Earth. How great is our God!
I was in awe, thinking about events in my life that I have thought were unfair or bad, but instead, how it could have been God's hand, orchestrating my life in a way to keep me safe and on the path that He has planned for me. I now have a deeper understanding of how God's grace works, not just looking at Calvary and how God's grace was working through Jesus Christ to save my wretched soul, but also how God's grace extends throughout my life, keeping me safe, doing good in my life, whether I understand it or not. Praise be to God!
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We spent some time with some good friends of ours last night. They are expecting their first child within the next two weeks. We are so excited and can't wait for baby Ava to finally show up! Jerek has also been inspired by the impending birth and will loudly and proudly proclaim that he too has a baby Ava in his belly. He'll pull up his shirt and say, "Feel it, feel my baby Ava!" and he will take your hand and rub it all over his belly. It makes me giggle every time. He is now telling me that I have a baby in my belly . . . to which I greatly protest! I keep telling him someday, but not today.
Last night, while Jerek slept and the boys played video games, Ash and I had a great conversation about who God is and how he extends his grace. Jason and I finished up "Before Abraham" by John MacArthur in our small group a month or so ago and it taught me so much! God really used this book to explain to me what grace really is and how much He loves us, His creation. The study looked at the first 11 chapters of Genesis; deeply studying the main events, the main people, and the main themes of those first chapters of the Bible. Throughout, MacArthur emphasizes God's grace and what that looks like in those events. What really took me aback was the study on the tower of Babel. The story of the tower of Babel can be found in Genesis, chapter 11.
It starts by saying that the whole world had one language and common speech and that instead of "filling the earth" as God had commanded Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1) they moved eastward and settled, everyone living together. The men decided to build themselves a huge tower "that reaches to the heavens" (11:4) AND "so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (11:4) Did you get that! They were building this tower so that they wouldn't have to obey God. They were outright disobeying! They had become an arrogant, self-sufficient people that thought their way was better then God's. They had found their self-worth and identity in the things that they could do and the things they had achieved, rather then in God. Verse 5 says that, "But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. . ." MacArthur explains that just as God came down to see Adam and Eve, Noah, Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and now Babel, He was coming to extend His grace, to see if there was anything worthy left. The Lord says of these people in verse 6 that nothing will be impossible for them if He lets them continue in what they are doing and so He confuses their languages and scatters them over the earth.
Now, after reading this section of the Bible, I thought about how angry and mad I would have been at God if I had lived in Babel. Think about it, I may have been left with no family or friends that spoke my language and I may have been scattered off to some place I had never known before. It would be terrifying, maddening, and disheartening. YET, look at it from the perspective of God. He wanted to preserve His people. He had promised Noah that He would never destroy the Earth again, and His people are again being evil, disobedient, and self-reliant. What tremendous pain the Father must have felt! But instead of wiping out His creation, He extends His grace and forces them to obey the command He gave, by confusing their languages and scattering them across the Earth. How great is our God!
I was in awe, thinking about events in my life that I have thought were unfair or bad, but instead, how it could have been God's hand, orchestrating my life in a way to keep me safe and on the path that He has planned for me. I now have a deeper understanding of how God's grace works, not just looking at Calvary and how God's grace was working through Jesus Christ to save my wretched soul, but also how God's grace extends throughout my life, keeping me safe, doing good in my life, whether I understand it or not. Praise be to God!
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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