8 ) I did not have kids in the student program.
9) N/A
10) N/A
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Habakkuk trembled understanding God’s strength and His sovereignty. He will wait on the Lord and rejoice in the Lord no matter his circumstances. The Lord is his strength.
13a) Habakkuk shook under God’s power and righteousness. He realized he was nothing before God.
b) Unsure here. God’s presence.
14a) Habakkuk will rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in Him no matter his circumstances.
b) Though I do not understand my place here, I will wait on you to tell me to move and to tell me what to do, which direction to take, and who to turn to to help me no matter my circumstances.
15a) God is sovereign. He makes his feet like a dee’rs and enables him to climb to new heights.
b) It’s good that God is in control and He helps me. It encourages me when I’m down to ask for forgiveness and let Him pick me back up.
No matter what, God is there; He is sovereign; He is in control. We simply follow and obey.
Habakkuk can trust the Lord even in his troubles because of God’s strength.
God is greater than all our problems.
Our strength is only in and from God.
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This is a prayer to God to remember His people after the punishment. So many bad things have happened, including women being raped, princes hung, young men and boys forced to work slave labor, poverty for all, and more. Jeremiah prays for restoration.
12a) Us, we, our. The people of Jerusalem. You. Lord. Jeremiah is including himself with God’s people. He is suffering right alongside them. He is praying on their behalf.
b) That God’s people have suffered enough and paid the price for their sins. They are weary from it all and are asking God to restore them to their former days of glory.
13) It helps to understand and acknowledge the consequences of sin so that you and the people don’t sin again. It shows God you are learning the lessons He is trying to teach you and that you are ready to come back to Him by praying for His presence in your life once again.
14) Remember what has happeded to them and see their disgrace. They have lost children. They are poor. They are pursued by their enemies and tired. They are hungry. Women have been raped. Princes and elders murdered. Young men and boys do hard labor. They have no joy, and it’s hard to remember God.
15) He sought for God to restore the people back to their former glory. God reigns forever and is in control. He has the power to restore our lives.
16a) They were waiting in every way. They were waiting for God’s anger to abate and embrace His people again.
b) I do have goals and ambitions. I pray for them and wait on His timing. I also work on them every day and wait for God’s timing for doors to open up. I am learning patience and that hard work does pay off.
Despite the calamities that surround you, there is always hope. We can cry out to God, and He hears us.
This chapter has 22 verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, but it is not an acrostic.
Jeremiah prayed that God would look and see the people’s misery because he felt like God had forgotten them.
We are responsible before God for our sins.
The people’s food was rationed, they were sick, and everyone suffered.
Jeremiah praises God’s eternal nature and asks for restoration. The people must turn back to God in repentenace. He asks God to turn the people back to Him.
With repentance comes renewal.
The weeping prophet ends on a sad note of unresolved anguish and not with hope (so does the books of Isaiah, Malachi, and Ecclesiastes). It is befitting Jeremiah. Yet, we know there is always hope.
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God offers his people comfort after their sin has been paid for. Prepare for the Lord. The Word of God endures forever. The Lord comes with power. He tends his flock. He gathers the lambs and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads them. The nations are nothing before the Lord. God is above everything. He created the stars one by one and knows their names.
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
3a) “A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.” That the Israelites exile to Babylon won’t be forever, as the people have paid for their sins.
b) Because God comforts us in all of our troubles. We then can comfort others. Our comfort comes from Christ, too. We are comforted in our sufferings as Christ was comforted during his sufferings. Jesus will save us from our sins, which is comfort in itself.
c) I need God’s comfort in where we are supposed to settle down and God’s comfort for my kids to find their path, too.
4)
40:1-11: God is comfort. He is Almighty. He endures forever. He is all-powerful. He is caring.
40:12-26: God is Creator. God is omniscient. Everything is nothing when compared to God. He is incomparable.
40:27-31: God is everlasting. He never grows tired or weary. He gives us strength.
5) I find God’s strength in His Word, in knowing He is in control, and in knowing He is in charge of this world and everyone on it. I find his strength when I pray, believe, and have faith in what He will do for me.
Such a beautiful (and well-known) chapter of Isaiah. I never grow tired of reading it.
Isaiah now offers words of comfort and hope to the Israelites (the people of Judah). Their sin has been paid for.
A voice in the wilderness prepares the way for the Lord.
Man is frail, but God’s message stands forever.
See God who will return and be a loving shepherd to His people. He is Lord over all of creation and is the God of wisdom.
God’s greatness surpasses all nations and cannot be compared to others, including idols.
God’s greatness is all around us in all of Creation.
Have faith and believe in God’s power and wisdom over all.
God gives strength to the weak. We rely on His strength as He renews us. He gives us strength to keep moving forward.
If we are worn out, God will give us the strength we need to keep going.
Theme: We see God through Isaiah first warn of judgment then promise deliverance.
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God will restore Israel after their judgment. They will be brought back after exile and rebuild the citeis, never to be uprooted again.
13a)“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and will rebuild it as it used to be. The land will be fruitful again and the people will come back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted”
b) verse 12
14a) God will restore his people and Christ will return and help rebuild the fallen city.
b) Jesus comes to give life to the fullest (John 10:10). He will give us eternal life and no one will snatch us out of his hand (John 10:28-29). I have hope that eternal life is right around the corner.
Out of all the gloom and doom, we finally have hope!
The tabernacle of David refers to Jesus. God will repair the ruins. Note that the Gentiles are included here, which James quotes at the Council of Jerusalem.
God will restore his people to prosperity in him and never remove them from his land again.
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The Lord tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. Wind, an earthquake, and fire passed by without the Lord in them. Finally, the Lord came in a gentle whisper. Elijah pulled his cloak over his face and stood at the mouth of the cave. The Lord repeated his question to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah repeats his answer from before.
The Lord then give Elijah instructions: Go to the desert of Damascus. Anoint Hazael king over Aram. Anoint Jehu king over Israel. Anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet. The Lord will spare 7,000 in Israel who have not worshipped Baal.
Elijah calls Elisha to be a prophet. Elisha slaughters his oxen and fed the meat to the people.
7a) The Lord tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. Wind, an earthquake, and fire passed by without the Lord in them. Finally, the Lord came in a gentle whisper. I love how the Lord comes gently in a whisper so as not to startle us or make us afraid. The Lord is kind and good, indeed!
b) To feel God’s peace and love and to learn God is gentle and wants the best for His people.
8a) God gave Elijah direct and specific instructions. God told Elijah to: Go to the desert of Damascus. Anoint Hazael king over Aram. Anoint Jehu king over Israel. Anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet.
b) Elijah’s main complaint was that he was alone. Not anymore. God gives Elijah a companion, a friend, to help him in this desperate time he’s in. Plus, Elijah could now know someone would come after him to take on God’s work. God gives Elijah hope, too.
9) God has given me the drive and perseverance to work for Him each and every day with the goals He has given me to obtain.
I love the gentle whisper of the Lord. This will stick with me for a long time.
God know Elijah needed to encounter God, and in His goodness, God provides us with what we need.
God first shows what where he was not. Then he shows us where He is. So comforting God is gentle. God’s small voice is all we need in our desperate moments.
Elijah humbled himself when he wrapped himself in a cloak.
God gave Elijah work to do like he gives all of us. Sometimes, the best healing is in action.
God is going to punish idolaters, another complaint of Elijah’s. This encourages Elijah that punishment for sin was coming.
Elijah was not alone; there were 7,000 Israelites loyal to God still.
The cloak was a symbolic gesture that Elijah was calling Elisha to be God’s servant. Prophets were distinguishable by their cloaks.
Elijah gives us everything he owns (his plows and his oxen) as he says good-bye to his old live and enters into a new life as God’s servant.
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I love the lesson of fighting with prayer!
We’d all be better off is we trusted God to fight for us, rather than us trying to do it ourselves, especially in situations where we have no individual power, such as world events and overwhelming problems like human trafficking and poverty. We have no power in and of ourselves.
So, my prayer is to remember to pray! In every situation, no matter how small we may think it is. If it’s important to us, then it’s important to God. To set my eyes on God first.
Try not to sin, but if you do, we have Jesus, who will atone for our sins and the sin’s of the world.
12) Jesus is righteous, holy, sinless, and just. Jesus can be our advocate because his sacrificial blood cleanses us, so we can stand before God.
13) We are sinners, and we will always be sinners. But with the sacrificial blood of Jesus, we can spend eternity with God who is sinless. Unsure who He is calling me to share this with. I don’t have contact with a lot of people, so probably a stranger.
14) Trying not to sin. I do believe we can sin less if we have God as our center. My prayer is to grow closer to God and ask Him to be my center.
Another great reminder of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Because he was human and sinless, he is the best and only one who can advocate on our behalf. Jesus is with us via the Holy Spirit every moment of every day, even in our sins. We can turn from sin with God’s help. We are better today than yesterday. We can trust God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. We can do this all through the power of Christ. In Christ, there is hope. He is risen, indeed!
If we confess our sins, He is faithful, just, and will forgive us and purify us. If we claim we never sin, then God’s word is not in us.
9) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth and God’s word is not in us. Plus, we claim God to be a liar. When we deny we’ve sinned, we are putting ourselves on par with God, at His level. Plus, we are ignoring God and His word.
10) If we confess our sins, He is faithful, just, and will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. I think we all deny our sins outloud occasionally when we know we have sinned even though our hearts tell us otherwise. In these moments, we should pray and ask for forgiveness.
11) God is faithful (keeps His promises) and just and He forgives and purifies us (clothes us in righteousness) when we confess our sins. I am thankful for His forgiveness each and every day.
I love examining God’s character in the Bible. It’s a great reminder of how Great He truly is. The fact that we can walk with God via the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, is grace defined. Reflect on God’s faithfulness, justness, and righteousness today.